英语和汉语对比静态与动态.docx

1、英语和汉语对比静态与动态第七章 静态与动态(Stative vsDynamic)英语倾向于多用名词，因而叙述呈静态(stative)；汉语倾向于多用动词，因而叙述呈动态(dynamic)。RQuirk等人对静态和动态曾作如下解释：Broadly speaking, nouns can be characterized naturally as stative in that they refer to entities that are regarded as stablewhether these are concrete (physical) like house，table，paper，

2、or abstract (of the mind)like hope，botany，lengthAt the opposite pole，verbs can be equally naturally characterized as dynamic：they are fitted (by their capacity to show tense and aspect，for example) to indicate action，activity and temporary or changing conditionsThese relations between the open class

3、es can be summarized thus：STATIVE noun ? adjectiveDYNAMIC verb adverb英语的静态倾向，主要表现在以下几方面：一、名词化(Nominalization)是英语常见的现象。 名词化主要指用名词来表达原来属于动词(或形容词)所表达的概念，如用抽象名词来表达动作、行为、变化、状态、品质、情感等概念。SPotter在“Changing English”一书中曾指出英语“名词优势于动词”的倾向(preponderance of nouns over verbs)。这种名词优势往往可以使表达比较简洁，造句比较灵活，行文比较自然，也便于表达较

4、为复杂的思想内容。试比较：The doctor arrived extremely quickly and examined the patient uncommonly carefully; the result was that he recovered very speedilyThe doctor s extremely quick arrival and uncommonly careful examination of the patient brought about his very speedy recovery医生迅速到达，并非常仔细地检查了病人，因此病人很快就康复了。Fr

5、eedom-loving people everywhere condemned them because they violated the agreement reached at Helsinki and abused basic human rights in their own countryThe abuse of basic human rights in their own country in violation of the agreement reached at Helsinki earned them the condemnation of freedom-lovin

6、g people everywhere他们违反在赫尔辛基达成的协议，在国内侵犯基本人权。因此受到了各地热爱自由的人们的谴责。运用名词化表达法(nominal style)可以使叙述较为准确，贴切，但也会使语言抽象、难解。OJespersen指出： It seems possible to express ideas with greater precision and adequacy by means of nouns than by means of the more pictorial verbsWhen we express by means of nouns what is gene

7、rally expressed by finite verbs，our language becomes not only more abstract, but more abstruse, owing among other things to the fact that in the verbal substantive some of the life-giving elements of the verb (time，mood，person)disappearWhile the nominal style may therefore serve the purposes of phil

8、osophy，where，however，it now and then does nothing but disguise simple thoughts in the garb of profound wisdom，it does not lend itself so well to the purposes of everyday life. 英美不少语言学者都指出英语有过分使用名词的习惯(noun habit)名词使用多了，与之相随的介词(尤其是of短语)也必然增多，与此同时，富有活力和生气的动词也就相应减少，弱化动词be的各种形式成了hard workers和heavy-duty w

9、ords，这就使英语的静态倾向更加明显。如；The effect of the overuse of nouns in writing is the placing of too much strain upon the verbs and the resultant prevention of movement of the thought 这一句子充满了名词、动名词和介词，其唯一的谓语动词是“is”这个软弱的动词必须拉动一个满载名词的主语，还必须推动两个满载名词的表语，这就使整个句子缺乏动态感。若将部分名词改为动词，即可分担句子的负荷，化静态为动态： One who overuses no

10、uns in writing places too much strain upon the verbs and as a result prevents the thought from moving along 写作时过分使用名词，势必给动词增加太多的负担，因而阻碍思路畅通。 过分使用名词会使文句冗长(wordy)、含糊(vague)，缺乏活力(1ifeless)，许多英语文体学家都反对滥用名词化表达法，主张通过多用生动活泼的动词来简化句子结构。试比较：Integrated into the circulation of national life much more completely

11、 than any other modern literature，American belleslettres also give a much more faithful and adequate picture of the entire civilization to which they belong than literature abroad, whose very compliance with一or willful opposition to一traditions that have long lost their anchorage in the depths of the

12、ir respective national civilizations, renders them unable to keep abreast of the rejuvenated spirit of their epoch 这一句子使用了多个抽象名词，因而显得冗长、死板，若用动词代替这些名词，即可使句子轻松、活泼：American belleslettres circulate in the national life much more than other modern literatures do; they picture the entire civilization to w

13、hich they belong more faithfully and adequatelyThe spirit of the times has become young again，and literatures abroad cannot keep abreast with it because of certain traditions they comply with or willfully opposeThese traditions were once anchored in the depths of their national civilizationsbut have

14、 1ost that anchor age long ago 二、用名词表示施事者(Agentive noun)，以代替动词。 英语除了用抽象名词表示行为和动作(如realizerealization，completecompletion)等概念外，还常用含有行为和动作意义的普通名词代替动词。大量由动词派生(如以-er或-or结尾)的名词既表示施事者，又保留原来动词的意义。这类名词常常与前置形容词构成静态结构： a hard workersomeone who works hard工作勤奋的人 a slow walkersomeone who walks slowly走路很慢的人 a good

15、 thiefsomeone who thieves well很会偷窃的人 a bad sailorsomeone who often gets seasick会晕船的人 汉语由动词加后缀构成的名词(如读者、教师、打字员、观察家、修理工)用来指人，不再表示行为或动作，因而英语这类名词往往要转换为汉语动词：1)He is a good eater and a good sleeper(CEckersley)他能吃能睡。2)He is a young and rapid writer. (SColeridge) 他是个笔头快的年青人。 3)He was a nonsmoker and a teeto

16、taler(ESnow)他既不抽烟，也不喝酒。4)You must be a very bad learner，or else you must be going to a very bad teacher. (CEckersley)你一定很不善于学习，要不然就是教你的人很不会教。5)She is the best hater Ive ever knownHow she got to hate me so much!我所认识的人当中，她最会记仇。她怎么变得这么恨我呢?6)I used to be a bit of a fancier myself过去我也常常有点喜欢胡思乱想。7)That bo

17、y is a master complicator. 那男孩可真会捣乱。8)Youre all clock-watchers today! 你们今天老是看着钟表等待下班啊I 9)since he lost his job，hes been a loner他失业以后，就很不合群了。1o)The computer is a far more careful and industrious inspector than human beings计算机比人检查得更细心、更勤快。11)Every country is the best judge of what is required to safeg

18、uard its national security每个国家需要什么来保卫国家安全，只有它自己才能作出最好的判断。12)He was a clever man；a pleasant companion; a careless student；with a great propensity for running into debt，and a partiality for the tavern(Vanity Fair”) 他是个聪明人，很好相处，可是学习不肯用功; 他老是东挪西借, 又喜欢上酒店喝酒。这类名词有时并不指人，而是用来代替动词，如：1)The real shocker was th

19、at things dragged on well beyond the two weeks I had anticipated 最令人吃惊的是，事情拖了很久，大大超过我原来设想的两周。 2)Litmus paper can be used as an indicator of the presence or not of acid in a solution 石蕊试纸可用于指示溶液中是否含有酸。 三、用名词代替形容词，构成标题式短语(Headline phrase)。 报刊标题为了节约版面，尽量略去虚词和其他次要的词，把具有刺激性的词语(stimulating words)挤压在一起，因而名

20、词连用便成了一种“free-and-easy habit”。如： Sino-American Trade Review Talks Start 中美贸易回顾会谈开始 January Crude Oil Output Beats Target 一月份原油产量超过指标 5oo-Metre-Long Flood Prevention Dyke Built 五百米长的防洪坝建成 这种名词连用的短语结构简化，表达方便，词数少而信息量大，其使用范围已大大超出了报刊标题，在现代英语里几乎俯拾即是。BFoster指出，“The whole tendency of the modern language is

21、towards doing away with adjectives, or at least，using nouns as epithets” 如： gold reserve黄金储备 generation gap两代人之间的隔阂 figure control problem保持优美身材的问题 job opportunity discrimination(因种族或性别而异的)就业机会歧视 名词连用或复合名词在科技英语里尤其常见： space shuttle flight test program航天飞机试飞计划 computer programming teaching device manu

22、al计算机程序编制教学方法手册 satellite communications ground station equipment repairer卫星通信地面站设备修理人员 名词连用加强了英语的名词优势，也反映了现代英语追求简洁的总趋势，但不少语言学者反对过分堆彻名词(noun pileups)，认为这会使语言失去活力，缺乏动态感，有时还会造成语意含混，甚至产生歧义。EGowers指出：“The constant use of headline phrases is usually a sign either of unclear thinking or of unwillingness t

23、o say things as briskly and simply as possibleA headline phrase consisting of more than two words should be treated with suspicion，and things tend to get even more awkward if the phrase includes an adjective as well as a number of nounsit is not always obvious on first reading which noun the adjecti

24、ve qualifies，and tiresome problems of hyphenation sometimes arise” 例如：1. British history teachers (1) teachers of British history教英国历史的教师(2) British teachers of history教历史的英国教师2. A small car factory (1) a factory of small cars制造小汽车的工厂 (2) a small factory of cars制造轿车的小工厂3. an old mans bicycle (1) an

25、old + (mans bicycle) 一辆旧的男式自行车 (2) (an old man) +bicycle) 一个老人的自行车4. Excessive headline phrase condemnation is, of course, a possibility(= It is possible, of course, to go too far in condemning headline phrases)当然，过分指责使用标题式短语是可能的。(=It is possible，of course，to condemn the overuse of headline phrases)

26、当然，指责过分使用标题式短语是可能的。 名词连用或用名词代替形容词(noun adjectives)在现代英语里是一种盛行的文风。HWFowler也指出，“These tricks， when allowed to affect literary style，destroy both precision and elegance；sentences stumble along painfully and obscurely in synthetic lumps instead of running easily and lucidly with analytical graceThe corr

27、uption has gone far，affecting especially political speeches，official writing，and commercialese” 例如： 1)Major vehicle expansion projects must depend on steel availability. (= Major projects for expanding the production of vehicles must depend on how much steel is available)2)Where retirement dissatisf

28、action existed advance activity programming had been insignificant (=The people who were unhappy after retirement were those who had taken little trouble to plan their activities beforehand)3)This compulsion is much regretted，but a large vehicle fleet operator restriction in mileage has now been mad

29、e imperative in meeting the demand for petrol economy(=We much regret having to do this，but we have been obliged to restrict greatly the operation of our large fleet of vehicles or to restrict the operation of our fleet of large vehicles?to meet the demand for economy in petro1)四、名词优势造成介词优势。 介词前置于名词

30、或名词性词语，由于英语多用名词，必然也要多用介词，因而产生了介词优势。随着英语大量废弃名词和形容词的形态变化，介词便取而代之，起了某些形态变化的作用。介词优势与名词优势结合，使英语的静态倾向更为显著。 英语介词十分常见，有的学者把英语称为“介词的语言”，例如以下一句，可谓介词充斥(prepositionitis)：Adequate clearance between the rear face of the last stack in the load and inside surface of the rear doors was provided to enable the refrige

31、rated air flowing from the front to he rear of the trailer to enter the longitudinal air channels through the load which opened on the rear of the load at this point英语常常用介词短语取代动词短语，即以“静”代“动”，如：1)He is at his books(He is reading books)他在读书。2)He has someone behind him(Someone supports him)有人给他撑腰。3)The

32、 machine is in operation(The machine is working)机器正在运行。4)Is this train for Chicago?(Is this train going to Chicago?)这趟火车是开往芝加哥的吗?5)Shall we go to the theater?(Shall we go to see a play in the theater?)咱们到剧场看戏，好吗?6)With these words she went away (After saying these，she went away)说完这些话，她便走开了。7)They immediately set out in pursuit of the enemy. (They immediately set out