比较表达法的两种作用

10.比较表达法的两种作用（1）He is an expert more in name than in reality.他这个专家有其名而无 其实。（优势比较）（2）Her book is more than a guide.她的书不仅仅是一般的指南（强调）（3）Hitlers mistakes gave Roosevelt the victory; just as at Waterloo it was less Wellington who won than Nagolepn who lost.希特勒犯了错误使 罗斯福获胜，正如滑铁卢一战，与其说是威灵顿打赢了，不如说是 拿破仑打败了。（劣势比较）（4）No one would accuse you of looking less than a gentleman 讦 you wore a shirt like this你穿这样的衬衫不会有人指责你缺少绅士气派。（强 调）（5）I had as much chance of getting such a simple fact across to that pompous windbag as of changing lead into gold要想让这个自命不凡 夸夸其谈的人明白这样简单的一个事实,除非我能把铅变成金（同 等比较）（6）We could not afford to go away together to the health resort; it is as much as I could do to get him offhe is really in dire need of it.我财 力不够，没法一块儿去疗养地，把他一个人送去已经是尽我所能， 他实在太需要疗养了。（强调）（7）It is not advice as much as approval that he seeks .他不像是在征求意 见，更像是想得到赞同。（否定比较）Notes：本次练习的主题是英语比较式的翻译。英语这种语言现象很广泛，表达力 也很强。大体上说这种表达法有两方面的作用：一是表示比较，如优势 比较；3-劣势比较;5-同等比较;7-否定比较（此句的as much as=but）。 二是表示强调，如句2, 4, 6,形式是比较，实际只起强调作用，从正面 或反面加强语气。英语的比较式就其第一种作用来看，只有最基本的、语义同层次的优势比 较，如He runs faster than I.才能译成汉语的“比：他比我跑得快。此外 英语的比较实质上是从各个不同的方面对语义进行程度上的肯定或否定， 因此往往难用“比”字来翻译。比方说汉语不爱用劣势比较，第句那样 的lessthan不能译成“比更少”，只能换个说法“与其说不如说”。 同等比较好办些，因为汉语有其对应说法“像一样”。英语的优势比较 和否定比较往往是肯定一方否定一方，因此往往译成“不是而是”，如 句1，7两句。现代英语将比较式用作强调的情况很多。从形式上看，与上述的比较的情 况不同的是：比较式各部分必须连在一体（more than,less than,as much as）, 不能将各词分开，分开便成了比较而不是强调，上述1与2, 3与4, 5与6 各句比较即可一目了然。More than或less than修饰名词时，该名词便具有 抽象品质的意义：more than a guide指该书虽名为指南却比一般指南所起 作用大；less than a gentleman则是指绅士派头方面。这两个比较式还可用 于形容词、副词（more than enough绰绰有余，treated less than human不 当 人看待）及动词（如t has more than doubled曾加一倍以上）。同等比较的 as much as用于强调时往往指“尽量，如句6,但在句7中与not连用构成比 较，意思就发生了变化。英语此句可以写成It is not so much advice as approval that he seeks,意思不变。这一结构往往用来比较两种说法的正确 程度。“That trumpet player was certainly loud” 那个小号手确实吹得够响了。“I wasnt bothered by his loudness so much as by his lack of talent 缺乏演奏 才能”Passage 10 “I feel it cannot get any worse”我感觉情况糟透了我感觉再没有比这情 况更糟的了The oil patch is more than skeletal steel rigs sprouting from sagebrush flats of old rangeland and the shallow green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is an entire region whose economy is inextricably bound up in the rise and fall of oil-and-gas prices. In trouble since 1981, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana continue to reel today from price shocks=feeling extremely surprised or upset from price shocks that show no sign of abating. Little relief is in sight through next year, and the day is long gone when oil-coampany profits transformed the proud new skylines of New Orleans and Houston into testaments to a time of plenty. Today, many buildings in these cities stand half empty, and the migration ofrust-belt （夕阳工业区）job seekers to the promised land of the oil patch is over. The best that the Southwest can hope for in 1987: a bottoming out of the recession.Calvin Wilson and his wife Wanda might seem to be unlikely casualties of skidding oil prices. Neither has anything to do with the oil-and-gas industry, yet their public-employee salaries in New Orleans-he is a police officer, she a school teacher-are tightly tied to tax revenues that have taken a heavy battering from falling industry income.At the peak of the boom a few years ago, Louisiana had more cash than it knew what to do with. But its surplus of $400 million has dried up, replaced by $300 million wirth of red ink on the ledgers. And both state and local governments have taken draconiar严厉的 austerity measur s财政紧缩措施in an attempt to make ends meet.When the city decreeed a four-day workweek for the police to save money, Wilson, 40, a 12-year veteran of the force, was forced to work special details part time to keep his familys bills paid. His wife, 36, who has a masters degree, faces a fourth year with no salary increase and perhaps another one after that. She teaches in a high school and worries about the impact of the “new economy”-as these hard times are being called euphemistically in the South-west-on her students.Children who once would have been concerned mostly with weekend dances and football games now hold down nearly full-time jobs, as much to help their parents as to replace the allowancees they no longer receive.“My 11th graders, all they talk about is their jobs； says Wanda Wilson.Those who have them are holding on to=try to keepthem for dear life=with the greatest effort. She is concerned, too, about the quality of education when the trend is to cut school costs and streamline operations.Things lately have brightened a bit. Calvin Wilson has been returned to a five-day workweek. But his hard-pressed family still cannot resume simple pleasures such as breakfast out once a week at a fast-food restaurant, and he has postponed a badly needed repair job on a leaky roof. “I will never feel it is always going to be a smooth road ahead again,” says Wilson. His wife is only slightly more optimistic. “I have this feeling that next year is going to be better than this,.she says. “I know that I feel it cant get any worse.”译文：油田可不仅仅是你看到的遍布旧牧场山平原和碧绿的墨西哥湾浅海中的那些骨骸似的 钢铁钻架。它覆盖的可是严重受到油气价格涨落影响的一大块区域。自1981年陷入困境以来， 俄克拉荷马，德克萨斯和路易斯安那几个州直到今天仍然饱受价格冲击的影响，迄今看不到 任何减退的迹象。明年也看不到多少缓解的可能。曾几何时，石油公司的利润使新奥尔良和 休斯顿见证了空前的自豪和繁荣，改变了那里的城市轮廓，而这种辉煌今天早已一去不返。 取而代之的是这里的许多建筑有一半空置在那里无人问津。夕阳工业区涌向这片黄金口岸找 工作的人群也都不复存在。1987年西南地区最大愿望就是：衰退到头，走出萧条。卡尔温威尔逊和他的妻子看起来似乎不大可能成为油价下滑的受害者，因为夫妇俩 都与石油天然气行业扯不上关系。但是他们新奥尔良公职人员的薪水-他是警官，妻子是教 师-却是与当地的税收紧密相关的。由于行业收入减少，当地税收亦受到严重影响。几年前的经济鼎盛时期，路易斯安那州钱都多得不知道该咋用。它那4亿美元的盈余不 仅消耗殆尽，而且账面赤字高达3亿。州和地方政府都纷纷采取严厉的紧缩措施以图平衡收 支。市政当局实施警察四天工作日节省开支， 40岁的威尔逊，一个有着12年警龄的老兵， 不得不建造干特别勤务赚钱来维持家用。他的妻子， 36岁，硕士文凭，已是第四年未获加薪， 而且极可能再等一年也同样希望渺茫。她在一所中学供职，对“新经济“西南地区对困难时期的委婉称法给学生带来的影响深表忧虑。以前孩子们关心的多是周末舞会或是足球赛，现在则是几乎全天干活，既是帮助父母， 同时也是赚点现在已得不到的零花钱。汪达威尔逊说：“我11年级的学生谈的都是他们的工作，有工作的学生都极力想干 下去。”她对教育质量也很担心，现在学校也在削减经费，精简办事程序提高效率。最近情况有所好转。卡尔文威尔逊已恢复五天工作制。但拮据的经济仍然不敢奢望 享受哪怕仅仅是每周一次去快餐馆吃一顿的乐趣。并且屋顶漏水那样的急事都拖下来了。他 说，“前面总是一片坦途的那种感觉永远也不会再有了”。妻子稍微比他乐观点，说：“我 觉得明年会比今年好。我觉得今年已是糟透顶了。”