科技英语文体特征

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,2014-10-18,#,科技英语文体特征,Stylistic Features of EST,What is EST?,The English of science and technology (EST),is actually a big variety.,It includes the English of chemistry, the English of physics, the English of mathematics, the English of biology, the English of medicine, etc.,Of all the scientific fields, we usually subdivide them into two main varieties:,the English of specialized science and technology,(ESST),专门用途科技英语,and the English of common science and technology,(ECST),科普英语,EST is used in scientific works, academic thesis, research papers, experimental reports, the description or explanation of natural phenomena.,In one word it is a variety of English, dealing with the theories and applications of science and technology.,But, generally speaking, the English of all scientific fields have something in common and on which we base our studies.,The common elements in various EST articles, papers and thesis can be analyzed in terms of their similarities in linguistic features.,This kind of writing is usually formal in style and serious in tone .,It does not take artistic beauty of language as its goal, instead, it tries to achieve clarity in logic and accuracy in meaning.,It ties to avoid subjective opinions or evaluations, ambiguous word or expressions.,General stylistic features of EST,It tends to employ words with the development of science and technology.,The sentences are usually long and complete and,subordinate appositive(,同位语从句,),and,parenthetical clauses,（,插入语从句,）,are often used.,Logical connectors, such as,hence, in summary, as a result, appear in EST more frequently than in other types of writing.,First, let us compare the following two paragraphs about “man ”:,What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties,（天赋）,! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a God! The beauty of the word! The paragon(,典范,) of animals.,William Shakespeare:,Hamlet,Man is metazoan,met,z,u,n,（后生动物,多细胞动物）, triploblastic,tripl,blstik,（三胚层的）, vertebrate,v,:,tibrit,（脊椎动物）,pentadacty,l pentdktil,（,adj.,有五指的）,mammalian,mmeilj,n,（哺乳动物）,eutherian,ju:,irin,（真哺乳亚纲的,(,动物,),primate,praimit,（灵长目动物）,.,The main outline of each of his principal system of organs may be traced back, like those of other mammals, to the fishes.,From a textbook of biology,Of the two passages, the first one is a piece of literary work, and the second, EST.,By comparison, we can see the sharp differences between the styles of these two passages although they are dealing with the same subject matter-human being.,Lexically,in the first passage, we can see the frequent use of,favorable adjectives,and nouns,such as,noble, infinite, express, admirable, angel,God, beauty, paragon,.,While in the second one , we find,technical terms,of biology predominate the whole text,such as,metazoan, triploblastic, choral, vertebrate, pentadactyl, mammalian, eutheran, primate, etc.,Syntactically,in the first passage, we can find the frequent use of exclamatory sentences,（感叹句）,as well as two short sentence fragments,（片语）,in order to express feelings;,While in the second passage, both sentences are complete declarative sentences,(,陈述句,),with the purpose of giving information.,Graphologically, in the first passage the typical feature is the frequent use of exclamation marks (which show feelings); while in the second passage, the frequent use of commas (which offer information).,Semantically, in the first passage, figurative language is used in order to show a strong feeling, especially the use of the metaphor (piece of work), hyperbole and metaphor (the beauty of the world; the paragon of animals), and similes (like an angel; like a God).As a result, man is greatly praised.,While in the second passage, all the words are used in their,conceptual meanings,. The tone is factual, and impersonal. As a result, the information of how man came into being is clearly revealed.,科技英语文体特征分析模版,Model of Stylistic Analysis of EST,1,、,Graphological Features,语相特征,2,、,Lexical Features,词汇特征,3,、,Syntactic,Grammatical Features,句法语法特征,4,、,Semantic Features,语篇特征,1.Graphological Features,Generally speaking, EST makes full use of graphological devices.,First, scientists tend to use visual aids more than other people, such as pictures, tables, charts, formulae, etc. in order to explain matters clearly.,语相特征：包括标点，图表，大小写，段落的划分，空格等。,As far as,punctuation,（标点）,is concerned, the most frequently used marks are the,full stop,（句号）, the,comma,（逗号）, and the,parentheses,（括号）,. This is due to the nature of EST writing.,As the basic function of EST is to inform, therefore objective statements are the most preferred sentence type, thus the,full stop,.,And the sentences are usually long; therefore,commas,are used to set off some elements of the sentence from what proceeds, and what follows.,Parentheses,are used to enclose supplementary details.,2.Lexical Features,EST vocabulary usually consists of the following kinds of words:,1) common words,（,with specific meaning,）,;,2) highly technical words;,3) semi-technical words;,4) nominalization,5) noun compounds,6) newly coined words.,mon words,普通词,英语科技文体中的普通词或称非技术词是属于语言共核部分的词,通用于各类文体,包括代词、连词、数词、动词,以及无技术意义的形容词、副词、名词等。在专用语中,非技术词既有结构上的关联作用,又有语义上的补充作用,:,【,例句,】,The,principle,of the,electron microscope is,as follows,; Electrons from a hot cathode are accelerated,by,a positive potential on an anode,（阳极）,and are focused,so as to,form a beam of high-speed electrons,which fall upon a sample to be observed,. Electrons emerging,from,t,his sample are focused by,another,electron lens and, may form a magnified image on a fluorescent screen.,译文,电子显微镜的原理如下,:,从热阴极发射的电子受到阳极上正电位的加举作用,并聚集形成一束高速电子,落到要观察的样品上。从这个样品上出来的电子又有另一个电子透镜聚焦并可在萤光屏上形成一个极大的物像。,从上面英文斜体词可知,这些非技术词或是连词造句、连句成段的功能词,或是具有普通意义的常用词,即使在正式程度很高的语篇中,非技术词对其构成也是极为重要的。,在专用语文体中,非技术词的主要特点是除了本身的结构意义或概念意义外,词义色彩中性,即既没有贬褒色彩,也没有感倩色彩。这与文学语体截然不同,如以,escape,一词为例,:,【,例句,】The high-ceilinged rooms, the little balconies, alcoves, nooks and angles all suggests sanctuary,escape, creature comfort.,译文,天花板高高的房间,小巧的楼厅,凹进的斗室,僻静的角落,这一切都使人联想到静谧的圣殿，遁世避俗的处所和舒适的享受。,escape,原意为“逃遁” 含义较抽象,此处联系上下文,译作逃遁之事物与处所,这就使人联想到远离尘世喧嚣和烦恼的意境。这种联想正是文学创作和欣赏所必不可少的条仵。而同样一个词,(,尽管词性不,),用在科技英语中决不可能引起如此的联想。,【,例句,】The first bubbles to,escape,from the liquid are a mixture of air and hydrogen.,译文,最初从液体中溢出的气体是空气和氢的混合物。,这里,escape,只表示一种状态，别无其他附加意义。又如,beam,一例,:,【,例句,】He beamed welcome at the distinguished visitors and complimented them on their looks.,译文,他满面春风地向贵客们表示欢迎,恭维他们气色好。,beam,原意为“发光”“发热”“发射”,此处喻义为脸上露出高兴、微笑等神情,译为“,满面春风,” 形象地传达了,beam,的含义。,beam,在这里带有浓重的感倩色彩,但在下列科技英语例句中,却只有单一的“发射” 之意了。,A robot might carry its power, for example, storage batteries, and has its instructions beamed by short-wave short-range electromagnetic waves,（短波短程电磁波）,.,译文,机器人可以携带电源,例如蓄电池,并用短波短程电磁波发射信号。,2. technical words,技术词（术语）,Highly technical words,are often used for a particular scientific discipline, usually formed from elements provided by Greek or Latin, such as the words like,metazoen, triploblastic, chodal, vertebrate, pentadactyl,etc. used in the example of the Introduction of this chapter.,Many of the highly technical words remain foreign to outsiders, even to educated native speakers.,3. semi-technical words,半技术词,Semi-technical words,refer to words that have the same or slightly different meaning in several scientific or technical disciplines, but have meaning different from their non-technical use, such as,energy, force, mass, matter, power, movement, solution,etc.,半技术词,(semi-technical words),是科技文体中应用最广的词,科学思想和技术内容的展开主要依靠半技术词来实现。半技术词亦称次技术词,(sub -technical words),。半技术词大部分来自英语词汇的共核部分,具有一定的技术含义,且各科通用。（,context independent words which occur with high frequency across disciplines.,）,半技术词的主要文体特征为,:,1,词频高：任何高级复杂的科学技术,往往可通过基本规律或基础技未概念加以阐述。一般专著的主题或跟主题词密切相关的词多用技术词,而表示基本规律或基础技术的词则多用半技术词。 正是通过这些半技术词表示的基本技术概念,加上普通词的辅助与衔接,使之上下贯通,专门技术思想才得以体现。因此,半技术词的词频比技术词要高得多,但又低于普通词。,2,、跨学科,半技术词的词义随专业、学科的不同而有变化。例如,:power,在日常用语中有“能力、动力、权力、国家、政权”等词义,在科技文献中则有“功率、电源、电力、信率、乘方、率、价”等词义。,current:,在水力学方面译作“水流”,而在电学中译为“电流”。,cable:,可以是电缆”,也可以是“光缆”。,parallel:,在数学上,为“平行”而在电学上为“并联”。,level:,在电气通信中为“电平”,而在光通信中为“光平”。,3,、多义性：,许多半技术词搭配灵活,即使在同一专业内,因词的联立关系不同,词义也有差别。有一篇译文仅,6000,字的文章,facility,这个词,就用了近,20,次,译者须得体地处理同词异义的现象,:,【,例,1】. In order to perform an effective auditor,（检验）, the auditor(s) must be familiar with all aspects of a,facility,operation.,【,译文,】,为了进行有效的检验,检验人员必须熟悉,设备,的操作。,【,例,2】Regulaion regarding the handling of hazardous wastes have become more stringent and complex.,Facilities,can no longer ignore their wastes.,译文,处理有害废物的规程变得更严格、更复杂。工厂不能再忽视所产生的废物。,【,例,3】Regulations require that any reactive and ignitable waste be stored at least 500 meters from the,facility,s property line.,译文,条例要求,凡是会发生反应和可燃的废物,应存放于离,厂家,财产至少,500,米的地方。,【,例,4】The site ideally should have sufficient land to provide a buffer zone between the,facility,and the public surrounding it.,译文,理想的处理现场应该有足够的土地,以便在,设施,及其周围环境之间有一缓冲区。,以上四例中将,facility,分别译为“设备、工厂、厂家、设施”如将译词任意替换是不得体的。,半技术词没有严格的体系性,其词义取决于 专业内容和词的联立关系。,有的半技术词由于用法不同，还可以有不同的词性,如上述,power,一词,除用作名词外,也可用作动词,并可由过去分词转化为形容词。,4,、语义负荷低,半技术词虽有多义性,但比起普通词来,它们的词义负荷要低得多。如,work,一词,作为普通词,一般辞典对它的释义都写得较长，甚至多达数页。它的词性灵活,搭配很多,词的意义很大程度上取决于上下文。,例如，,work,作为普通词,还有许多固定的配搭,产生出无数的词义,而如作为半技术词,其词义负荷就小得多。与其他半技术词一样,在科技英语中增添了新义,词义带上不同的专业色彩,词的用法与搭配获得相对稳定,例如,:,【,例句,】Pushing or pulling, however, does not necessarily mean doing,work.,译文,l,然而,推或拉未必意味着作,功,。,(,物理学,),【,例句,】The,works,of these watches are home-produced and wear well.,译文,这些表的机件是国产的,耐磨的。,(,机械,),【,例句,】Temperature required for annealing is a function of two factors, (1) the nature of the material, and (2) the amount of,work,that has been done prior to annealing.,译文,回火所需温度随两个因素而变,:(1),材料特性,;(2),退火前的,加工,量。（机械，冶金）,4.,Nominalization,名词化,Nominalization,refers to the grammatical process of forming nouns from other parts of speech, usually verbs or adjectives.,Nominalization is more formal than its counterpart, therefore more frequently occur in EST.,名词化指名词性转化,如起名词作用的非谓语动词和与动词同根或同形的名词,;,也包括一些形容词来源的名词。,这些词可起到名词的作用,也可表达谓语动词或形容词所表达的内容,常伴有修饰成分或附加成分,构成短语。这种短语称为名词化结构。,名词化结构的组合方式多,意义容量大,适宜于表达精细复杂的思想,使文章具有庄重感和严肃感。,名词化的词主要是指表示动作或状态的抽象名词,或起名词作用的非谓语动词,:,它们一般由动词派生,但也包括由形容词加后缀,-ability, -ity, -ness,等构成的名词,例如,possible possibility, available-availability, clean-cleaness.,例句：,a) The,dependence,(to depend) of the rate of evaporation (to evaporate) of a liquid on temperature is enormous.,b) The,addition,(to add) and removal (to remove) of heat may change the state of moving objects by radio waves.,名词化的功能：,1,、句法简单,2,、表述客观,3,、突出重点,名词化的语义特征：,1,、抽象性,2,、包容性,名词化的语义转化：,名词化的词,(,不定式除外,),还经常可转化为具体名词,转化的方式是加冠词,复数加词尾,(e)s,。转化的结果是,:(1),变抽象意义为具体词,义,;(2),功能改变,可以用普通名词特有的修饰语来修饰,也可作名词定语。,如一些名词化的词加冠词后,即取得具体意义,:,Institution (,建立,) an institution (,机构,),construction (,建筑,)a construction(,建筑物,),mixture (,混合,)a mixture(,混合物,),selection (,选择,)a selection(,选集,),building (,建筑,)a building (,建筑物,),drawing (,绘图,)a drawing (,图,),有些词的复数形式即为具体名词,:,agreement (,同意,)agreements(,契约,),connection (,连接,) connections (,结合处,),development (,发展,)developments (,发展成果,),Instruction (,指示,) Instruction s(,说明书,),translation (,翻译,) translations (,译作,),use (,使用,)uses (,用途,),finding (,寻找,) findings (,调查结果,),surrounding (,环绕,)surroundings (,环境,),beginning (,开始,)beginnings (,早期阶段,),reading (,读,)readings (,读数,),3.Syntactic/grammatical Features,(1) more declarative sentences,多陈述句,As far as sentence type is concerned, there are more declarative sentences, since the primary purpose of EST is to supply information, and to achieve clarity, conciseness and accuracy.,（,2,）,more long sentences.,多长句,As far as sentence length is concerned, there are more long sentences. Sentences of more than 30 words are by no means rare in EST writings, and they often contain several clauses and non-finite verb phrases as pre- and post- modifiers and these clauses and phrases are usually interwoven with each other, thus forming very long sentences.,（,3,）,frequent use of “it” introduced sentences,。,it,引导的无人称句,Another typical syntactic feature is the frequent use of “it” introduced sentences which add a sense of impersonality and formality. For example:,a) It is possible to make concrete of any required strength within reasonable limits.,b) It is necessary to use a more reliable method of inspection in the form of a suitable test.,（,4,）,The frequent use of prepositional phrases and participle phrases are also common in EST writings.,介词短语和分词结构的普遍使用,All these make the sentence structure more logical. For example:,a) the action of air on an airplane in flight at low altitude is greater than that at high altitude.,b) Travelling at the speed of light, it takes two million years to reach the next galaxy,星系,.,（,5,）,frequent use of,passive voice,.,被动语态 的广泛使用,The most conspicuous grammatical feature of EST is the frequent use of,passive voice,. About one-third of the verbs in EST writings are in the passive voice. This indicates that scientists and engineers use the passive voice much more frequently than most other writers.,The reasons are:,a) Scientists are more interested in the action or facts rather than the doers;,b) Passive sentences are usually shorter and more concise than active ones;,c) Passive sentences appear more objective in tone.,被动语态的使用场合：,1,、不提动作的执行者,2,、以客体为话题,3,、便于句子结构安排,被动语态的翻译,1. Computers and People,In future, cash will be used less and less. We may live in a cashless society where all financial transactions are processed by computers without the use of cash. Transference of money will be through electronic fund transfer.,电脑与人,将来,现金将会用得越来越少。我们很可能会生活在一个无现金的社会里,一切金钱交易都由电脑来操作。金钱往来可以通过电子转账。,Unemployment may be result. Many workers will be replaced by machines. People will need to be computer-literate and re-training is required for the people involved.,(6),一般现在时,simple present tense.,Another typical grammatical feature of EST is the frequent use of,simple present tense,.,Since the simple present tense is often used to show a general truth, or to indicate a state, or regular actions or process, it is most commonly used in EST writings,Apart from the simple present tense, the simple past, the simple future, the present perfect and the present continuous are also used in EST writings, but not as frequently as the simple present.,5. Semantic Features,1. The most conspicuous semantic feature of EST is the use of a language in which most of the words are in their,conceptual meaning,.,In other words, rhetorical devices, figures of speech can hardly find their places here, since the main purpose of EST is to give information, not to show feelings.,2. wide use of connectives,Clarity and factuality are more important in EST than in other varieties, which resulted in the frequent use of connectives(transations).,(1) logical connectors,: hence, therefore, thus, but, however, and, in addition, nevertheless.,(2) backward reference with use of it, this,(,回指,),(,3) noun repetition,