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纽马克交际翻译理论下英语历史学论文长句 翻译分析

发布时间:2022-12-22 14:25
Content
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
Chapter One Introduction to Translation Project 1
1.1Background of Translation Project 1
1.2Translation Content 1
1.3Project Significance 2
1.3.1Theoretical significance 2
1.3.2Practical significance 4
1.3.3Application and prospect 4
Chapter 2 Literature Review on the Studies of Translating Long Sentences 6
2.1Definition of Long Sentences 6
2.2Previous Research on the Translation of Long Sentences 6
2.2.1Previous research focusing on specific translation process 6
2.2.2Previous research focusing on the analysis of long sentences' structure 8
2.2.3Previous research focusing on the analysis of long sentences' meaning 9
Chapter Three Case Study 12
3.1Classification of Sentences in the Text 12
3.1.1Long sentences expressing arguments or opinions 12
3.1.2Long sentences presenting historical facts 13
3.1.3Long sentences quoted from legal documents 14
3.2Language Feature of the Long Sentences: Complex Logical Relationship 15
3.2.1Complexity caused by extensive use of attributive modifiers 15
3.2.2Complexity caused by extensive use of adverbial modifiers 17
3.2.3Complexity caused by extensive use of parallel structures 18
3.3Translation Principles of Long Sentences in the Text 21
3.3.1Accuracy in translating historical facts 22
3.3.2Logicality in translating ideas 22
3.3.3Readability 22
3.4 Techniques of Translating the Long Sentences in the Text 23
3.4.1Embedding 23
3.4.2Dividing 25
3.4.3Splitting 29
3.4.4Explication and adjustment of logical relations 31
3.4.5Addition 34
Chapter Four Conclusion 38
4.1Major Findings 38
4.2Limitations 38
Acknowledgements 40
References 41
Appendix 44
Chapter One
Introduction to Translation Project
1.1Background of Translation Project
This project is translating excerpted three historical papers from the book titled Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect. This book is a collection of academic papers written by historians on the discussion of historical, political and legal origin and significance of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. This historical papers collection is intended to enable the ordinary readers to understand the achievements of historians in their studies of the origin and development of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. This book was used as part of the required reading materials in the Critical Developments in American History course which the author took during his study at Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing University. The author also wrote a research paper about the people's right of bearing arms in the US based on the papers excerpted for this translation project. The topic of the Second Amendment has long been a popular and controversial topic in American political and social life, which attracted the interest of the author, so the author chose this book as the source of the translation project.
1.2Translation Content
The collection was edited by Saul Cornell from the Ohio State University and published by Bedford/St, Martin's, Boston in 2000. This book is part of the Historians at Works series. This Historians at Works series means to present historians' works on the important and interesting topics openly discussed by the public in the US. All the topics discussed in the series are all major problems and events in the US history. The book focuses on the topic of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution including the existence of militia and the people's right of keeping and bearing arms, which is known as the most controversial part of the US Constitution. The following description from Saul Cornell shows how controversial and popular this topic is, “the debate over the meaning of this amendment has appeared on bumper stickers across America and has even found its way onto late night talk shows” (Cornell, 2000, p. vii).
The excerpted part of this book for this translation project includes three papers. The first paper, titled “To Keep and Bear Arms”, is composed by Saul Cornell. In this paper, Saul Cornell makes an overall introduction on the formation of the ideal of the Second Amendment from both historical and legal perspectives. This paper includes two parts. In the first part titled “The Militia, the People, and the Problem of Rights in Revolutionary America”, Saul Cornell introduces the general history of militia and the origin of American people bearing arms. Also, he describes the ideological development of the Second Amendment through the description of several important historical figures' political ideal. In the second part, titled “Scholars and the Second Amendment”, Saul makes a general literature review of the following articles selected from both diachronic and historical perspectives. Saul introduces the development and contradictions of different historians' opinions on understanding the Second Amendment. Also, he discusses the legal scholars' ideas on this amendment and the formation of the Standard Model of Second Amendment raised by them. The second paper is titled “A Well Regulated Militia: the Origin and Meaning of the Second Amendment” by Lawrence Delbert Cress. In this paper, Cress discusses the problem of the function of the Second Amendment as “protecting people's right to maintain a well-regulated militia” and the meaning of the Second Amendment should be read as “an affirmation of civic republican ideals” (Cornell, 2000, p. 51). The third paper is titled “The People in Arms: the Invincible Yeoman” by Edmund S. Morgan. In this paper, Morgan puts his focus on the difference of the reality and the ideal of militia during the period of American Independence War through exploring the development of ideas about the militia in England and America.
1.3Project Significance
1.3.1Theoretical significance
As mentioned before, the translation project is translating three historical papers taken from a historical papers collection. In historical papers, historians use detailed specific historical facts and quote historiographical literature to express their own opinions and arguments in some specific historical events. From this perspective, this translation project is a project of translating three historical academic documents. The language applied in these three historical academic documents is complicated academic language. However, as a historical papers collection intended to spread the history of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, the target texts of the three historical papers are provided to ordinary Chinese readers. From this perspective, it is important to make the target text understandable and acceptable by ordinary Chinese readers, for whom traditional translation theories could hardly provide any guidance.
Newmark's communicative translation theory is different from those traditional translation theories. This theory was put forward by Peter Newmark, a famous translation theorist from Britain, in the 1980s. Newmark believes that achieving the goal of communication is the most important function of translation. From this perspective, communicative translation theory focuses on the language knowledge at reader's level. Also, Newmark believes that truth and accuracy is the most important standard of a good translation (1988). From this perspective, communicative translation “attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership” (Newmark, 1988, p. 47). In other words, communicative translation theory “attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of original” (Newmark, 1981, p. 39).
Based on the Buhler's functional theory of language, which is “adapted by Jakobson as the one that is most usefully applied to translating”, Newmark divides the texts into three types based on the language function, which includes expressive text, informative text and vocative text (1988, pp. 39-40). According to Newmark's description of the types of texts, “text books, reports, papers, articles, memorandum and minutes on the topic of scientific, technological, commercial, industrial and economic, as well as other areas of knowledge or events” are informative texts (1988, p. 40). Newmark's communicative translation theory points out that the translated target text should be “readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership from both language and content perspectives” (1988, p. 47). Historical papers, as a kind of informative text, mean to transfer both historical facts and historians' historical opinions and arguments to readers. In other words, both language and content in historical papers should be transferred to readers in an understandable and comprehensible way. From this perspective, using communicative translation theory as theoretical guidance is appropriate for this translation project.
To sum up, Newmark's communicative translation theory provides a general theoretical guidance on non-literary translation. The theory of communicative translation intends to make the translated texts' effect to target language readers the same as the original texts' effect to source language readers. Communicative translation theory is a practical translation theory of target-language-emphasized and target-reader-oriented. From the historical papers' perspective, it is vitally important for the target texts to provide accurate specific historical facts and clear historical logic to target language readers same as the historical facts and historical logic provided by source texts to the source language readers. Since the target readers of this translation project are ordinary Chinese readers, it is important for translators to provide acceptable and understandable translated target text. From this perspective, Newmark's communicative translation theory can provide useful theoretical guidance on translating historical papers with specific historical facts and complicated historical logic to ordinary Chinese readers in an acceptable way.
1.3.2Practical significance
Every year, a huge amount of shooting cases happen in the US, which have caused huge casualties. These shooting cases are all tragedies caused by gun culture borne deeply inside the US and the constitutional right to bear arms based on the Second Amendment. This paper is a project report based on a translation project of translating the three papers taken from a historical papers collection which focuses on the formation and development of the Second Amendment. These selected papers are good sources for understanding the development of the US Constitution and the Second Amendment which raises the gun culture deeply rooted in the US society. Translating the three historical papers can help Chinese readers to understand the Second Amendment and the constitutional and political history behind this amendment.
E-C translation of long sentences has been regarded as a major difficulty in translation practice and one of the most important research topics in translation studies. Based on the analysis of language features, long sentences have been appearing frequently in these historical papers with complex logical relationship. Extensive use of long sentences with complex logical relationship has become the most obvious feature of these historical papers, which is where the difficulty appears during the process of translation. Therefore, it's necessary and significant to study the translation of long sentences in E-C translation of historical papers.
1.3.3Application and prospect
This thesis focuses on the study of translation of long sentences in English historical papers under the guidance of Newmark's communicative translation theory. It analyzes the translation of long sentences in English historical papers with a focused research on the classification, features, translation principles and translation techniques of long sentences, especially on the case analysis of specific translation techniques such as embedding, splitting, dividing, explication and adjustment of logic relations and addition. Through case analysis of specific techniques in translation practice, it aims to reach the conclusion that long English sentences in historical papers can be translated into Chinese accurately and logically acceptable by ordinary Chinese readers. Also, the author hopes to provide strategic guidance for similar translation practices.
Chapter Two
Literature Review on the Studies of Translating Long Sentences
2.1Definition of Long Sentences
Wang Zuoliang (1987), in Introduction to English Stylistics, points out that the average length of the English sentence is 17.8 words. Jin Pengsun (2009) defines the long English sentence in his book The Theory and Practice of English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translation as “long English sentences generally refer to sentences of over 20 words”. He also reveals that the phenomenon of long sentences in English mostly comes from the continuous expansion of the basic sentence structure. Song Tianxi (2011) also points out that long English sentences refer to the sentences of more than 20 words and points out that the longest English sentence could contain over 100 to 200 words. Based on the previous definitions, in this report, long sentences generally refer to sentences with more than 20 words, which consist of two or more than two clauses. Long sentences should have the basic feature of complicated logical relationship with different types of grammatical structures applied. Long sentences can be classified into three types which include simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences.
2.2Previous Research on Translating Long Sentences
The domestic research on the translation of long sentences in English has made some achievements. Such previous research can be classified into three types, including the research focusing on summarizing specific translation process of long sentences, the research focusing on summarizing translation methods based on analyzing structure of long sentences and the research focusing on summarizing translation methods based on analyzing semantic meaning of long sentences.
2.2.1Previous research focusing on specific translation process
This type of research focuses on summarizing specific process of translating long sentences. This type of research usually summarizes detailed steps of translating long sentences, which can be directly applied in translation practices. This type of research summarizes the translation methods or translation techniques of translating long sentences 6
at both structural level and semantic level. Through the summary above, specific translation processes and translation principles can be concluded.
Zhang Peiji (1983) discusses the translation of long sentences in A Course in English-Chinese Translation. He believes that translators should figure out the syntactic structures of the source texts in the first place, so that the translators understand the main idea and the meaning on multiple levels. Then translators should analyze interrelationship between the clauses, such as causal relations or time orders. Finally, the translators should translate meaning into Chinese correctly and flexibly according to the features and expressing habits of Chinese.
Liu Miqing (1986) discusses how to deal with the translation of long sentences in Stylistics and Translation in detail. He believes that the translation process of long sentences should contain six steps. Among these six steps, the first four steps belong to comprehension phase, while the fifth step and the sixth step belong to expressing phase. The first step is to find out the subject, predicate and object in a long sentence and to identify tense, voice and tone of a long sentence. The second step is to figure out the meaning of each word. The third step is to identify the main clause and subordinate clauses in a long sentence and to judge the interrelationship between them. The fourth step is to figure out the structure of multiple levels, logical relations and the logical focus. The fifth step is to adjust collocation and word order to recast the original sentence, so that the translated sentence could follow the conventional means of expression in Chinese. The sixth step is to polish words and syntactic order structure in order to make translation smooth and readable.
Xu Jianping (2000) discusses the long sentences in E-C translation in A practical Course of English-Chinese and Chinese-English Translation. He divides the process of translating long sentences into two stages and five steps. The first stage is comprehension which includes the first three steps. The second stage is presentation which consists of the fourth step and the fifth step. The first step is to present the long sentence in a skeleton form. The second step is to infer the main idea from the context and the whole text. The third step is to distinguish between the principle and subordinate elements and find out the interrelations between the principle and subordinate clauses. The fourth step is to enter on a tentative translation of each sentence division. The fifth step is to rearrange the order and finish touches.
Generally, the general translation process of translating long sentences can be summarized based on the previous research. The basic process can be divided into two parts which are analysis and reproduction. While analyzing the long sentences, it is vital important to properly analyze the structures of long sentences, specific meaning of every word and every phrase in long sentences, logical relationships between the clauses in long sentences and intended meanings of long sentences. In order to analyze the intended meaning of long sentences properly, it is important to understand the basic idea of the paragraph or the whole text in the first place. While reproducing the long sentences into target language, the target text should follow the language habits and logical order of the target language after the meaning and logic of long sentences are clarified.
2.2.2Previous research focusing on the analysis of long sentences' structure
The second type of research focuses on summarizing translation methods based on analyzing structure of long sentences. The research usually treats the complicated structures of long sentences as the major difficulty and puts forward different methods based on different theories to solve such difficulty.
Zhou Xunliang (1981), Feng Shujian (1983) and Tang Shuzong (1998) describe the basic principle of dividing and recasting based on the analysis of cases. Feng uses a Chinese idiom called “break up the whole into parts” (Hua Zheng Wei Ling) to describe the process of dividing in the analysis of long sentences. Tang applies the philosophical idea of “one dividing into two” and “two combining into one” to describe the process of division and reorganization.
Cheng Cunxi (1989) believes that in order to finish the translation of long sentences, the translators should first analyze the grammatical structures based on the four basic English sentence patterns and judge the semantic logic of the long sentences.
Dang Zhengsheng (2006) discusses the structural analysis method towards the translation of long sentences. The splitting of the sentence should be finished in the first place during the process of reading. During analysis process of translation, the sentence trunk and branches and the modifier and modified component should be figured out. The entire parenthesis should be removed. Every part of the sentence should be restructured based on the TL conventions.
Li Changshuan (2008) applies Nida's Kernel Sentence theory in the translation of long sentences in his Theory and Application of non-literature Translation. He concludes that all sentences should follow a basic deep structure of “who do what”. While translating a long sentence, the verb should be identified in the first place. This verb could be an actual verb or a nominalization. Then the relationship between sentences should be figured out and the complex surface stricture should be restructured in order to simplify long sentences.
Geng Zhi and Ren Zhiqi (2008) believe that using cognitive linguistic to analyze structures of English sentences and the structural differences between English sentences and Chinese sentences can help the translation of long English sentences. They conclude that, as an activity of communication, principles and methods of translating long sentences should be put forward based on western linguistics and linguistic philosophy.
To sum up, the second type of previous research focuses on solving the difficulties caused by the complicated structures of long sentences. The previous research uses linguistic theories, such as cognitive linguistic theory or Nida's Kernel Sentence theory, as theoretical guidance to put forward specific translation principles or methods. Generally speaking, the key to solve the difficulty of complicated structures is to analyze every element of the long sentences and figure out the relationship between different elements in the long sentences.
2.2.3Previous research focusing on the analysis of long sentences' meaning
The third type of research focuses on summarizing translation methods based on analyzing semantic meanings of long sentences. Long sentences usually have complicated logical relationships and complicated meanings. According to the previous research, in order to translate long sentences, the semantic meanings of long sentences should be figured out. The logical relationship of long sentences should be clarified. The meanings of long sentences should be comprehended based on the basic idea of the paragraph or the whole text. While translating the long sentences, after the semantic meanings and the logical relationship of the long sentences are clarified, the translated target text of long sentences should follow the conventional means of expressions and conventional logical orders of target language.
Lin Kenan (1995) concludes that in the process of translating long sentences, translators should understand the intended meaning of source text before recasting the long sentences. Translators should read and understand the meaning of the whole paragraph or the whole text where long sentences located in the first place before translating long sentences. If translators recast the order of translated sentence without understanding the intended meaning of the author, it would lead to translation errors.
Liu Qingrong(2009) strengthens that in the process of translating long sentences, the information, the flexibility, the rhythms and the vehemence of the original sentences should be fully transformed into the translated sentences.
Sun Feifei (2013) strengthens that translated long sentences should obey the conventional means of expression and logic of target language. Translators should pay more attention to the dividing and recasting during the process of translating long sentences.
Zhang Lei (2013) concludes that the translation of long sentences should focuses on sentences' internal logic of the syntactic components and logical relationship between clauses. While translating long sentences, the logic of long sentences should be rebuilt based on the language habits and logic of target language.
Cao Minglun (2015) generally describes the outcome of translated long sentences. He believes that long sentences in the translated target texts should keep the grammar, syntax and format of source texts, while maintain the smooth expression and typical language feature of target language as well.
To sum up, the domestic previous research on the translation of long sentences can be classified into three types. The first type focuses on concluding a specific translation process which can be directly applied into the translation practice. Both difficulties occurring on structural level and semantic level of long sentences are analyzed so that the translation process can directly guide translation practice. The second type focuses on putting forward translation methods to solve the difficulty of the complicated structures of long sentences with different linguistic or translation theories applied. The key to solve the difficulty of complicated structures is to analyze every element of long sentences and figure out the relationship between different elements in the long sentences. The third type focuses on solving the difficulties of translating long sentences on semantic level. This type of research mostly pay attention to analysis of the internal logical relationships and semantic meanings of long sentences. The translation of long sentences should follow the logical orders and conventional means of expression of the target language. However, few of the previous research pays attention to summarizing translation methods or principles of translating long English sentences in historical academic documents. For this translation project, the author will analyze the translation of long sentences in historical academic documents. The author intends to study how to translate long sentences in English historical papers into Chinese under the theoretical guidance of Newmark's communicative translation theory. The author hopes to put forward some constructive translation methods and principles for translating long sentences in the historical papers. With these translation methods and principles applied, the translated target text of long sentences can be semantically, structurally and logically accepted by ordinary Chinese readers.
Chapter Three
Case Study
3.1 Classification of Sentences in the Text
As mentioned before, the translation project is translating three historical papers selected from a historical papers collection on the topic of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. The three papers describe one of the most controversial amendments of the US constitutional history as well as the development of social and political ideal behind this amendment. In addition, the selected papers describe the social and political influence of this amendment. In other words, the three historical papers are three historical academic documents on the subject of political and constitutional history. Academic documents usually have clear but complex logic. For historical academic documents, historians use detailed specific historical facts and quote historiographical literature to express their own opinions and arguments in some specific historical events.
Generally, the basic content of these three papers can be described as the combination of historical facts, historians' arguments and opinions as well as proof from quotations to support historians' opinions. From the perspective of content, features of text can be stated as below. First, historians' arguments and opinions are stated clearly in these papers. Historical facts and events are used as proof to support these arguments or opinions. Second, the authors of these three papers quoted other people's arguments to support their arguments. These people could be historians, legal scholars, political scholars, politicians or even ordinary people of different times. They also quoted historical facts from the published or unpublished documentary of different times to support their opinions. Third, the authors of these papers need to quote from legal documents to find proof, because the selected three papers talk about the constitutional history of US. The legal documents they quoted include the US Constitution, the American Bill of Rights, the bills or declarations of rights from different states, etc. With the content of these three historical papers analyzed before, the long sentences in the text can be classified into three types.
3.1.1Long sentences expressing arguments or opinions
This type of long sentences directly describes arguments and opinions, which includes 12
the arguments or opinions from historians or the arguments or opinions quoted by historians to support their own arguments. This type of long sentences is mostly compound sentences and complex sentences with the feature of complex logic relationship. Attributive modifiers and adverbial modifiers are extensively applied in this type of long sentences in order to explain historians' ideas concisely and clearly. Some of long sentences use parallel structures to explain several arguments of the same type. Sometimes, parallel structures are also applied in long sentences comparing several different arguments. The following examples are two typical long sentences expressing arguments and opinions. Example 1 is a long sentence which states historian's own argument, while example 2 is a long sentence that historian quotes from James Harrington, an English political philosopher.
Example 1
The Second Amendment gave constitutional sanction to the idea that the militia was the institutional expression of the citizenry's collective obligation to bear arms against the internal and external enemies of the state --- “a well regulated militia” to defend the liberties of the people against a demagogue's armed mob or a tyrant's standing army.
Example 2
The seventeenth-century political philosopher James Harrington argued that a republic could maintain its freedom only when it was composed of virtuous yeomen-independent farmers who would take up arms whenever their liberty was threatened.
3.1.2Long sentences presenting historical facts
This type of long sentences describes historical facts for the purpose of proving historians' arguments and opinions. Long sentences presenting historical facts are described by historians themselves or quoted from historical documentary or other scholars' works. This type of long sentences is mainly simple sentences or compound sentences. In order to describe historical facts or events to readers concisely and clearly, attributive modifiers are extensively applied in long sentences of historical facts, which makes long sentences logically complicated. Parallel structures are also extensively used in this type of long sentences. The following example 3 is a long sentence describing the historical fact about Magna Carta and the example 4 is a long sentence describing a historical fact quoted from Bacon's work.
Example 3
Magna Carta, a feudal compact accepted by King John at Runnymede in 1215 in exchange for renewed pledges of loyalty from his rebellious nobles, outlined the prerogatives of the nobility and the limits of royal authority.
Example 4
In 1622 Francis Bacon combined the two elements in his biography of Henry VII, giving Henry credit for keeping landed property widely spread through the population, by means of a statute forbidding alienation of land from farms of twenty acres or more.
3.1.3Long sentences quoted from legal documents
This type of long sentences are mainly legal articles quoted from the legal documents such as the US Constitution, the American Bill of Rights or the bills and declarations of rights from different states. This type of long sentences, written in the form of legal language, has the feature of complex logic relationship. Most of these long sentences are compound sentences and complex sentences with adverbial modifiers extensively applied. Parallel structures are also extensively used in this type of long sentences. The following example 5 and example 6 are two long sentences which are directly quoted from the “Virginia Declaration of Rights”.
Example 5
That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies in time of peace should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty and that in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by the civil power.
Example 6
Madison had Virginia's recommendations in mind when, on 8 June 1789, he proposed to Congress that the Constitution be amended to provide that “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.”
According to Newmark's communicative translation theory, the translated target text should be acceptable and comprehensible to the target language readers from both language and content perspectives (1988). Based on the content analysis of the text, long sentences in the text can be classified into three types with the same feature of complex
logical relationship. Different kinds of sentence structures are applied in different types of long sentences. With the language features and sentence structures analyzed, specific translation techniques can be applied.
3.2Language Feature of the Long Sentences: Complex Logical Relationship
According to the analysis before, the translation project is translating three historical papers about the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. In other words, this translation project is a project of translating three historical academic documents on the subject of political and constitutional history. As for the historical academic documents, historians use detailed specific historical facts and quote historiographical literature to express their own opinions and arguments in some specific historical events. From this perspective, the basic content of the three documents are historians' arguments and opinions with proof including historical facts and other quotations from documentary, people's words or works and legal documents. From this perspective, all long sentences are classified into three types including long sentences expressing arguments and opinions, long sentences presenting historical facts and long sentences quoted from legal documents.
Historical academic documents usually have complex but clear logic. According to the analysis before, all three types of long sentences have the feature of complex logical relationship. While translating the long sentences with complex logical relationship, the logical relations of long sentences in the source text should be transferred into the target text so that target language readers could understand such complex logical relationship. According to the grammatical and structural analysis of long sentences in the text, different kinds of sentence structures are applied in long sentences with different language features, which causes such complex logical relationship in long sentences.
3.2.1Complexity caused by extensive use of attributive modifiers
In long sentences of historical papers, attributive modifiers are extensively applied. In English, attributive modifiers refer to the elements modifying the nouns in the sentences. Attributive modifiers are mainly adjectives. In addition, nouns, pronouns, numerals, prepositional phrases, verb infinitives, participles and attributive clauses can all be used as attributive modifiers. According to the position of attributives, attributive modifiers can be classified into prepositive attributives and postpositive attributives. Prepositive attributives 15
are placed before the headwords being modified. Postpositive attributives are placed behind the headwords being modified. Attributive modifiers are usually used to modify and restrict headwords.
Lots of attributive modifiers appear in long sentences presenting historical facts and in long sentences expressing opinions or arguments. While translating these long sentences with such features, the relationship between attributives and the headwords being modified should be clarified. Also, attributives and headwords should be put in proper order in the sentence based on the habitual expression and logical order of the target language. Example 7 and example 8 below are two typical cases of extensive use of attributive modifiers.
Example 7
One controlling factor to this change was the influence of ① Madison's good friend ② Thomas Jefferson,③ who was serving as American's minister to France, and ④ had kept up an energetic correspondence with Madison on the process of ratification.
In this complex sentence expressing historical facts, there are four attributive modifiers modifying two headwords. The object of this sentence is “the influence”. The first headword “the influence” is modified by the first attributive modifier “Thomas Jefferson” behind the headword. “Thomas Jefferson” is another headword modified by three attributives including a prepositive attributive “Madison's good friend” and two postpositive attributives “who was serving as American's minister to France” and “had kept up an energetic correspondence with Madison on the process of ratification”. While translating this sentence, the logical order of the attributives and the headwords being modified should be clarified.
Example 8
This was the notion that the ability of ① the people to exercise sovereignty and control their government rested on the righteousness, independence, and military might of the yeoman farmer, the man ② who owned his own land, made his living from it, and stood ready to defend it and his country by force of arms.
This complex long sentence describes the opinion of how people exercising sovereignty. In the part describing the subject “ability”, the headword “ability” is modified by the postpositive attributive “the people to exercise sovereignty and control their government”. In the part describing yeoman farmers, the headword “the man” is modified by attributive clause “who owned his own land, made his living from it, and stood ready to defend it and his country by force of arms” behind the headword. While translating this long sentence, the logical relationship between attributives and headwords being modified should be clarified.
3.2.2Complexity caused by extensive use of adverbial modifiers
In long sentences of historical papers, adverbial modifiers are also extensively applied. In English, adverbial modifiers refer to the elements modifying the verbs, adjectives, adverbs or whole sentences in the sentences. Adverbial modifiers are mainly adverbs. In addition, nouns, numerals, pronouns, adjectives, prepositional phrases, participles and participle phrases, verb infinitives and adverbial clauses can all be used as adverbials. Adverbial modifiers are often used to describe place, time, cause, purpose, result, condition, direction, degree, manner and concomitant. Adverbial modifiers are usually placed at the end of a sentence, but they can also be placed at the beginning or in the middle a sentence. Adverbial modifiers are usually used to modify and restrict headwords.
Lots of adverbial modifiers appear in long sentences quoted from legal articles and long sentences expressing opinions or arguments. While translating these long sentences with such feature, the relationship between adverbials and the headwords being modified should be clarified. Also, adverbials and headwords should be put in proper order in the sentence based on the target language norms. Example 9 and example 10 below are two typical cases of extensive use of adverbial structure.
Example 9
The seventeenth-century political philosopher James Harrington argued that a republic could maintain its freedom ① only when it was composed of virtuous yeomen-independent farmers who would take up arms ② whenever their liberty was threatened.
In this long sentence, the verb “maintain” is modified by the adverbial clause “only when it was compose of virtuous yeomen-independent farmers” behind the headword “maintain”. The verb “take up” is modified by the adverbial clause “whenever their liberty was threatened” behind the headword “take up”.
Example 10
The inhabitants of the several states shall have the liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands they hold, and on all other lands in the United States not enclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States.
This long sentence is a long simple sentence quoted from the legal documents. This long sentence should be divided into two parts, both of which consists of a series of parallel adverbial modifiers.
1.The inhabitants of the several states shall have the liberty to fowl and hunt ① in seasonable times,② on the lands they hold, and ③ on all other lands in the United States not enclosed...
2.and in like manner to fish ① in all navigable waters and ② others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States.
In part 1, there are totally three adverbial modifiers modifying the infinitive “to fowl and hunt” including “in seasonable times”, “on the lands they hold” and “on all other lands in the United States not enclosed”. In part 2, there are also two parallel adverbial modifiers modifying the infinitive “to fish” and these two adverbials modifying “to fish” are “in all navigable waters” and “others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature ofthe United States”.
3.2.3Complexity caused by extensive use of parallel structures
The third feature is the extensive use of the parallel structures which is mostly applied in long sentences for presenting a series of historical facts or expressing a series of arguments. Parallel structures also appear in long sentences quoted from legal documents. Long sentences using parallel structures are usually compound sentences or complex compound sentences. While translating these long sentences with parallel structures in the text, the logical relation between every part of a long sentence should be clarified. Sometimes a long sentence with parallel structures should be divided into different parts before a translator translates it so that the meaning can be conveyed clearly. The following example 11 and example 12 are long sentences applying parallel structures to compare a series of historical arguments. Example 13 is a long sentence using a parallel structure to present a series of historical facts. Example 14 is a legal article with a parallel structure applied.
Example 11
It was not the kind of subordination that George Washington wanted in the Continental army or Alexander Hamilton in the Army of the United States, but a considered deference of free men to their acknowledged superiors, a kind of subordination that did not violate the yeoman's independent spirit.
This long compound complex sentence expresses an argument on the political relationship within the militia. This long sentence with a parallel structure applied can be classified into two levels based on different levels of logic relationship. This sentence can be divided into two parts as below.
1.It was not the kind of subordination that George Washington wanted in the Continental army / or Alexander Hamilton in the Army ofthe United States...
2....but a considered deference of free men to their acknowledged superiors, / a kind of subordination that did not violate the yeoman's independent spirit.
The logical relationship between part 1 and part 2 is adversative relationship. This is the first level of logical relationship. In part 1, the relationship between “George Washington wanted in the Continental army” and “Alexander Hamilton in the Army of the United States” is compound relationship. Also in the part 2, “a considered deference offree men to their acknowledged superiors” and “a kind of subordination that did not violate the yeoman's independent spirit” is compound relationship. This is the second level of logical relationship.
Example 12
Their lordly neighbors declared it, in an appeal for support against those other few whom they feared and distrusted as enemies to liberty and to the security of property---against irresponsible kings, against courtiers and bankers, stockjobbers and speculators---and against that unsafe portion of the many whom they also feared and distrusted for the same reason: paupers and laborers who held no land.
This compound complex sentence can be divided into four parts as below. Among the four parts, part 2, part 3 and part 4 form a compound parallel sentence structure.
1.Their lordly neighbors declared it, in an appeal for support...
2.against those other few whom they feared and distrusted as enemies to liberty and to the security ofproperty...
3.against irresponsible kings, against courtiers and bankers, stockjobbers and speculators...
4.and against that unsafe portion of the many whom they also feared and distrusted for the same reason: paupers and laborers who held no land.
Example 13
In the 1790s when Madison and Jefferson sought to organize the yeoman farmers of America in what became the Republican Party, they worked against the money power, against the unnatural aristocracy created and nurtured by Hamilton---not against America's natural aristocracy, not against men like themselves who had traditionally, since the beginning of settlement, furnished the country with leaders.
This sentence can be divided into three parts as below.
1.In the 1790s when Madison and Jefferson sought to organize the yeoman farmers ofAmerica in what became the Republican Party,...
2.they worked against the money power, against the unnatural aristocracy created and nurtured by Hamilton...
3.not against America's natural aristocracy, not against men like themselves who had traditionally, since the beginning of settlement, furnished the country with leaders. In part 2, there are two clauses starting with “against” which describe the object
Madison and Jefferson work against. In part 3, there are two clauses starting with “not against” behind the dash describing the object Madison and Jefferson do not work against. These four compound clauses which start with “against” and “not against” form a parallel structure.
Example 14
Awell regulated militia, composed ofthe body ofthe people, being the best security of a free state; the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.
This long sentence is a long sentence quoted from a legal document. This long sentence with a parallel structure can be divided into three parts as below:
1.A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security ofa free state;
2.the right ofthe people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,
3.but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.
The logic relationship between part 1 and part 2 is compound relationship, while the logic relationship between part 2 and part 3 is adversative relationship.
According to communicative translation theory, the translated text should provide an effect to the target language readers as close as possible to the effect source text provided to the source language readers (Newmark, 1988). The analysis of sentence structure oflong sentences in historical papers is the most important step while translating these sentences with the feature of complex logic relationship in order to make the translation ofthese long sentences grammatically and structurally acceptable and logically comprehensible. Through the structural analysis of long sentences, the proper translation principles and translation techniques can be found during the process of translation in order to make the translated target text of these historical academic documents accepted by the ordinary Chinese readers.
3.3Translation Principles of the Long Sentences in the Text
According to the analysis of grammatical and structural features of three types of long sentences in the text, the content of long sentences in the text can be classified into three types including long sentences expressing arguments and opinions, long sentences presenting historical facts, long sentences quoted from the legal documents. Due to the extensive use of attributive modifiers, adverbial modifiers and parallel structures, long sentences in historical papers have the feature of complex logical relationship, which is also the major difficulty to be solved in the process oftranslation practice.
In order to make the translated target text accurate, acceptable and comprehensible, the translation principles are summarized according to Newmark's communicative translation theory including accuracy in translating historical facts, logicality in translating ideas and readability. Historical papers are all supported by the historical events and historical facts. While translating three historical papers, transferring accurate historical facts to readers should be treated as the first priority, because all the historical opinions or arguments from the authors of the papers are supported by historical facts. From this perspective, accuracy in translating historical facts should be taken as the most important principle. The core of historical papers is expressing the opinions and arguments put forward by historians. The opinions and arguments put forward by historians are usually put in long sentence with complicated logical relationship. It is also important to transfer the logical relationship of these opinions and arguments clearly. With accurate historical facts and clear historical logic transferred, translated long sentences should be readable, acceptable and understandable to ordinary Chinese readers. Translated long sentences in historical papers should follow the principle of readability. In other words, long sentences in the target text should follow those conventions governing writing in Chinese.
3.3.1 Accuracy in translating historical facts
Newmark's communicative translation theory points out that the translated target text should be readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership from both language and content perspective (1988). As a translation project of translating three historical papers, which combines both historical facts and historians' arguments and opinions, the first priority during the process of translation is to transfer proper message of historical facts to target language readers without any mistakes. As a kind of informative text, these three historical papers are meant to transfer historians' opinions and arguments in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution with historical facts as proof. From this perspective, accuracy in translating historical facts should be taken as the most important principle. In the process of translating historical papers, translators should transfer proper historical facts so that target language readers could understand historians' opinions properly. All long sentences presenting historical facts should be translated properly. Sometimes extra explanation to the long sentences about historical facts are needed.
3.3.2Logicality in translating ideas
According to Newmark, “communicative translation theory attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of original” (1981, p. 39). In other words, the theory of communicative translation intends to make the translated texts' effect to target language readers same as the original texts' effect on source language readers. The authors of the three selected historical papers discuss not only the historical events and facts, but also their own opinions and arguments about these historical events and facts. From this perspective, long sentences with complex historical logic appear frequently in the text. In order to produce an effect to the target language readers as close as possible to the effect source text provided to the source language readers, the complex historical logic in the source text should be transferred into the target language text clearly with no misunderstanding or mistakes in order to make the translation of long sentences logically acceptable and understandable by ordinary Chinese readers.
3.3.3Readability
According to Newmark, communicative translation theory is a practical translation theory as well as a target-language-emphasized and target-reader-oriented translation theory. The academic language applied in the three academic papers can hardly be accepted by ordinary readers. In addition, the different language features of long English sentences and long Chinese sentences is another major difficulty in the process of translation. From this perspective, after historical facts and historical logic are properly transferred, the different types of long English sentences in historical papers should be translated into Chinese with readability. In other words, the translated target text of long sentences in Chinese should follow the conventional means of expression in Chinese. According to the target-reader-oriented principle, after historical facts and historical logic are properly transferred, the translated target text of long sentences in historical papers should be easy for Chinese readers to accept and understand.
3.4Techniques of Translating the Long Sentences in the Text
3.4.1 Embedding
Embedding is a kind of translating technique which places the modifiers before the words being modified, thus the modifiers are embedded between the predicate verb and the words to be modified. The technique of embedding is usually used in the translation from English to Chinese. Application of this technique enables the translated target text compact and coherent. In this translation project, the technique of embedding is usually applied in translating the long sentences with lots ofattributive modifiers and adverbial modifiers.
Example 15
Source Text: Reconstructing the context ① that gave rise to the Second Amendment necessarily leads to a consideration of the assumptions, ideals, and fears ② that shaped the world view of Americans during the struggle over the Constitution and the Bill ofRights.
Target Text:如果重构宪法第二修正案产生的背景,人们必然会思考在宪法和权利 法案斗争过程中那些塑造美国人世界观的假设、理想和担忧。
Analysis: In the process of translating this long sentence, the technique of embedding has been used twice. In the source text, the headword “context” is modified by the attributive clause “that gave rise to the Second Amendment”. The attributive clause is placed behind the headword being modified. Also, the attributive clause “that shaped the world view of Americans during the struggle over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights” is also placed behind the headwords “the assumptions, ideals, and fears” being modified.
According to the conventional means of expression in Chinese, the attributives are usually placed before the headwords being modified. To obey such an norm, the attributive “宪法 第二修 正 案产 生的 ” is placed before the headword “背 景” being modified in the translated target text. Also, the attributive “宪法和权利法案斗争过程中那些塑造美国人 世界观” is placed before the headwords “假设、理想和担忧 ” being modified. With the embedding technique applied, the translated target text of this long sentence is more coherent with clearer logic and the expression ofthis long sentence is more readable which is more acceptable by the Chinese readers.
Example 16
Source Text: The inhabitants of the several states shall have the liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands they hold, and on all other lands in the United states not enclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature ofthe United States.
TargetText: 在适宜的季节,在自己的土地上,或者在其它未被合众国封禁的土地 上,各州公民有自由狩猎的权利;同样,在任何允许航行的水域,或者并非私人财产 的水域,或者没有被合众国立法机关即将通过的法律所限制的水域,他们有自由打渔 的权利。
Analysis: This is a long sentence quoted from legal document with the features of extensive use of adverbial modifiers and application of parallel structure. This long sentence can be divided into two parts as below:
1.The inhabitants of the several states shall have the liberty to fowl and hunt ① in seasonable times,② on the lands they hold, and ③ on all other lands in the United states not enclosed...
2....and in like manner to fish ① in all navigable waters and ② others not private property,③ without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States
In part 1, the infinitive “to fowl and hunt” is modified by parallel adverbial modifiers including “in seasonable times”, “on the lands they hold”, and “on all other lands in the United states not enclosed”. These three compound adverbials describe the time and locations when and where the inhabitants are allowed “to fowl and hunt”. In Chinese, the
information modifying the event like time and locations are usually placed before the event, which is quite different from English. From this perspective, the translated target text puts the adverbials “在适宜的季节,在公民拥有的土地,或者其它未被合众国封禁的土地” before the verb “打猎” being modified.
In part 2, the infinitive “to fish” is modified by the parallel adverbial modifiers including “in all navigable waters”, “others not private property” and “without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature ofthe United States”. In order to obey the conventional expression ofChinese, the target text puts the adverbial modifiers “在任何允许航行的水域,或者并非私人财产的水域,或者未被合众国立法机关即将 通过的法律所限制的水域” before the headword “打渔” being modified. In addition, the headword “others” which refers to “waters”, is modified by the compound attributives “not private property” and “without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States”. In the target text, the attributives “并非私人财产的 ” and “未被任何合众国立法机构即将通过的法律所限制的” are put before the headword “水 域”.
From these examples, we can see that the technique embedding can be used in the E-C translation of long sentences in historical papers with the feature of extensive use of attributive modifiers and adverbial modifiers. In Chinese, attributives and adverbials are usually placed before the headword being modified. Using embedding technique can make the expression of the target text more smooth and coherent and the logic of the target text more understandable. Also, placing the adverbials or the attributives before the headword being modified while translating long English sentences into Chinese in historical papers enables Chinese readers to understand the complex logical relationship between the attributives, adverbials and headwords being modified.
3.4.2Dividing
Dividing is one of the most effective techniques in translating long compound sentences and long complex sentences. Since long English sentences in the text have the features of extensive use of attributive modifiers and parallel structures, the dividing technique can be applied to breaking up such long sentences into different parts based on the sense groups. After breaking up long sentences into different parts, each divided part of long sentences can be translated into a short simple Chinese sentence.
Example 17
Source Text:① This was the notion that the ability of the people to exercise sovereignty and control their government rested on the righteousness, independence, and military might of the yeoman farmer, / ② the man who owned his own land, made his living from it, and stood ready to defend it and his country by force of arms.
Target Text: 这就是那种观念,即公民行使主权和控制政府的能力取决于自耕农的 正义感、独立性和军事能力。自耕农是指拥有自己的土地,依靠土地谋生,并随时准 备用武力保卫自己的土地和国家的人。
Analysis: This long sentence ofhistorical arguments is a typical long sentence with the feature of extensively use of attributive modifiers. This long sentence can be separated into two parts. The first part describes the “notion” and the second part is an attributive clause modifying the headword “yeoman farmer” which occurs behind the headwords. In order to clarify the meaning to Chinese readers, this long sentence is divided into two short sentences in the process of translation. The first one describes the “notion” and the second one describes the “yeoman farmer”.
Example 18
Source Text:① The villains in England were the corrupt ministry surrounding the king and the stock-jobbers and financiers, / ② who were hand-in-glove with the ministry in schemes for getting rich out of the pockets of both yeomen and gentlemen by means of financial manipulations.
Target Text: 英国的恶人们是围在国王周围的腐败的部长们,以及证券商和金融资 本家。证券商和金融资本家通过金融操纵手段,勾结腐败的部长们,用阴谋诡计从自 耕农和绅士的口袋里赚钱。
Analysis: This is another long sentence of historical argument with extensively use of attributive modifiers, and it is also divided into two parts. The first part is the main clause talking about what the “villains in England” is. The second part is the attributive clause modifying the headwords “the stock-jobbers and financiers”. This attributive clause describes the behavior of “the stock-jobbers and financiers”. In order to clarify the meaning, the two parts are translated separately into two short simple sentences. The first simple sentence is the main clause talking about the “villains in England”. The second simple sentence is the attributive clause talking about the behavior of “the stock-jobbers and financiers”.
Example 19
Source Text: “Can a friend to liberty,” asked one pamphleteer, “entertain a tender regard for men, who without any motive but a dislike to labor, / have relinquished voluntarily the blessings of freedom, for a state in which they are arbitrarily beaten like slaves?”
Target Text: 一位政治宣传册的作者问道:“那些向往自由的朋友,怎么可能温柔 地关心那些无缘无故不喜欢劳动的人?这些人竟然自愿放弃自由的庇佑,就是为了一 个把他们当奴隶一样任意鞭打的国家。”
Analysis: This long sentence is a direct speech quoted from a pamphleteer, which is a long sentence with multiple attributive modifiers describing this pamphleteer's argument. The long sentence can be divided into two parts as below based on the meaning.
1.Can a friend to liberty, entertain a tender regard for men, who without any motive but a dislike to labor,...
2....have relinquished voluntarily the blessings of freedom, for a state in which they are arbitrarily beaten like slaves?
Part 1 asks whether “a friend to liberty” would care about “men who without any motive but a dislike to labor”. Part 2 describes the behavior of “men who without any motive but a dislike to labor”. The behavior of “men who without any motive but a dislike to labor” is described as “giving up liberty and serve for their country”. In order to clarify the meaning of the long sentence, the two parts are translated separately into a general question and a simple sentence in order to clarify the meaning.
Example 20
Source Text: Before we ascribe sovereignty to the people we have to imagine that there is such a thing, / something we personify as though it were a single body, capable of thinking, of acting, of making decisions and carrying them out, / something quite apart from government, superior to government, and able to alter or remove a government at will, / a collective entity more powerful and less fallible than a king or than any individual within it or than any group of individuals it singles out to govern it.
Target Text: 在我们把主权归属于公民之前,我们必须想象这样一种事物。这事物 是一个拟人化之后的独立个体,能够思考、行动、做出决定和执行决定。这个事物与 政府完全不同,它高于政府,能够随意改变或推翻一个政府。这个事物作为一个集体 存在的实体,它比国王或其中的任何个体,或从其中挑选出来治理它的任何一群人更 强大、更不容易出错。
Analysis: This is a compound long sentence describing historians' argument with parallel structure applied, which describes the “thing” as “the sovereignty of the people”. This sentence can be classified into four parts as below.
1.Before we ascribe sovereignty to the people we have to imagine that there is such a thing...
2.something we personify as though it were a single body, capable of thinking, of acting, ofmaking decisions and carrying them out...
3.something quite apart from government, superior to government, and able to alter or remove a government at will...
4.a collective entity more powerful and less fallible than a king or than any individual within it or than any group ofindividuals it singles out to govern it...
Part 1 is the main body of the whole sentence which describes “the sovereignty of the people” as a “thing” . Part 2, 3 and 4 describe the “thing” from three different perspectives. Part 2 personifies the “thing” as “a single body”. Part 3 compares the “thing” with government. Part 4 compares the “thing” with kings or oligarchs. In order to clarify the description of “the sovereignty of the people”, the long compound English sentence is translated into four simple Chinese sentences separately. In the first sentence, “the sovereignty of the people” is described as a “thing”. In the following three sentences, this “thing” is described from three different perspectives.
Example 21
Source Text: That the people have a right to keep and bear arms / that a well regulated militia composed of the body of the people trained to arms is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state / that standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit; / and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.
Target Text: 公民有武器持有权;由全体公民组成的纪律严明的民兵,是一个自由 的州的恰当、自然且安全可靠的防卫力量;和平时期组建的常备军是自由的威胁,因 此在情势和社会安保状况允许的情况下,应予以避免;军队在任何情况下都应严格服 从政权的管理,并受政权的统率。
Analysis: This long compound sentence is a long sentence quoted from the legal documents, which can be divided into four parts based on the sense group as below.
1.That the people have a right to keep and bear arms...
2....that a well regulated militia composed of the body of the people trained to arms is the proper, natural and safe defense ofa free state...
3....that standing armies in time ofpeace are dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and protection of the community will admit...
4....and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.
According to the analysis of this long sentence, this long compound sentence consists of four parallel parts. In order to clarify the meaning of every part, the targeted text is translated into four divided simple Chinese sentences connected with semicolons.
From these five examples, we can see that the translation technique of dividing can be used in translating long complex sentences and long compound sentences with the feature of extensively use of attributive modifiers. This technique can also be used in translating long sentences with parallel structures applied. Simple sentences are used more frequently in Chinese historical papers while complex sentences and compound sentences are applied more often in English historical papers. While translating long English compound sentences or long English complex sentences into Chinese, the technique of dividing can be used in order to simplify the sentence structures and clarify the meanings, so that the meanings and logic oflong sentences can be understood by ordinary Chinese readers.
3.4.3Splitting
Splitting is a kind of technique which separates a certain element from long sentences and treats them as parenthesis. This certain element could be a word, a phrase or a clause. This technique is usually applied in the long sentences describing historical arguments with lots of attributive modifiers. The elements being split are usually the attributive modifiers describing a specific object which authors want to emphasize or to further explain in this long sentence. In the process of translating such kind of long sentences, splitting the attributive modifiers enables the target language readers to understand what the authors focus on. The attributive modifiers being split usually describe the objects which authors want to emphasize or to further explain.
Example 22
Source Text: Borrowing a term that physicists use to describe the convergence among recent theories about the structure of the universe, Reynolds claimed that legal scholarship on the Second Amendment had arrived at scholarly consensus comparable to physicists' Standard Model.
Target Text: 该术语原本被物理学家用来描述近期趋同的各种关于宇宙结构的理 论。雷诺兹借用了这一术语,他认为关于宪法第二修正案在法学界已经达成了学术共 识,可以与物理学家的标准模型相媲美。
Analysis: This long sentence of arguments quoted from other scholars, explains the meaning of “Standard Model”. The “Standard Model” is a term which explains the consensus arrived by the legal scholars on their studies of Second Amendment. Also, “Standard Model” is a borrowed term from Physics. The headword “term” refers to “Standard Model”. This headword “term” is modified by the attributive clause “that physicists use to describe the convergence among recent theories about the structure of the universe”. In order to clarify the meaning of “Standard Model”, the attributive clause describing the “term” is split and put at the beginning ofthe sentence.
Example 23
Source Text: Contrary to the myth that America has always been a gun culture, an image that Hollywood has done much to perpetuate, Bellesiles finds that gun ownership was far less widespread in the era in which the Second Amendment was adopted.
Target Text: 一种传说认为,枪支文化在美国一直存在,而且好莱坞也在不断做大 量的工作去维持这种文化存在。贝莱西尔斯发现与此传说恰恰相反,在宪法第二修正 案刚刚通过的时代,拥有枪支的情况远没有那么普遍。
Analysis: This long sentence stating historical argument compares the myth of gun culture and the findings of historian Bellesiles. The sentence emphasizes the difference between the opinion of Bellesiles and the myth. The part modifying the headword “myth” is an attributive clause. This attributive clause describes what this “myth” is. To clarify the comparison between the myth and Bellesiles's opinion, the attributive clause describing the headword “myth” is split in the translated target text as a separated simple sentence, while the rest part of the long sentence is translated into a simple sentence describing Bellesiles's opinion.
These two examples suggest that the translation technique of splitting can be applied in long English sentences describing historical arguments with lots of attributive modifiers. In such long sentences, a specific element being emphasized, further described or further explained can be described with an attributive clause embedded behind the headword being described. While translating English historical papers into Chinese, the attributive clause describing the elements being emphasized, further described or further explained should be split from long sentences as a separated sentence. With the attributive clause being split, the meaning of long sentences can be clarified. Also, with the attributive clause being split, the element being emphasized, further described or further explained can be transferred clearly to Chinese readers.
3.4.4Explication and adjustment of logical relations
Explication and adjustment of the logical relations is a translation technique applied in the compound sentences and complex compound sentences with parallel structures. While translating long sentences, the translators should clarify the hidden logic of long sentences in the target text and restructure sentences based onthe logical order ofthe target language. The purpose of using this technique in translating long sentences is to provide the effect to the target language readers as close as possible to the effect source text provided to the source language readers. In other words, logical relations of long sentences in the source text should be transferred properly to target language readers.
Example 24
Source Text: The seventeenth-century political philosopher James Harrington argued that a republic could maintain its freedom only ① when it was composed of virtuous yeomen-independent farmers ② who would take up arms whenever their liberty was threatened.
TargetText: 17世纪英国政治哲学家詹姆斯•哈灵顿认为,只有①当一个共和国 是由一群品德高尚的自耕农组成时,②且这些独立农民在自由受到威胁时都会主动拿 起手中的武器捍卫自由,这个共和国才会保持自由。
Analysis: In this long sentence, the adverbial clause of condition “when it was composed of virtuous yeomen-independent farmers” and the attributive clause “who would take up arms whenever their liberty was threatened” modifying the “yeomen-independent farmer” are two compound conditions of “a republic could maintain its freedom”. These three parts form a conditional sentence connected by the word “only”. In a Chinese conditional sentence, the condition is usually placed before the result. From this perspective, in the target text, the condition “一个共和国是由一群品德高尚的自耕农组 成” and attributive clause “且这些独立的农民的自由在任何时候受到威胁,都会主动拿 起他们手中的武器捍卫自由” describing the “独立农民” are placed before the result “这 个共和国才会保持自由”. The word “only” is translated into “只有...才” as the conjunctive. The word “when” is translated into “当... 时 ”. After the above mentioned restructuring, the translated long Chinese sentences can follow the conventions governing writing in Chinese.
Example 25
Source Text: Although Pennsylvania Antifederalists were opposed to granting extensive powers to the new federal government, they showed little reluctance in allowing their own state government to take aggressive measures to restrict access to guns when the legislature deemed such actions necessary to promote the good of the community.
Target Text: 虽然宾夕法尼亚州的反联邦主义者反对给予新的联邦政府更广泛的 权力,但当立法机构认为有必要采取行动维护社区利益时,这些宾夕法尼亚州的反联 邦主义者并没有表现出不情愿的态度,他们允许本州政府采取激进措施限制枪支的使 用。
Analysis: In this long sentence, the adverbial clause of time “when the legislature deemed such actions necessary to promote the good ofthe community” is placed at the end of the sentence. In Chinese sentence, the adverbial modifiers including adverbials of time, adverbials of location and adverbials of condition are always offered first. In English, adverbial modifiers are usually placed at the end of the sentence. From this perspective, the adverbial of time “当立法机构认为有必要采取行动维护社区利益时” is placed before the event “他们并没有表现出不情愿的态度,允许本州政府采取激进措施限制枪支的 使用” to make the target text more acceptable by the Chinese readers.
Example 26
Source Text: Thus, as the English Bill of Rights phrased it, he “did endeavor to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom” ① by “raising and keeping a standing army...without consent of parliament” and ② by “causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time when papists were both armed and employed”.
TargetText:因此,根据英国权利法案规定,因为他①“未经议会同意…组建并维 持一支常备军”,而且他②“在雇佣并武装教徒的同时,解除几个善良的新教徒臣民 的武装”,所以可以判定他“确实试图颠覆和消灭新教,以及这个王国的法律和自由”。
Analysis: This long sentence can be divided into four parts as below.
1.Thus, as the English Bill ofRights phrased it...
2.he “did endeavor to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties ofthis kingdom”
3.by “raising and keeping a standing army...without consent ofparliament”
4.by “causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time when papists were both armed and employed”
According to the analysis ofthe structure and sense group ofthe sentence, part 1 isthe parenthesis, while part 3 and 4 are the reasons of part 1. In other words, part 2, 3 and 4 form a compound sentence of casual logical relation while such a casual logic relation is hidden with no such conjunctives. Also, according to the logical order of Chinese, the reasons are usually placed before the results. In the target text, the compound reasons “未 经议会同意…组建并维持一支常备军” and “在雇佣并武装教徒的同时,解除几个好的 新教徒臣民的武装” are placed before the result “确实试图颠覆和消灭新教,以及这个 王国的法律和自由” and connected with the conjunctive “因为...所以”.
Example 27
Source Text: “Quite lately,” he wrote, sometime early in the sixteenth century, “the king of England attacked the kingdom of France, and employed for that purpose no other soldiers except his own subjects; / and although his own kingdom had been for over thirty years in profound peace, so that he had at first neither soldiers nor captains who had seen any active military service, / yet he did not hesitate with such troops to assail a kingdom that had many experienced commanders and good soldiers, who had been continually under arms in the Italian wars.”
Target Text: 下面这段话是他在16世纪初期写的:“不久前,英国国王攻打法兰 西王国,除了他自己的臣民组成的民兵之外,英王没有雇佣任何其他军队。由于他自 己的王国已经有三十多年没有任何战事,在他最开始组建的部队里没有一名士兵或军 官参加过战斗。即使这样,他也毫不犹豫地派遣这样一支军队去攻打法兰西王国。而 法兰西王国拥有许多经验丰富的指挥官和优秀的士兵,而且这些指挥官和士兵因为意
大利战争一直处于战备状态。”
Analysis: This is a long sentence describing a historical fact of direct speech quoted from Machiavelli which is a compound complex long sentence with parallel structure applied. This sentence can be divided into four parts.
1.Quite lately, the king ofEngland attacked the kingdom of France, and employed for that purpose no other soldiers except his own subjects...
2....and although ® his own kingdom had been for over thirty years in profound peace, so that ② he had at first neither soldiers nor captains who had seen any active military service...
3....yet he did not hesitate with such troops to assail a kingdom...
4....that had many experienced commanders and good soldiers, who had been continually under arms in the Italian wars
According to the analysis of every part of this long sentence, part 1 is a description of the fact. Part 2 and 3 form a concession logical relation. In part 2, part ① before “so that” and part ② behind “so that” form a casual logical relation. Part 4 is an attributive clause modifying the headword “kingdom”. With such a complicated logical relation, dividing and recasting of the whole sentence is necessary when translating this sentence in order to transfer the proper logical relationship into the target text.
These examples show that while translating long sentences with complex logic relations in English historical papers, the target language readers' understanding and acceptability should be taken into consideration. In other words, the logical relations ofthe translated target text should obey the conventional means of expression in target language. While translating these long English sentences into Chinese, the hidden logical relations in long English sentences should be clarified accurately. Also, the long English sentences in historical papers should be restructured by conventional meansofexpressioninChinese.
3.4.5Addition
In long English sentences of historical arguments, some of the elements may be omitted for the purpose of smooth expression or clear logic. However, the omitted elements will cause the incompleteness of meaning in the process of translating long English sentences into Chinese. From this perspective, the omitted elements should be added to complete the meaning on the premise of guaranteeing the accuracy. Also, in English historical papers, there are many long sentences talking about a historical fact 34
without a clear subject. Some of long sentences presenting historical facts use passive voice with no clear subject as well. From this perspective, a subject should be added in order to clarify the meaning ofthe sentence.
Example 28
Source Text: While historians can help educate the public, it is unlikely that Congress, the media, or the many groups lobbying on either side of the gun debate will encourage the same level of sophistication that historians demand from scholarship on the Second Amendment.
TargetText:虽然历史学者对宪法第二修正案的研究有助于教育群众,但是国会、 媒体和许多在枪支辩论两方游说的团体,似乎并不希望群众对宪法第二修正案的理解 像历史学者对宪法第二修正案的研究一样深入。
Analysis: This long sentence describing the historical opinions of the historian is a complex compound sentence which can be divided into three parts as below.
1.While historians can help educate the public,...
2....it is unlikely that Congress, the media, or the many groups lobbying on either side ofthe gun debate will encourage the same level of sophistication.. .
3....that historians demand from scholarship on the Second Amendment.
Part 1 and part 2 form a compound sentence of adversative logic relationship and part 3 is an attributive clause modifying the phrase “the same level of sophistication”. In part 1, the meaning of “help educate the public” is not clarified. It is not clear how the historians educate the public and what is used to educate the public. In order to clarify the meaning, “历史学家” is added to “对宪法第二修正案的研究” as the subject. With the subject added, target readers can understand what is used to educate the public. In addition, in part 2, it is not clear who is the object that “Congress, the media, or the many groups lobbying on either side of the gun debate” does want to “encourage”. The omitted object is “the public”. In orderto clarify the meaning, “群众对宪法第二修正案的理解” is added as the object so thatthe objectis clear.
Example 29
Source Text: During that time the prevalence of the idea of a mighty militia made it possible for government to eliminate what is always the largest element in any country's budget.
TargetText:在此期间,因为“民兵的力量已足够强大”这样的思想盛行,使政府 削减军费开支成为可能,而军费开支对于任何一个国家政府的财政预算来说始终都是 最大的一部分。
Analysis: This long sentence discusses the “the prevalence of the idea of a mighty militia” which helps the government “eliminate what is always the largest element in any country's budget”. The meaning of the phrase “a mighty militia” is not clear. Since this sentence discusses the militia working as the only defense force of a republic, the phrase “a mighty militia” is translated as “民兵的力量已足够强大” to complete the meaning. Also, the omitted object explained as “what is always the largest element in any country's budget” is not stated in the sentence. In order to clarify this omitted object, the term “军费开支” is added before the explanation “对于任何一个国家政府的财政预算来说始终都是最大的 一部分” .
Example 30
Source Text: Calls for reform of the articles took on a new sense of urgency in 1786 when farmers in western Massachusetts took up arms to prevent their farms from being seized by creditors seeking to collect on outstanding debts.
Target Text:在1786年,人们对条例的修改的呼声变得更加紧迫,因为在1786 年,马萨诸塞州西部的农民,为了防止债主以收缴未尝债务为由夺走自己的农场,他 们拿起了武器保卫自己的农场。
Analysis: This long sentence is a typical long English sentence presenting a historical fact with no specific subject. “Calls for reform of the articles took on a new sense of urgency” can be directly translated into “条例的修改的呼声变得更加紧迫”. However, “calls for reform of the articles” cannot be made by itself but made by people. From this perspective, the subject “人们” is added before the “条例的修改的呼声变得更加紧迫” so that the expression ofthe sentence is a conventional mean ofChinese expression.
Example 31
Source Text: Prior to the outbreak of violence in Massachusetts, a call for delegates from all of the states to convene in Philadelphia to consider revisions to the confederation had been made at a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
Target Text: 在马萨诸塞州爆发该暴力事件之前,在马里兰州安纳波利斯举行的一 次会议上,人们曾呼吁各州代表在费城召开会议,讨论改革现行邦联制度。
Analysis: This long sentence is a typical example of passive voice with no subject. “a call for delegates from all of the states to convene in Philadelphia to consider revisions to the confederation” should be made by people. From this perspective, the subject “人们” is added and the passive voice is changed into active voice so that the expression of the sentence follows the convention governing writing in Chinese.
Chapter Four
Conclusion
4.1 Major Findings
In this translation report, three historical papers from the historical collection entitled Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect are selected as a case study. Newmark's communicative translation theory is applied as theoretical guidance to the translation of long sentences in these three English historical papers. According to the analysis of these three historical papers, long sentences in historical papers can be classified into three types. The first type is long sentences about historical facts. The second type is long sentences about historical arguments and opinions and the third type is long sentences quoted from the legal documents. Due to the extensively use of attributive modifiers, adverbial modifiers and parallel structures in long sentences of historical papers, these long sentences have the feature of complex logical relationship. In order to solve the difficulty of complex logical relationship and guarantee the quality of the translation, three translation principles have been concluded according to the guidance of Newmark's communicative translation theory. Accuracy is one of the three principles in translating historical facts. The second one is logicality in translating ideas. The third one is readability. Under the guidance of these principles, effective translation techniques including embedding, splitting, dividing, explication and adjustment of logical relationship and addition are concluded in translating different types of long sentences with different sentence structures in historical papers. The translation techniques of embedding and splitting are usually applied in translating long English sentences with the features of extensive use of attributive modifiers or adverbial modifiers. The translation technique of dividing is usually applied to translating long English sentences with lots of attributive modifiers or long sentences with parallel structures. The translation techniques of explication and adjustment of logical relationship and addition are usually applied to translating long English sentences with parallel structures. These techniques are proved to be effective in translating long sentences in English historical papers which is a kind of academic informative text, because these techniques can not only narrow the gap between the source text and target text but also reproduce the effect in the target text as close as 38
possible to the effect intended by the source text. In other words, with these techniques applied in the process of translating long sentences in the historical paper, the target text can be readable, acceptable and understandable for general Chinese readers.
4.2Limitations
The limitations of this translation report can be concluded from two aspects: First, the analyzed three historical papers are selected from a collection of historical papers on the topic of the Second Amendment of the US constitution. The topic of the selected three papers focuses on the constitutional history and political history of the US. Due to the limitation of the topic of the historical papers, the analysis is still limited and can not entirely support the findings of this report. Second, Newmark's communicative translation theory is a target-language-emphasized and target-reader-oriented translation theory. The target texts translated under the guidance of Newmark's communicative theory emphasize producing on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of original. As mentioned above, the translated target text is provided to ordinary Chinese readers. The author hopes ordinary Chinese readers can understand and accept the translated target text of these complicated historical academic papers and understand the origin and significance of the Second Amendment to the US. However, whether ordinary Chinese readers could accept and understand the translated target text can hardly be evaluated.
With the limitations mentioned above, some solutions are put forward accordingly for the further study. First, more historical papers of different topics should be collected for further analysis. Second, a proper survey on evaluating ordinary Chinese readers' response to the translated historical papers should be done with questionnaires. Through this survey, the question ofwhether Newmark's communicative translation theory is feasible to provide theoretical guidance for the translation of long sentences in English historical papers can be concluded with a confirmed answer.
Acknowledgements
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Professor Shi Jingbi, my supervisor, for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this thesis. Without her consistent and illuminating instruction, this thesis could not have reached its present form.
Second, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Joe Renouard, from Hopkins-Nanjing Center of Nanjing University, who is also the instructor of the course Critical Development of American History. I appreciate him for offering me this book named Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect as the source text for this translation report which directly helped me on finishing this thesis.
Last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course ofthe thesis.
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