Plastics is made from water which is a natural resource inexhaustible and available everywhere, coal which can be mined through automatic and mechanical processes at less cost and lime which can be obtained from the calcinations of limestone widely present in nature.
【分析】原文是一个典型的英语复杂长句，由42个单词组成，全靠一个逗号和几个连词结合成一个多层次的、内容丰富的句子。主句的主干是：Plastics is made from water, coal and lime; water, coal和lime 之后各有一个定语从句，其中的后两个定语从句还是被动语态。所以，按照汉语的表达习惯，翻译时要化整为零，可以把主句和各个定语从句分开译成短句，其中的一些状语比如at less cost也可以单独处理成短句。
【译文】塑料是由水、煤和石灰制成的。水是到处可以获得的、取之不尽的一种自然资源; 煤可以通过自动化和机械化来开采，成本较低; 石灰可由煅烧自然界广泛存在的石灰石而得到。
Human beings have distinguished themselves from other animals, and in doing so ensured their survival, by the ability to observe and understand their environment and then either to adapt to that environment or to control and adapt it to their own needs.
【要点】此句为一个多层次的并列结构，”by ” 以前的部分为句子的主体部分，由“and ”连接的两个并列的分句组成。第二个分句的主语和一部分谓语省略了以避免重复。In doing so可以理解为in the process of distinguished themselves from other animals 。第二个分局的完整句子应为and in doing so (they have) ensured their survival 。By 所引导的短语里ability 带了多个动词不定式做修饰，这些不定式又存在着一个并列的结构，to observe and (to) understand与either ……or 引导的to adapt to ……，to control and (to) adapt it……得并列，and 连接。
【译文】人类已把自己和其他动物区别开了。人类具有观察和了解周围环境的能力，能适应环境，控制环境和根据自己的需要改造环境。人类就是这样生存了下来。
The medical waste that has fouled beaches in the New York region at the peak of the summer season has taken its toll on business all along the shore, driving vacationers away both from beaches that have been closed and from those that have remained open.
【要点】本句主要结构是the medical waste...has taken its toll...。that...season 引导定语从句，修饰medical waste。at the peak of the summer season作状语，表时间。driving... 是现在分词作状语，表结果。that have been closed和that have remained open是定语从句，分别修饰beaches 和those 。those 代替beaches 。
【译文】医疗用品生产厂家的废弃物污染了纽约地区的海滨。时值盛夏，一些海滨浴场关闭，而仍然开放的一些海滨浴场也门可罗雀，大批度假者离此而去，这使得海滨地区的商业蒙受严重损失。
逆序法
英语有些长句的表达次序与汉语表达习惯不同, 甚至完全相反, 这时必须从原文后面开始翻译。例如:
例1. Aluminum remained unknown until the nineteenth century, because nowhere in nature is it
found free, owing to its always being combined with other elements, most commonly with oxygen, for which it has a strong affinity.
分析: 这个句子由一个主句, 两个原因状语和一个定语从句, “铝直到19世纪才被人发现”是主句, 也是全句的中心内容, 全句共有四个谓语结构, 共有五层意思: A. 铝直到19世纪才被人发现; B. 由于在自然界找不到游离状态的铝; C. 由于它总是跟其他元素结合在一起; D. 最普遍的是跟氧结合; E. 铝跟氧有很强的亲和力。按照汉语的表达习惯通常因在前, 果在后, 这样, 我们可以逆着原文的顺序把该句翻译成:
铝总是跟其他元素结合在一起, 最普遍的是跟氧结合; 因为铝跟氧有很强的亲和力, 由于这个原因, 在自然界找不到游离状态的铝。所以, 铝直到19世纪才被人发现。 例2. It therefore becomes more and more important that, if students are not to waste their
opportunities, there will have to be much more detailed information about courses and more advice.
分析: 该句由一个主句, 一个条件状语从句和一个宾语从句组成, “……变得越来越重要”是主句, 也是全句的中心内容, 全句共有三个谓语结构, 包含三层含义: A. ……变的越来越重要; B. 如果要使学生充分利用他们的机会; C. 得为他们提供大量更为详尽的信息, 作更多的指导。为了使译文符合汉语的表达习惯, 我们也采用逆序法, 翻译成: 因此, 如果要使学生充分利用他们(上大学) 的机会, 就得为他们提供大量关于课程的更为详尽的信息, 作更多的指导。这个问题显得越来越重要了。
下面我们再举几个实例:
例3. It is probably easier for teachers than for students to appreciate the reasons why learningEnglish seems to become increasingly difficult once the basic structures and patterns of the languagehave been understood.
一旦了解英语的基本结构和句型, 再往下学似乎就越来越难了, 这其中的原因, 也许教师比学生更容易理解。
例4. They (the poor) are the first to experience technological progress as a curse which destroysthe old muscle-power jobs that previous generations used as a means to fight their way out of poverty.
对于以往几代人来说, 旧式的体力劳动是一种用以摆脱贫困的手段, 而技术的进步则摧毁了穷人赖以为生的体力劳动, 因此首先体验到技术进步之害的是穷人。
例5.A great number of graduate students were driven into the intellectual slum when in the United States the intellectual poor became the classic poor, the poor under the rather romantic guise of the Beat Generation, a real phenomenon in the late fifties.
50年代后期的美国出现了一个任何人都不可能视而不见的现象, 穷知识分子以“跨掉的一代”这种颇为浪漫的姿态出现而成为美国典型的穷人, 正是这个时候大批大学生被赶进了知识分子的贫民窟。
例6. Such is a human nature in the West that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white collar workers.
许多人宁愿牺牲比较高的工资以换取成为白领工人的社会地位, 这在西方倒是人之常情。
例7. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.
假如没有那些以昆虫为食的动物保护我们, 昆虫将吞噬我们所有的庄稼, 害死我们的牛羊家畜, 使我们不能生存于世。
Plastics is made from water which is a natural resource inexhaustible and available everywhere, coal which can be mined through automatic and mechanical processes at less cost and lime which can be obtained from the calcinations of limestone widely present in nature.
【分析】原文是一个典型的英语复杂长句，由42个单词组成，全靠一个逗号和几个连词结合成一个多层次的、内容丰富的句子。主句的主干是：Plastics is made from water, coal and lime; water, coal和lime 之后各有一个定语从句，其中的后两个定语从句还是被动语态。所以，按照汉语的表达习惯，翻译时要化整为零，可以把主句和各个定语从句分开译成短句，其中的一些状语比如at less cost也可以单独处理成短句。
【译文】塑料是由水、煤和石灰制成的。水是到处可以获得的、取之不尽的一种自然资源; 煤可以通过自动化和机械化来开采，成本较低; 石灰可由煅烧自然界广泛存在的石灰石而得到。
Human beings have distinguished themselves from other animals, and in doing so ensured their survival, by the ability to observe and understand their environment and then either to adapt to that environment or to control and adapt it to their own needs.
【要点】此句为一个多层次的并列结构，”by ” 以前的部分为句子的主体部分，由“and ”连接的两个并列的分句组成。第二个分句的主语和一部分谓语省略了以避免重复。In doing so可以理解为in the process of distinguished themselves from other animals 。第二个分局的完整句子应为and in doing so (they have) ensured their survival 。By 所引导的短语里ability 带了多个动词不定式做修饰，这些不定式又存在着一个并列的结构，to observe and (to) understand与either ……or 引导的to adapt to ……，to control and (to) adapt it……得并列，and 连接。
【译文】人类已把自己和其他动物区别开了。人类具有观察和了解周围环境的能力，能适应环境，控制环境和根据自己的需要改造环境。人类就是这样生存了下来。
The medical waste that has fouled beaches in the New York region at the peak of the summer season has taken its toll on business all along the shore, driving vacationers away both from beaches that have been closed and from those that have remained open.
【要点】本句主要结构是the medical waste...has taken its toll...。that...season 引导定语从句，修饰medical waste。at the peak of the summer season作状语，表时间。driving... 是现在分词作状语，表结果。that have been closed和that have remained open是定语从句，分别修饰beaches 和those 。those 代替beaches 。
【译文】医疗用品生产厂家的废弃物污染了纽约地区的海滨。时值盛夏，一些海滨浴场关闭，而仍然开放的一些海滨浴场也门可罗雀，大批度假者离此而去，这使得海滨地区的商业蒙受严重损失。
逆序法
英语有些长句的表达次序与汉语表达习惯不同, 甚至完全相反, 这时必须从原文后面开始翻译。例如:
例1. Aluminum remained unknown until the nineteenth century, because nowhere in nature is it
found free, owing to its always being combined with other elements, most commonly with oxygen, for which it has a strong affinity.
分析: 这个句子由一个主句, 两个原因状语和一个定语从句, “铝直到19世纪才被人发现”是主句, 也是全句的中心内容, 全句共有四个谓语结构, 共有五层意思: A. 铝直到19世纪才被人发现; B. 由于在自然界找不到游离状态的铝; C. 由于它总是跟其他元素结合在一起; D. 最普遍的是跟氧结合; E. 铝跟氧有很强的亲和力。按照汉语的表达习惯通常因在前, 果在后, 这样, 我们可以逆着原文的顺序把该句翻译成:
铝总是跟其他元素结合在一起, 最普遍的是跟氧结合; 因为铝跟氧有很强的亲和力, 由于这个原因, 在自然界找不到游离状态的铝。所以, 铝直到19世纪才被人发现。 例2. It therefore becomes more and more important that, if students are not to waste their
opportunities, there will have to be much more detailed information about courses and more advice.
分析: 该句由一个主句, 一个条件状语从句和一个宾语从句组成, “……变得越来越重要”是主句, 也是全句的中心内容, 全句共有三个谓语结构, 包含三层含义: A. ……变的越来越重要; B. 如果要使学生充分利用他们的机会; C. 得为他们提供大量更为详尽的信息, 作更多的指导。为了使译文符合汉语的表达习惯, 我们也采用逆序法, 翻译成: 因此, 如果要使学生充分利用他们(上大学) 的机会, 就得为他们提供大量关于课程的更为详尽的信息, 作更多的指导。这个问题显得越来越重要了。
下面我们再举几个实例:
例3. It is probably easier for teachers than for students to appreciate the reasons why learningEnglish seems to become increasingly difficult once the basic structures and patterns of the languagehave been understood.
一旦了解英语的基本结构和句型, 再往下学似乎就越来越难了, 这其中的原因, 也许教师比学生更容易理解。
例4. They (the poor) are the first to experience technological progress as a curse which destroysthe old muscle-power jobs that previous generations used as a means to fight their way out of poverty.
对于以往几代人来说, 旧式的体力劳动是一种用以摆脱贫困的手段, 而技术的进步则摧毁了穷人赖以为生的体力劳动, 因此首先体验到技术进步之害的是穷人。
例5.A great number of graduate students were driven into the intellectual slum when in the United States the intellectual poor became the classic poor, the poor under the rather romantic guise of the Beat Generation, a real phenomenon in the late fifties.
50年代后期的美国出现了一个任何人都不可能视而不见的现象, 穷知识分子以“跨掉的一代”这种颇为浪漫的姿态出现而成为美国典型的穷人, 正是这个时候大批大学生被赶进了知识分子的贫民窟。
例6. Such is a human nature in the West that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white collar workers.
许多人宁愿牺牲比较高的工资以换取成为白领工人的社会地位, 这在西方倒是人之常情。
例7. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.
假如没有那些以昆虫为食的动物保护我们, 昆虫将吞噬我们所有的庄稼, 害死我们的牛羊家畜, 使我们不能生存于世。