Translation of Negatives
Ⅰ. Class Hours: One period（45 minutes per period）
Ⅱ. Objectives:
1. Let students have a general idea on negatives.
2. Help students master some strategies when translating Chinese negatives into related English ones.
Ⅲ. Key points:
Get students to adapt their inherent thinking mode in translating Chinese negatives.
Ⅳ. Procedures:
1.Definition and Classification of Negatives
Chinese negative: “对事物做出否定判断的句子”。(p109)
Classification:
1. 单重否定句:：我不同意所有这些方案
2. 双重否定句：听到这个消息，没有一个人不感到高兴。
English negative: A statement that expresses or means denial or refusal.
Classification:
1. manifest negation:
●total negation;
●partial negation;
●double negation;
●triple negation;
●transferred negation.
2. implied negation
2. Analyze the following sentences:
● 1. 我们相信他们是不会反对你的建议的。
● I don’t believe that they will oppose your proposal.
● 2. 他们不准这陌生人进入室内。
● They excluded the stranger from entering the room.
● 3. 他们不得不承认在某些科学技术方面，我们远远领先于他们。
● They cannot but admit that in certain aspects of science and technology we are
far ahead of them.
3. Translated into related English negatives
中国人和以英语为母语的英美人在否定的思维方式上有许多共同之处，所以汉语否定句翻译成英语时，多半仍以否定形式表达。
（1） 我认为他不够格。
I don’t think he is qualified.
注意汉语和英语句中否定范围的区别。英文中应将否定词not 移到主句ud
谓语动词前面。如果译成I think he is not qualified，就不符合英语表达习惯了。
（2） 这房子尽管富丽堂皇，但是住起来一点也不舒服。
With all its magnificence, the house is not at all comfortable to live in.
（3） 液体没有固定的形状，气体也没有。
Liquids have no definite shape; nor have gases.
第二分句中，否定连词nor 置于句首，句子的语序要倒装。
（4） 如果没有摩擦，运动的物体永远不会停止。
A moving object would never come to a stop if there were no friction.
（5） 水淀里没有一个人影，只有一团白绸子样的水鸟，也躲开鬼子往北飞去，落到大荷叶下面歇凉去了。
No one else was in sight. Only a flock of silky white water-fowl flew off to the north away from
the Japanese soldiers, alighting to rest in the shade of big lotus leaves.
（孙犁《芦花荡》，戴乃迭
译）
（6） （与此同时，上海人也清醒地认识到，）不能沾沾自喜以“老大”自居。 In now way should they become complacent and pose as No.1 in the country.
译文否定状语部分，且置于句首，语气更强。
4. Translated into related English Positives
汉语否定概念也常常用英语肯定句式来表达，这是由于两个民族思维方式的差异所致。而与此有关的英语肯定句有两种：一种是意义和形式都肯定；而另一类，则是意义否定、形式上肯定的，即不带否定标记的表达方式。前面列举了不少具有否定意义的动词、名词、形容词、介词、连词和相关词组，还提到了一些句法结构，都属于这一类。
（7） 那位老人能在大风大浪中不停地游泳达三个小时以上。
The old man could swim continuously in great storms for more than three hours. Continuous 意为going on without stopping or being interrupted，其副词与它同义，与原文中“不停地”语义完全相符。
（8） 人民军队离不开人民，就像鱼儿离不开水一样。
The people is to the people's army what water is to fish.
（9） 密云水库„„远山叠翠，绿波万顷，和我记忆中的太湖不相上下。 The Miyun Reservoir…With its vast area of green waves and row upon row of verdant mountains in the distance can be equally matched with the Taihu lake in my memory.
（冰心《塞北变江南》，李定坤译）
汉语否定，译文从形式到意义都肯定。两个例句十分典型，说明对相同的概念，汉语和英语表达的角度有时正好相反。
（10） 他无可指责。 He is above blame.
（11） 他化学测验不及格。 He failed the test in chemistry.
（12） 我们不能让孩子们上河里游泳。
We must keep the kids from swimming in the river.
（13） 这尊雕像历经大地震后毫发未损，仍然矗立。
The statue survived the great earthquake, remained intact and was still standing there.
以上4例汉语原文的否定概念，在译文中都是通过无否定标记、却含有否定意义的词语表达的。也就是说，英译文形式肯定，意义否定。
（14） 谅你不敢这么干。
Do that again if you dare.
译文通过肯定的if 句型，恰当地传达了原文威胁、发狠的意味和强烈的感情色彩。
（15） 你借钱给那个无赖，不啻把钱丢在海里。
You might as well throw your money into the sea as lend it to that rascal.
译文通过虚拟语气might as well表达“不啻”这一否定概念。
（16） 女孩儿未出嫁，是颗无价宝珠；
A girl before marriage is a precious pearl.
5. Translation of Double Negatives
“双重否定就是在一个句子中同时使用两个否定词，或者使用一个否定词和一个含有否定意义的词或短语。”（陈宏薇，1998:223）双重否定的句子，实际上表达肯定的意义。与一般肯定句不同的是，双重否定句感情色彩更加浓厚，肯定的语势更加强烈。汉译英时，我们往往保留双重否定的形式。
（17） 子曰：“不患人之不己知，患不知人也。”
The Master said, ( the good man) does not grieve that other people do not recognize his merits.
His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.
（孔子《论语》，Arthur Waley译）
（18） 名不正则言不顺，言不顺则事不成。
If language is incorrect, then what is said does not concord with what was meant; and if what is
said does not concord with what was meant, what is to be done cannot be effected.
（孔子《论语》，Arthur Waley译）
（19） 我想：希望本无所谓有，无所谓无。
I thought: hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist.
以上例句的原文含双重否定，译文也同样采用双重否定的句式。
（20） 不看秦始皇兵马俑，不算真正到过中国。
a. A traveler who has not seen the Qin Dynasty terra cotta figures cannot claim to have visited China.
b. No one who has not seen the Qin Dynasty terra cotta figures can claim to have visited China. 两个译文都保留了双重否定的形式。译文a 中的第一层否定放在定语从句的谓语部分（has not seen），而译文b 的第一层否定放在了主语部分（No one who ...）。两个译文都不错，但译文b 的语势似乎更强。
6. Translation of Chinese positives into English negatives
由于中国人和英美人在思维方式上的差异，汉语的肯定句译成英语时也常用否定句式来表达。
（21） 他在这上面费了很多力。
He took no little pain over it.
（22） 我对你万分感激。
I couldn't thank you enough.
（23） 完全同意。
I couldn't agree more.
（24） 直到喷气发动机发明以后，飞机才能以超音速的速度飞行。
Not until the invention of the jet engine could airplanes travel at supersonic speeds. 汉语“直到„„才„„”的句型译成英语时，往往要用not ... Until ...的否定句式来表达。
（25） 智者千虑必有一失。
Even the wise are not always free from errors.
汉语以肯定句从正面表达，英语以否定句从反面表达，该例句典型地反映了汉英两种语言叙述角度的差异。
7. Terms with Negative meaning
a. Verbs with Negative Meaning:
fail, forbid, forget, deny, hesitate, lack, wonder, miss, lose, neglect, ignore, escape, resist, decline, doubt, reject, deprive, refrain, free/keep/save/protect/prevent/stop/persuade„from,etc.
Examples:
1. 那部车无法爬上那个山坡。
The car failed to climb the hill.
2. 他们不准这陌生人进入室内。
They excluded the stranger from entering the room.
3. 你没有射中靶子。
You have just missed the target.
4. 公共场合请勿吐痰。
Please refrain from spitting in the public places.
5. 下雨了，他没法出去。
Rain prevented him from going out.
b.Adjectives with Negative Meaning:
absent (from ) , empty of, free, far from , ignorant of, innocent, different (from ) , least, lost, reluctant, short of, vacant, hard, devoid of, other than, foreign to, etc. Examples:
1. 他是个寡言少语的人。
He is a man of few words.
2. 这地方没有天花和瘟疫。
The place is safe from smallpox and plague.
3. 他不懂拉丁文。
He is quite ignorant of Latin.
c. Set Collocations with Negative Meaning：
1. the comparative degree of adj./adv.+ than to do 在某些条件下蕴含着一种因
果关系。当比较级表示原因, than 后的不定式表示结果则含有强烈的否定意思。
你英语掌握得这么好, 不该犯这样的错误.
You have a better command of English than to make such mistakes.
2. more than+ 含有can 的从句这种结构表面是超出限度, 实际上是一种力所不能及的否定, 译为“不能”。e.g.
那地方景色之美非笔墨所能形容。
The beauty of the place is more than I can describe.
3. be + anything but+ 名词/形容词该结构是一种语气很强的否定表达方式, 译为“根本不是”、“一点也不”。 e.g.
这项任务根本不容易。
The task was anything but easy.
4. 主语+ be+ the last+ 名词+ 不定式/定语从句此结构是一种强有力的否定方式, 意思为“决不至于⋯⋯, 最不(可能) ⋯⋯的”。
我怎么也没料到会在这地方见到你。
This is the last place where I expected to meet you.
5. 在“否定词十but ”的结构中, but 当作关系代词用, 相当于“which/who/that„ not „”, 具有否定含义, 也构成双重否定句。
差小多每个星期她都要给父母信。
Scarcely a week passes but she writes to her parents.
6. nothing (nobody, now here, none) so ⋯but ⋯ “无论⋯⋯只要⋯⋯就(便) ⋯⋯” 无论多么困难的事, 只要实践便会变得容易。
There is no thing so difficult but it becomes easy by practice.
Exercises:
Translate the following negatives:
1. 我真不知该如何感谢你的恩惠。
2. 我全然不知道下一步该怎么办。
3. 他对所有的警告充耳不闻。
4. 欺骗与他的本质格格不入。
5. 他所做的事没有达到要求。
6. 没有足够的加速度，地球卫星是不能进入太空的。 7. 没有科学技术知识要建设社会主义是不可能的。
Answers for reference:
1. Your kindness is more than I can express.
2. I am quite at a loss what to do next.
3. He turns a deaf ear to all warnings.
4. Deception is foreign to his nature.
5. What he has done falls short of the requirements.
6. The earth satellite would not get into space without enough acceleration.
7. Without knowledge of science and technology it is impossible to build socialism.
Translation of Negatives
Ⅰ. Class Hours: One period（45 minutes per period）
Ⅱ. Objectives:
1. Let students have a general idea on negatives.
2. Help students master some strategies when translating Chinese negatives into related English ones.
Ⅲ. Key points:
Get students to adapt their inherent thinking mode in translating Chinese negatives.
Ⅳ. Procedures:
1.Definition and Classification of Negatives
Chinese negative: “对事物做出否定判断的句子”。(p109)
Classification:
1. 单重否定句:：我不同意所有这些方案
2. 双重否定句：听到这个消息，没有一个人不感到高兴。
English negative: A statement that expresses or means denial or refusal.
Classification:
1. manifest negation:
●total negation;
●partial negation;
●double negation;
●triple negation;
●transferred negation.
2. implied negation
2. Analyze the following sentences:
● 1. 我们相信他们是不会反对你的建议的。
● I don’t believe that they will oppose your proposal.
● 2. 他们不准这陌生人进入室内。
● They excluded the stranger from entering the room.
● 3. 他们不得不承认在某些科学技术方面，我们远远领先于他们。
● They cannot but admit that in certain aspects of science and technology we are
far ahead of them.
3. Translated into related English negatives
中国人和以英语为母语的英美人在否定的思维方式上有许多共同之处，所以汉语否定句翻译成英语时，多半仍以否定形式表达。
（1） 我认为他不够格。
I don’t think he is qualified.
注意汉语和英语句中否定范围的区别。英文中应将否定词not 移到主句ud
谓语动词前面。如果译成I think he is not qualified，就不符合英语表达习惯了。
（2） 这房子尽管富丽堂皇，但是住起来一点也不舒服。
With all its magnificence, the house is not at all comfortable to live in.
（3） 液体没有固定的形状，气体也没有。
Liquids have no definite shape; nor have gases.
第二分句中，否定连词nor 置于句首，句子的语序要倒装。
（4） 如果没有摩擦，运动的物体永远不会停止。
A moving object would never come to a stop if there were no friction.
（5） 水淀里没有一个人影，只有一团白绸子样的水鸟，也躲开鬼子往北飞去，落到大荷叶下面歇凉去了。
No one else was in sight. Only a flock of silky white water-fowl flew off to the north away from
the Japanese soldiers, alighting to rest in the shade of big lotus leaves.
（孙犁《芦花荡》，戴乃迭
译）
（6） （与此同时，上海人也清醒地认识到，）不能沾沾自喜以“老大”自居。 In now way should they become complacent and pose as No.1 in the country.
译文否定状语部分，且置于句首，语气更强。
4. Translated into related English Positives
汉语否定概念也常常用英语肯定句式来表达，这是由于两个民族思维方式的差异所致。而与此有关的英语肯定句有两种：一种是意义和形式都肯定；而另一类，则是意义否定、形式上肯定的，即不带否定标记的表达方式。前面列举了不少具有否定意义的动词、名词、形容词、介词、连词和相关词组，还提到了一些句法结构，都属于这一类。
（7） 那位老人能在大风大浪中不停地游泳达三个小时以上。
The old man could swim continuously in great storms for more than three hours. Continuous 意为going on without stopping or being interrupted，其副词与它同义，与原文中“不停地”语义完全相符。
（8） 人民军队离不开人民，就像鱼儿离不开水一样。
The people is to the people's army what water is to fish.
（9） 密云水库„„远山叠翠，绿波万顷，和我记忆中的太湖不相上下。 The Miyun Reservoir…With its vast area of green waves and row upon row of verdant mountains in the distance can be equally matched with the Taihu lake in my memory.
（冰心《塞北变江南》，李定坤译）
汉语否定，译文从形式到意义都肯定。两个例句十分典型，说明对相同的概念，汉语和英语表达的角度有时正好相反。
（10） 他无可指责。 He is above blame.
（11） 他化学测验不及格。 He failed the test in chemistry.
（12） 我们不能让孩子们上河里游泳。
We must keep the kids from swimming in the river.
（13） 这尊雕像历经大地震后毫发未损，仍然矗立。
The statue survived the great earthquake, remained intact and was still standing there.
以上4例汉语原文的否定概念，在译文中都是通过无否定标记、却含有否定意义的词语表达的。也就是说，英译文形式肯定，意义否定。
（14） 谅你不敢这么干。
Do that again if you dare.
译文通过肯定的if 句型，恰当地传达了原文威胁、发狠的意味和强烈的感情色彩。
（15） 你借钱给那个无赖，不啻把钱丢在海里。
You might as well throw your money into the sea as lend it to that rascal.
译文通过虚拟语气might as well表达“不啻”这一否定概念。
（16） 女孩儿未出嫁，是颗无价宝珠；
A girl before marriage is a precious pearl.
5. Translation of Double Negatives
“双重否定就是在一个句子中同时使用两个否定词，或者使用一个否定词和一个含有否定意义的词或短语。”（陈宏薇，1998:223）双重否定的句子，实际上表达肯定的意义。与一般肯定句不同的是，双重否定句感情色彩更加浓厚，肯定的语势更加强烈。汉译英时，我们往往保留双重否定的形式。
（17） 子曰：“不患人之不己知，患不知人也。”
The Master said, ( the good man) does not grieve that other people do not recognize his merits.
His only anxiety is lest he should fail to recognize theirs.
（孔子《论语》，Arthur Waley译）
（18） 名不正则言不顺，言不顺则事不成。
If language is incorrect, then what is said does not concord with what was meant; and if what is
said does not concord with what was meant, what is to be done cannot be effected.
（孔子《论语》，Arthur Waley译）
（19） 我想：希望本无所谓有，无所谓无。
I thought: hope cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to exist.
以上例句的原文含双重否定，译文也同样采用双重否定的句式。
（20） 不看秦始皇兵马俑，不算真正到过中国。
a. A traveler who has not seen the Qin Dynasty terra cotta figures cannot claim to have visited China.
b. No one who has not seen the Qin Dynasty terra cotta figures can claim to have visited China. 两个译文都保留了双重否定的形式。译文a 中的第一层否定放在定语从句的谓语部分（has not seen），而译文b 的第一层否定放在了主语部分（No one who ...）。两个译文都不错，但译文b 的语势似乎更强。
6. Translation of Chinese positives into English negatives
由于中国人和英美人在思维方式上的差异，汉语的肯定句译成英语时也常用否定句式来表达。
（21） 他在这上面费了很多力。
He took no little pain over it.
（22） 我对你万分感激。
I couldn't thank you enough.
（23） 完全同意。
I couldn't agree more.
（24） 直到喷气发动机发明以后，飞机才能以超音速的速度飞行。
Not until the invention of the jet engine could airplanes travel at supersonic speeds. 汉语“直到„„才„„”的句型译成英语时，往往要用not ... Until ...的否定句式来表达。
（25） 智者千虑必有一失。
Even the wise are not always free from errors.
汉语以肯定句从正面表达，英语以否定句从反面表达，该例句典型地反映了汉英两种语言叙述角度的差异。
7. Terms with Negative meaning
a. Verbs with Negative Meaning:
fail, forbid, forget, deny, hesitate, lack, wonder, miss, lose, neglect, ignore, escape, resist, decline, doubt, reject, deprive, refrain, free/keep/save/protect/prevent/stop/persuade„from,etc.
Examples:
1. 那部车无法爬上那个山坡。
The car failed to climb the hill.
2. 他们不准这陌生人进入室内。
They excluded the stranger from entering the room.
3. 你没有射中靶子。
You have just missed the target.
4. 公共场合请勿吐痰。
Please refrain from spitting in the public places.
5. 下雨了，他没法出去。
Rain prevented him from going out.
b.Adjectives with Negative Meaning:
absent (from ) , empty of, free, far from , ignorant of, innocent, different (from ) , least, lost, reluctant, short of, vacant, hard, devoid of, other than, foreign to, etc. Examples:
1. 他是个寡言少语的人。
He is a man of few words.
2. 这地方没有天花和瘟疫。
The place is safe from smallpox and plague.
3. 他不懂拉丁文。
He is quite ignorant of Latin.
c. Set Collocations with Negative Meaning：
1. the comparative degree of adj./adv.+ than to do 在某些条件下蕴含着一种因
果关系。当比较级表示原因, than 后的不定式表示结果则含有强烈的否定意思。
你英语掌握得这么好, 不该犯这样的错误.
You have a better command of English than to make such mistakes.
2. more than+ 含有can 的从句这种结构表面是超出限度, 实际上是一种力所不能及的否定, 译为“不能”。e.g.
那地方景色之美非笔墨所能形容。
The beauty of the place is more than I can describe.
3. be + anything but+ 名词/形容词该结构是一种语气很强的否定表达方式, 译为“根本不是”、“一点也不”。 e.g.
这项任务根本不容易。
The task was anything but easy.
4. 主语+ be+ the last+ 名词+ 不定式/定语从句此结构是一种强有力的否定方式, 意思为“决不至于⋯⋯, 最不(可能) ⋯⋯的”。
我怎么也没料到会在这地方见到你。
This is the last place where I expected to meet you.
5. 在“否定词十but ”的结构中, but 当作关系代词用, 相当于“which/who/that„ not „”, 具有否定含义, 也构成双重否定句。
差小多每个星期她都要给父母信。
Scarcely a week passes but she writes to her parents.
6. nothing (nobody, now here, none) so ⋯but ⋯ “无论⋯⋯只要⋯⋯就(便) ⋯⋯” 无论多么困难的事, 只要实践便会变得容易。
There is no thing so difficult but it becomes easy by practice.
Exercises:
Translate the following negatives:
1. 我真不知该如何感谢你的恩惠。
2. 我全然不知道下一步该怎么办。
3. 他对所有的警告充耳不闻。
4. 欺骗与他的本质格格不入。
5. 他所做的事没有达到要求。
6. 没有足够的加速度，地球卫星是不能进入太空的。 7. 没有科学技术知识要建设社会主义是不可能的。
Answers for reference:
1. Your kindness is more than I can express.
2. I am quite at a loss what to do next.
3. He turns a deaf ear to all warnings.
4. Deception is foreign to his nature.
5. What he has done falls short of the requirements.
6. The earth satellite would not get into space without enough acceleration.
7. Without knowledge of science and technology it is impossible to build socialism.