Translation of attributive clause

1. Translation Translation Translation of attributive clause 定语从句的翻译

2. INTRODUCTION Contributive clause includes Restrictive Attributive Clause (RA) and Non-Restrictive Attributive Clause (NRA). RA clauses have a close relation to the words they modify (or their antecedent先行词), while the relation between NRA clause and its antecedent is not that close. Accordingly, we can translate attributive clauses in three ways：

3. 1. Since restrictive attributive clause is to modify anoun, it is usuallyput before its antecedent. But the clause has to be short enough so as not to break the main sentence: I want to buy a house which is inexpensive yet comfortable. 我想买一座又便宜又舒适的房子。

4. But if the attributive clause may cause ambiguity or logic mistake, it should beput after its antecedent, usually as an individual sentence： They killed four men and injured the fifth who later died of his wounds. 他们打死四人，并打伤了后来伤重死去的第五人。 他们打死四人，打伤一人，伤者后来因伤势过重而死去。

5. 2. In translation of non-restrictive attributive clause, we usuallysplit it from the main sentence and put it into an independent sentence. This is because: 1) Non-restrictive attributive sentences are usually too long to be put in one single sentence:

6. World War II was more complex than World War I, which was a collision among the imperialist powers over the spoils of markets, recourses and territories. 第一次世界大战是帝国主义列强之间争夺市场、资源和领土的冲突，因而第二次世界大战比第一次更复杂。

7. 2) Non-restrictive attributive clause is usually descriptive or explanative rather than restrictive. So if you use them to restrict a noun, sometimes ambiguity may arise. His father, who is in Hongkong, will return to Taipei next week. 他在香港的爸爸下星期要回台北。(他还有别的爸爸） 他爸爸现在在香港，下星期回台北。

8. But please remember: There’s no rule but has no exception. Some non-restrictive attributive clauses are also restrictive in meaning. Look at the following sentence: American families, which host foreign students, are not paid, though they are allowed a small income tax deduction. (Para. 5, L.28) 收留外国学生的美国家庭得不到报酬，但可以少量地减少所得税。

9. 3. Sometimes an attributive clause doesn’t serve as attributive at all. Instead, it is to explain the reason, condition, result and concession. Therefore, we can translate them as adverbial.

10. They tried to stamp out the revolt, which spread all the more furiously throughout the country. 他们企图扑灭反抗，结果反抗越来越猛，遍及全国。(表示结果） In a dispute between two states with which one is friendly, try not to get involved. 当两国发生争端时，如与两国都友好，则力避卷入。（表示条件）

11. The trend towards globalization began in the early 1970s when the system of fixed exchange rates, set up after World War II, was dismantled. 国际化的趋势开始于20世纪70年代，当时二战后建立起来的固定汇率制瓦解了。（表示时间） Copper, which offers very little resistance, is used so widely for carrying electricity. 铜的电阻很小，所以广泛用来输电。（表示原因）

12. A few Rules to Go By i. Split the modifiers or clauses into several shorter sentences so as to make the Chinese version more coherent.

13. 1. The tobacco industry, coupled with Hollywood movies in which both male and female heroes smoked like chimneys, completely won over people like my father, who were hopelessly hooked by cigarettes. Attribute S Attributive Clause P Attribute Attributive Clause O 烟草业，再加上好莱坞电影——影片中的男女主角都是老烟鬼——把像我父亲那样的人完完全全争取了过去，他们无可救药地抽烟上了瘾。

14. 2. Studies show that doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate faster, perhaps even commit suicide. S P Object Clause Object Clause Object Clause Adverbial Clause 研究结果表明，大多数医生深信身患重病的人不想知道他们的真实病情。如果告知实情，则有可能使他们完全失去希望; 从而使他们恢复得更慢，或恶化得更快，甚至自寻短见。

15. ii. Split the long sentence into shorter ones according to the order in the English original, especially when the the order is in accordance with one in the Chinese version.

16. 1. I pick them up, take them into the kitchen, where the light is better, and study them—they’re filtered, for which I am grateful. S P P O O Non-restrictive P O Non-restrictive 我拿起香烟，走到厨房里去仔细察看，那里的光线好一点——谢天谢地，那是有过滤嘴的。

17. 2. In these poor countries, as in American inner cities and on reservations, money that should be spent for food goes instead to the tobacco companies; over time, people starve themselves of both food and air, effectively weakening and hooking their children, eventually killing themselves. Adverbial Adverbial S Restrictive P Adverbial O S P O O Adverbial

18. 就像在美国的市中心和印第安人的居留地上发生的事一样，在这些贫困的国家里，那些本应该花在食物上的钱却流进了烟草公司。久而久之，人们不但缺少食物，而且还缺少空气，这样不但大大削弱了孩子们的体质，还使他们染上了烟瘾, 最终使他们丧命。

19. iii. Split the long sentence in Chinese according to the native range of Chinese.

20. I realize now that as a child I sat by, through the years, and literally watched my father kill himself : surely one such victory in my family, for the prosperous leaders who own the tobacco companies, is enough. S P Object Clause Adverbial S P Adverbial P O S Adverbial Adverbial Attributive Clause P 现在，我意识到了，当我还是一个孩子的时候，许多年中，我实际上是一直坐在旁边，看着我父亲自杀。对于那些生意兴隆的烟草公司的巨头们来说，能在我家取得这样一种胜利，肯定是够满意了。

21. 2. And yet this is only a part, and probably a relatively minor part, of the more serious and vastly greater problem of the maintenance of the genetic health of the human species. O S P Attribute O Attribute Attribute O Attribute 保护人类基因健康是个更加需要认真对待的、不知要重大多少的问题，但以上所述不过是问题的一个方面，而且相对说来还是很次要的一个方面。

22. Practice

23. 1. He poured into his writing all the pain of his life and the conviction it had brought to him that the world could be made a better place to live in if the people became the masters of their fate. 他在作品里倾诉了自己一生的痛苦和这种痛苦给他带来的一种信念，认为如果人民成为自己命运的主人，世界就会变得美好。

24. 2. And he knew how ashamed he would have been if she had known his mother and the kind of place in which he was born, and the kind of people among whom he was born. 他出生在这一类人中间，他出生在这种地方，他有这样的母亲；这些要是让她知道了的话，他知道该多么丢人。

25. 3. The increasing scale and scope of the experiments needed to test new hypotheses and develop new techniques and industrial processes led to the setting up of research groups and teams using highly-complicated equipment in elaborately-designed laboratories. 为了检验新的假设和发展新技术与新工艺，需要进行一些实验，由于实验的规模和范围越来越大，就产生了这样一些研究小组和集体，他们在精心设计的实验室里用极为复杂的仪器进行研究。

26. 4. In reality, the lines of division between sciences are becoming blurred, and science is again approaching the “unity” that it had two centuries ago although the accumulated knowledge is enormously greater now, and no one person can hope to comprehend more than a fraction of it. 虽然积累起来的知识要多得多，而且任何个人也只渴望了解其中的一小部分，但事实上，各学科之间的界限变得模糊不清，而且科学再次接近于200年前那样的“单一整体”。

27. 5. The problem of possible genetic damage to human populations from radiation exposures, including those resulting from the fallout from testing of atomic weapons, has quite properly claimed much popular attention in recent years. 人类由于面临辐射威胁，包括原子武器实验产生的放射性散落物所造成的辐射威胁在内，因此很可能遭到基因损伤，这一问题近年来已经理所当然地引起了人们广泛重视。

28. My dormitory is a large, spacious and comfortable room with • four beds. 2. Around the desk are four chairs for us to sit on during out study. 3. Between the two beds on the ease side of the room is a large wardrobe for hanging clothes and storing bedding. 4. Opposite to it is a large bookcase with neatly arranged book. 5. Below the window is a large desk on which there is a clock, a telephone and a computer. 6. As you walk into the room, you are faced with a large window on the southern side of the room. 7. The four bed are located in the four corners of the room.

29. My dormitory is a large, spacious and comfortable room with four beds. As you walk into the room, you are faced with a large window on the southern side of the room. Below the window is a large desk on which there is a clock, a telephone and a computer. Around the desk are four chairs for us to sit on during out study. The four bed are located in the four corners of the room. Between the two beds on the ease side of the room is a large wardrobe for hanging clothes and storing bedding. Opposite to it is a large bookcase with neatly arranged book.

30. Some attributive clauses caneither put before or after its antecedent, which makes no difference: On the European continent there is one subject which should be avoided — the weather. 在欧洲大陆，有一个话题人们讳莫如深，那就是天气。 在欧洲大陆，有一个人们讳莫如深的话题，那就是天气。