Level 6--English-Chinese translation of impersonal subject sentences

In English, subjects are often expressed in two forms: personal and impersonal. When expressing with an impersonal subject, the focus is often on "what happened to whom." In Chinese, it is more commonly expressed with personal subjects, focusing on "what happened to this person".

For example: 1. A terrible thought suddenly struck me -----had I locked the door?

I suddenly had a terrible thought---had I locked the door?

2. A strange peace came over her when she was alone.

　She felt a special peace when she was alone.

There are two main types of sentences in English with non-personal subjects:

1. Impersonal subject sentences use "inanimate subjects" to express abstract concepts, psychological feelings, names of things, time and place, etc. However, predicates often use "animate verbs" to express the actions of people or social groups. and behaviors, such as: see, desert, find, bring, witness, give, escape, surround, kill, deprive, serve, send, know, tell, permit, invite, take, drive, prevent...from, etc., such sentences are often Rhetorical color with personification (such as the two examples above).

2. Use the impersonal pronoun "it" as the subject.

For example: It never occurred to me that she was so dishonest.

Translation: I never thought she would be so dishonest.

Such sentences in English have the characteristics of implicit humor, liveliness, objectivity, conciseness and conciseness, and diverse sentence patterns, so they are widely used. However, since Chinese and English belong to different language families, when translating this kind of non-spiritual subject sentence, we must take into account the English way of thinking, and then convert it to the Chinese way of thinking, so as to express the inner meaning of the sentence in Chinese. The following is a brief discussion of the basic methods of translating impersonal subject sentences from English to Chinese.

One: If the subject implies conditions, cause and effect, time, place, method, etc., use a person as the subject and translate the original subject into various forms of adverbials.

For example: The forty years, 1840--1880, brought almost ten million immigrants to America.

Translation: In the forty years from 1840 to 1880, nearly ten million immigrants came to America. Move to the United States.

Two: When the predicate verb is an emotional causative verb, such as: surprise, disappoint, excite, disturb, inspire, puzzle, annoy, trouble, irritate, shock, etc.; or a gain-and-loss verb, such as: lost , get, gain, take, fail, save, win, leave, etc. When translating, you can keep the subject and translate the predicate verb into a "make..." structure.

For example: 1. The beautiful scenery gained the place quite a reputation.

Translation: The beautiful scenery gained the place quite a reputation.

Translation: The beautiful scenery gained the place quite a reputation.

2. Her habit of biting her nails irritates me.

Translation: Her habit of biting her nails irritates me.

Three: Change the word expressing the concept of life in the original sentence into the subject, extend the meaning of the predicate verb, and use the retrograde translation method.

For example: 1. When he had to speak, his confidence suddenly deserted him.

Translation: When he had to speak, his confidence suddenly deserted him.

2. It seems that a very difficult decision now faces him.

Translation: He seems to be facing a difficult decision.

Four: When the animate verb is some sensory verb, such as: see, witness, speak, tell, etc., the inanimate subject is retained and the meaning of the verb is extended. For example, sometimes the predicate verb can be extended to words with meanings such as "show", "show", "produce", etc.

For example: The blood-stained glove told of the bandit's crime.

Translation: The blood-stained glove was the evidence of the bandit's crime.

Five: Redefine the subject and extend the meaning of the verb.

For example: It is generally felt that his appointment was a grave mistake.

Translation: Many people now feel that his appointment was a serious mistake.

Six: Subjectless sentences translated into Chinese.

For example: Rumors had already spread along the street.

Translation: Rumors had already spread along the streets.

Seven: Since the combination of "inanimate subject" and "animated verb" in Chinese is usually used as a rhetorical device - personification, so we might as well use "personification" in some sentences. Expressed using Chinese sentence patterns.

For example: Don't talk to me about no opportunity any more ,opportunity's knocking down every door in the country ,trying to get in.