Translation of Attributive Clauses

The translation of English attributive clauses mainly involves the translation of restrictive clauses and the translation of non-restrictive clauses. In addition, some English attributive clauses have adverbial relations with the main clause, and the translation of such attributive clauses is worth discussing.

Ⅰ.Translation of Restrictive Attributive Clauses

Restrictive attributive clauses limit the antecedents, and are closely related to them. There is no need to separate them with commas. Methods used for the translation of restrictive attributive clauses are listed below.

1.Rendered into Pre-attributive

The English restrictive attributive clause can be translated into an attributive phrase with "的", placed before the modified word, thereby translating the compound sentence into a Chinese single sentence.

1)I was, to borrow from John Le Carre, the spy who was to stay out in the cold.

借用约翰·勒卡雷的话来说，我成了一个被冷落的间谍了。

2)It is a consolation to know that they will surely carry on the cause for which Edgar Snow strove so faith fully all his life.

了解到他们一定会把斯诺终身为之奋斗不渝的事业继承下来，这是一件令人快慰的事情。

3)The people who worked for him lived in mortal fear of him.

在他手下工作的人对他怕得要死。

4)There will come a day when people the world over will live a happy life under

the sun of socialism.

全世界人民在社会主义阳光下过幸福生活的一天是会到来的。

5)That is a place which people have seen but few can describe.

那是一个很多人都看见过但几乎没有人能够描写出来的地方。

6)All who know me, consider me an eminently safe man.

知道我的人无不认为我是个杰出的稳健派。

7)The heart that loves is always young.

爱心永远是年轻的。

2.Rendered into Post-attributive

Most of the above methods of translation into pre-modifier are applicable to restrictive attributive clauses, but they are generally used to translate simple English attributive clauses. If the clause structure is complex, the translation into Chinese seems too long and does not conform to Chinese expression habits. It can often be translated into a coordinate clause that is put at the back of the sentence.

1)译成并列分句，重复英语先行词。

①He unselfishly contributed his uncommon talents and indefatigable spirit to the struggle which today brings them within the reach of a majority of the human race.

他把自己非凡的才智和不传的精力无私地给了这种斗争，这种斗争今天已使人美中大多数人可以达到这些目标。

②They are striving for the ideal which is close to the heart of every Chinese and for which, in the past, many Chinese have laid down their lives.

他们正在为实现一个理想而努力，这个理想是每个中国人所珍爱的，在过去，许多中国人曾为了这个理想而牺牲了自己的生命。

③They would have had to live the rest of their lives under the stigma that he had recklessly precipitated an action which wrecked the Summit Conference and conceivably could have launched a nuclear.

他们可能已不得不蒙着一种臭名而终其余生，这个臭名就是：他曾贸贸然采取了一项行动，这项行动破坏了最高级会谈，并且可以设想，还可能已触发一场核战争。

④This was the period when he began the research which resulted in the creation of his famous Theory of Relativity.

就在这段期间，他开始了一项研究，通过这项研究创立了著名的相对论学说。

2)译成并列分句，省略英语先行词。

①A good deal went on in the steppe which he ——her father ——did not know.

草原上发生了许多事情，他——她的父亲——并不知道。

②He managed to raise a crop of 200 miracle tomatoes that weighed up to two pounds each.

他居然种出了二百个奇迹般的西红柿，每个重达两磅。

③It is he who received the letter that announced the death of your uncle.

是他接到那封信，说你的叔叔去世了。

④We live in a world where relations between states are relations of forces.

在我们所处的世界上，国家之间的关系是力量对比的关系。

⑤A true friend is, as it were, a polished mirror which reflects our features, good and bad, as they are.

一个真正的朋友，就好象一面磨光的镜子，它把我们的面貌，不论好的，坏的， 都如实地反映出来。

⑥A very agreeable situation located within two small hills in the midst of which flowed a great river.

位置十分合适；它位于两座大山之中，一条大河从中间流过。

3)Syntactic Fusion

①The fusion method refers to a translation method that combines the subject and the attributive clauses in the original sentence into one independent sentence. Since the restrictive attributive clause is closely related to the main clause, the fusion method is more suitable for translating it. The “There be...”structure in English is often treated like this.

a.There are many people who want to see the film.

许多人要看这部电影。

b.There was another man who seemed to have answers, and that was Robert McNamara.

另外一个人似乎胸有成竹，那就是麦克纳马拉

c.There were men in that crowd who had stood there every day for a month.

在那群人中，有些人每天站在那里，站了一个月。

d.There is a man downstairs who wants to see you.

楼下有人要见你。

e.Dawn breaking over the islands very beautiful in a soft light with many clouds. There is a transparency about the light love which cannot be described or painted.

曙色中的海岛美丽极了，晨光微熹，彩云片片。澄澈的光彩是无法描写，无法勾画出来的。

②In addition, there are some English compound sentences with attributive clauses. When translated into Chinese, the English main sentence can be compressed into a Chinese phrase as the subject, and the attributive clause can be translated into a predicate and merged into a sentence.

a."We are a nation that must beg to stay alive, "said a foreign economist.

一位外国经济学家说道：“我们这个国家不讨饭就活不下去。”

b.We used a plane of which almost every part carried some indication of national identity.

我们驾驶的飞机几乎每一个部件都有国籍的某些标志。

c.There was that in Rawdon’s face which cuased Becky to fling herself before him.

罗登脸上的表情使得贝姬扑到他身前。

d.He wore the look of one who knows he is the victim of a terrible disease and understands his helplessness.

他脸上的神色就象是自知得了恶疾而又无药可治了。

Ⅱ.Translation of Non-restrictive Attributive Clauses

English non-restrictive attributive clauses do not limit the antecedent, only describe or explain it. When translating such clauses, you can use:

1.Render into Pre-attributive

Some of the short, descriptive English non-restrictive attributive clauses can also be translated into the prepositive attributive, which precedes the modifier. But this method is not as common as it is used in English restrictive attributive clauses.

1)The sun, which had hidden all day, now came out in all its splendor.

那个整天躲在云层里的太阳，现在又光芒四射地露面了。

2)The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s mouth, which was wide, thin and hard set.

讲话人那又阔又薄又紧绷绷的嘴巴，帮助他加强了语气。

3)He liked his sister, who was warm and pleasant, but he did not like his brother, who was aloof and arrogant.

他喜欢热情愉快的妹妹，而不喜欢冷漠高傲的哥哥。

4)But Miggle’s laugh, which was very infectious, broke the silence.

但密格尔的富有感染力的笑声打破了静默。

5)He thought to better his circumstance by marrying a young woman of the

French nation, who was by profession an opera girl.

他想改善他周围的环境，娶了一个唱歌剧的法国年轻女人做老婆。

6)When she studied at the college, Susan liked McColl, who was warm andpleasant, but did not like Hyneman, who was aloof and arrogant.

苏三在大学学习时，她喜欢热情愉快的麦科尔，不喜欢冷漠高傲的海尼曼。

2.Render into post-attributive

1)Rendered into Chinese Complex Clauses

①在译文中把原文从句后置，重复英语关系词所代表的含义。

a.I told the story to John, who ( = and he) told it to his brother.

他把这件事告诉了约翰，约翰又告诉了他的弟弟。

b.Kissinger and his small group of aides toured the Forbidden City, where the Chinese emperors had once Lived in lofty splendor.

基辛格和他的一小组随从参观了故宫，从前的中国皇帝曾在这故宫过着奢华显赫的生活。

c.The cook turned pale, and asked the housemaid to shut the door who asked Brittles, who asked the tinker, who pretended not to hear.

厨子的脸色变得苍白，要女仆把门关上，女仆叫布立特尔关，布立特尔又叫补锅匠关，而补锅匠装着没听见。

d.Nations such as Greece and Norway have large maritime fleets, which provide the transportation service.

像希腊和挪威这些国家具有庞大的远洋船队，这些船队能提供海上运输业务。

e.In the fields of the boxing championship he knocked out his opponent, who was carried out of the ring.

在拳击锦标赛的决赛中，他把对方击昏在地，对手被抬出拳击场。

f.We decided to stop for the night at the first hotel, which had a private bathroom.

第一家旅馆有独用的卫生间，我们决定在那家旅馆过夜。

②在译文中从句后置，省略英语关系词所代表的含义。

a.After dinner, the four key negotiators resumed their talks, which continued well into the night.

饭后，四个主要谈判人物继续进行会谈，一直谈到深夜。

b.He saw in front that haggard white-haired old man, whose eyes flashed red with fury.

他看见前面那个憔悴的白发老人，眼睛里愤怒地闪着红光。

c.When she was lost to his view, he pursued his homeward way, glancing up sometimes at the sky, where the clouds were sailing fast and wildly.

直到看不见她了，他才走向家去，有时拾头望望天空，乌云在翻滚奔驰。

d.His wife, Betty, is a shanghai-born Chinese who left China at the age of eight, and whose book, “Eight Moon", tells of her sister sansan's life in China.

他的妻子蓓蒂是一位出生在上海的华人，八岁离开中国，写过本题为《八月》的书，记述她妹妹姗姗在中国的生活。

③在译文中从句前置，重复英语关系词所代表的含义

a.World War II was, however, more complex than World War I, which was a collision among the imperialist powers over the spoils of markets, resources and territories.

第一次世界大战是帝国主义列强之间争夺市场、资源和领领土的冲突，而第二次世界大战却比第一次复杂。

b.The men had suddenly awakened to the fact that there were beauty and significance in these trifles, (flowers)which they had so long trodden carelessly beneath their feet.

这些花以前一直被这些人漫不经心地踩在脚下，现在他们突然意识到这这些小玩意儿的美丽和意义了。

c.It was an old woman, tall and shapely still, though withered by time, on whom his eyes fell when he stopped and turned.

他站住，转过身来，定睛一看，是个年迈的妇女，她个子很高，仍然一副好身材，尽管受了时间的打磨。

2)Rendered into an Independent Sentence

a.He had talked to vice-president Nixon, who assured him that everything that could be done would be done.

他和副总统尼克松谈过话。副总统向他担保，凡是能够做到的都将竭尽全力去做。

b.One was a violent thunderstorm, the worst I had ever seen, which obscured my objective.

有一次是暴风骤雨，猛烈的程度实为我生平所仅见。这阵暴风雨遮住了我的目标。

c.If she did not speak with Rebecca on the tender subject, she compensated herself with long and intimate conversations with Mrs. Blenkinsop, the house keeper, who dropped some hints to the lady s-maid, who may have cursorily mentioned the matter to the cook, who carried the news, I have no doubt, to all the trades men.

她不好和丽贝卡谈这个难于出口的问题，只好和管家娘子白兰金索泊太太亲密地长谈了好几回。这个管家娘子露了些口风给上房女佣人。上房女佣人也许略微对厨娘说了了几句。厨娘一定又去告诉了所有那些做买卖的。

d.One was Newman himself, who laughed as he recounted how he had hidden in that basement for several days.

纽曼本人就是其中的一个。他讲述他一连几天躲在在地下室的那种情景时，不禁哈哈大笑。

e.These books, which you can get at any bookstore, will give you all the information you need.

这几本书将向你提供你所需的一切资料。你可以在任何书店买到这些书。

Ⅲ.Attributives with Adverbial Functions

In English, there are some attributive clauses, which have the function of adverbial clauses. They have adverbial relations with the main clause in the sense of cause, effect, purpose, concession, condition and so on. In our translation, we should be good at finding these logical relations between the lines of the original text, and then translate them into Chinese.

1.Rendered into a Clause of Cause

1)The ambassador was giving a dinner for a few people whom he wished especially to talk to or to hear from.

大使只宴请了几个人，因为他特别想和这些人谈谈，听听他们的意见。

2)We know that a cat, whose eyes can take in many more rays of light than our eyes, can see clearly in the night.

我们知道由于猫的眼睛比我们人的眼睛能吸收更多的光线，所以猫在黑夜也能看得很清楚。

3)The strike would prevent the docking of ocean steamships which require assistance of tugboats.

罢工会使远洋轮船不能靠岸，因为它们需要拖船帮助。

4)Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North Carolina where land is cheap.

我们威尔士人有很多要去北卡罗利纳定居，因为那里土地价格便宜。

2.Rendered into a Clause of Result

1)There was something original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased all of them.

这个方案富于创造性，独出心心裁，很有魄力，所以他们都很喜欢。

2)The rain washed away the track, which prevented the train from running.

大雨冲走了铁轨，因此火车无法行驶。

3)He decided not to complete his university course, which was a great disappointment to his parents.

他决定不等大学毕业即行退学，为此他的父母大为失望。

3.Rendered into a Clause of Concession

1)He insisted on building another house, which he had no use for.

他坚持要再造一幢房子，尽管他并无此需要。

2)My assistant, who had carefully read through the instructions before doing his experiment, could not obtain satisfactory results, because he followed them mechanically.

虽然我的助手在做试验之前已从头到尾仔细阅读过说明书，但由于他死搬硬套，所以不能得到满意的结果。

3)He insisted on buying another coat, which he had no use for.

他坚持要买一件上衣，虽然他用不着。

4)My father, who thought it might not work, supported me.

尽管父亲认为这个方法可能不起作用，但还是支持我。

4.Rendered into a Clause of Purpose

1)The imperialist states maintain enormous armies and gigantic navies which are used for oppressing and exploiting the people in distant lands.

帝国主义国家维持了庞大的陆海军，用以压迫和剥削遥远的他国人民。

2)I haven’t given up my effort to get a passport, which will enable me to visit China.

我并没有放弃努力去争取一本护照，以便能访问中国。

3)Their base trick is to create a rumor-mongering trust that will cook up lies and fabrications which might, at least for a time, sidetrack attention from their scheming activities.

他们的卑鄙伎俩是设立谣言托拉斯，以便制造谣言和虚构事实，旨在至少暂时转移人们对其阴谋活动的注意。

5.Rendered into a Clause of Condition

1)Men become desperate for work, any work, which will help them to keep alive their families.

人们极其迫切地要求工作，不不管什么工作，只要它有助养活一家人就行。

2)He would be a short-sighted commander who merely manned his fortress and did not look beyond.

谁如果只守城堡堡而不往远处看，那他就是一个目光短浅的指挥员！

3)Those who are in favour please hold up their hands.

如果赞成，就请举手。

4)Anyone who works hard and never gives up will succeed.

任何人，只要努力工作，永不放弃，就能成功。