第五讲 形合与意合
一、形合与意合的定义
奈达在Translating Meaning（《译意》）中指出，汉语和英语在语言学上最重要的区别就是形合与意合的明显差别（contrast between hypotaxis and parataxis）。
所谓“形合”和“意合”的实际差别，在于修辞中的衔接手段的不同。对这个问题，胡曙中在《英汉比较修辞研究》中说得很清楚：“现代英语在语句衔接方式上来说多用形合法，即用连接词语将句子衔接起来，而汉语既用形合法又用意合法，但重意合法。”请注意他表述中的“多用”，也就是说，他并没有排除现代英语中有时也用意合法；现代汉语虽然“重意合法”，但也不是不用形合法，事实上是在广泛地使用。
修辞上的形合和意合与思维方式有着密切的关系。中国人偏好形象思维（imagination），汉字就是形象思维的产物，而汉字的构造既体现了形象思维，又体现了逻辑思维。西方人偏好抽象思维（abstract thinking）和逻辑思维（logical thinking），其思维注重逻辑分析，所以他们的拼音文字中有表现各种逻辑关系的连接词语，各部分的关系脉络也显得很清楚。
既然汉语求意合，英语求形合，我们在翻译中就万万不可忽视这一点。而了解这一点，对我们将要讨论的翻译方法（尤其是对句子结构的调整、对增词和减词技巧的运用）是大有裨益的。
二、汉语重意合
在英语中，词句之间的各种逻辑关系往往是用连词、介词等进行表达的。这些词是形合的外显形态标记。而在汉语中，词句之间的各种逻辑关系往往是通过句子之间的内部逻辑关系来表达的，没有明显的形合标记。这便是汉语简洁利落的原因，但这也给汉译英带来一些困难，有时需要看上下文才能判断出确切的意思。张维为在《英汉同声传译》一书中举了个非常有意思的例子：“他不干，我干。”
这句话可以有四种理解：（1）假设关系：（如果）他不干，（那么）我（来）干；（2）因果关系：（因为）他不干，（所以）我（才）干；（3）转折关系：他不干，（但是）我干；（4）让步关系：（即使）他不干，我（也）干。翻译时，只有根据上下文，甚至要根据说话的语气和重音，才能对它的意思做出确切的判断。
（一）汉语“流水句”
现代汉语话语各部分之间的联系与使用者的思维模式有密切的关系，所以有时并不需要用一定的语法手段或其他语言手段来表现，而是靠层次之间的自然衔接。先请看从《今日江苏出版业》中选出的这段文字：
这段文字是个长句，包含许多短小的分句，从头至尾，句子势如流水，短句间的逻辑关系非常清楚。吕叔湘先生把这种“一个小句接一个小句，很多地方可断可连”的句子称为流水句。流水句是一种特殊的无关联词语复句，其特点之一就是语义联系比较松散，但是它又不同于英语中的run-on sentence（连写句）。
所谓连写句，是一种语法不规范的英文句子，在该用句号、分号或者连接词的地方用了逗号或者什么也没有用，这往往可看作语法结构方面的小错误。如：“We will not hire him he does not seem responsible.”和“I had no cash when I went to buy gas, luckily I had my credit card.”。
上面那段介绍江苏的文字基本可以按照原文的顺序这样来译：
Jiangsu province lies in the rich and beautiful Yangtze River delta in the eastern part of China. It has an area of more than 100，000 square kilometres and a population of 67 million.Its natural environment is desirable, its economy prosperous, its culture highly developed, and it has a galaxy of cultural talents and elite.The publishing industry of the province has a long history and enjoys a very good reputation, and ranks among the biggest in the country.
从准确传达信息的角度来看，上述译文是忠于原文的，文字表达也比较规范，符合语法要求，但显得比较松散，缺乏生气。如果根据英语的表达习惯进行句子成分重组，就会得到如下的译文，这样就显得比较活泼，也比较符合英语的形合要求：
Jiangsu, a province with an area of more than 100，000 square kilometres and a population of 67 million, lies in the rich and beautiful Yangtze River delta area in the eastern part of China. This province not only enjoys a desirable natural environment, but also boasts of a prosperous economy and a highly developed culture with a galaxy of talents.Jiangsu's publishing industry, whose history can be traced back to a long time ago, has a very good reputation and is among the biggest in the country.
（Publishing Industry of Jiangsu Province Today）
（二）其他无关联词复句
汉语中还有另一种无关联词语的复句，它与流水句的不同在于，它的句子中暗含着句段之间的语义联系，但同样充分体现了意合的特征。
请看《黄山四季》中的一段文字：
上文中“不论”后的四句结构大致平行，但与后文“皆为……”一句的逻辑关系并不密切。“秋色”与“冬景”可以是天工巧成，但春天和夏日都不是景色，如何是天工巧成呢？但是我们都可以明白其中的意思。请看下面的译文是如何按照英语形合的要求进行结构改组的（画线部分是句子的主干，粗体部分是结构上的处理）：
Towering in southern Anhui and forming part of the Lingnan Mountain Range,Mt. Huangshan, one of China's ten celebrated scenic spots, is known as the wonderland on earth, whose most attractive part covers an area of some 154 square kilometers.Mt.Huangshan's magnificent and fantastic natural scenery, especially its imposing pines, grotesque rocks, sea of clouds and hot springs, is mysterious and breath-taking, no matter whether it is in spring when everything comes to life, or in summer when the waterfalls cascade from the blue mountains, or in autumn when the mountains are tinged with gold and red, or in the winter season when they are sealed with ice and snow.
（The Four Seasons at Mt. Huangshan）
再看下面刘心武《钟鼓楼》中选出的例子：
在翻译成英语之后，文中加上了because, which和but以表示关联：
Xing'er lay down. She felt uncomfortable, because the sofa-bed was far too soft.And she was not used to the smell of the perfume on the pillow case which Mrs Gou had earlier sprayed.She could not tell why, but the excitement of having come to the capital was suddenly gone.
（Bell-and-Drum Tower）
汉语中有些段落中短句较多或结构上不太紧凑，在翻译的时候，可以按照英语重意合的要求来译，看下面的例子：
我们可以按照句子现在的结构与顺序来翻译：
China is a member of the international community. China cannot stay away form from the rest of the world.China's reform, opening-up and modernization require a long and peaceful international environment and friendly cooperative relations with other countries.The world needs China.Peace and development of the world requires a stable and prosperous China……If China, a country with a quarter of the worlds population, remains underdeveloped, poor and backward, peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, and even of the world, will be seriously affected.
这样的译文虽说基本做到了信、达，但终究算不上雅。如果能用形合法来处理这段译文，译出来的效果就不大一样了：
As a member of the international community, China cannot stand separate from the rest of the world, and its reform, opening-up and modernization drive all call for an international environment of lasting peace and strong relations of friendship and co-operation with other countries, whereas the world, likewise, needs China too, as a peaceful and prosperous world requires a stable and prosperous China……If China, a country with a quarter of the world's population, remains underdeveloped in prolonged poverty and backwardness, peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and of the world at large will certainly be seriously affected.
（三）形合与意合兼有的句子
当然，汉语虽然重意合，但也不乏形合句。下面一段文字选自《苏州桃花坞木版年画》，其中的空间逻辑关系就是通过一些表示空间概念的词语体现的：
这是在介绍一张端午节赛龙舟的年画，文中用以表示各种关系的词不多，但其中的逻辑关系一目了然，画面上的空间逻辑关系也非常清楚。请看译文中用了哪些表示关系的词语，句子的结构又是如何调整的，同时注意解释性翻译手法的运用：
The traditional Chinese Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, a festival with the custom of eating glutinous rice dumplings and holding dragon boat races which is said to honor and commemorate Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet who lived in the period of the Warring States.
In the picture two beautifully decorated dragon boats are competing, with banners of the Taoist Eight Diagrams fluttering in the wind. At the prow of the first boat stand the two celestial gods of wealth“Zhao Cai”and“Li Shi”，which mean“Inexhaustible Earnings”and“Profitable Markets”respectively in Chinese, while at the stern is a banner with words reading“Plain Sailing and Good Luck”.Under the banner stands the God of Wind, with the two gods, Peace and Harmony, riding on clouds nearby.Waving a“Big Money Made Daily”flag on top of the boat is a boy, who seems to be giving orders for the oarsmen to strive for the first place.This print, full of jubilance and excitement, symbolizes a propitious and prosperous year.
（Taohuawu Wood-block New Year Prints, Suzhou）
三、英语重形合
进行汉英互译时，要注意汉语的意合与英语的形合之间的转化问题。从语法上来看，英文句子的谓语必然是由限定动词担任的，而且在人称和数上与主语保持一致。在句子中出现的其他动词，一定是以非谓语动词的形式（不定式、分词、动名词）出现。有人说，理解和把握英语句子，只要抓住谓语动词，就抓住了全句的灵魂，此言不谬。
（一）译文向汉语的意合方向转化
注意下面这段英文（选自Dictionary of Modern Culture）中的粗体词，看它们在谋求形合时所起的衔接作用：
Eisenstein was born into the family of a city architect in Riga, and spent his childhood there and in St. Petersburg before studying architecture and engineering at the Petrograd School of Public Works.In 1918 he enlisted in the Red Army, where he produced posters and theatre designs.After the Civil War, he moved to Moscow to study Japanese, but was diverted into the theatre after a chance encounter with a childhood friend, Maxim Strach.It was in his theatrical work between 1920 and 1924 that Eisenstein was exposed to a range of Modernist experiments in dramaturgy that were to lead him in the direction of the cinema.
请看下面的译文（根据《现代世界文化词典》的相关词条进行了修改）是如何采用意合来衔接的，注意其行文中的流水句：
这段译文比较符合汉语求意合的特点。它很像是履历表上的简介，原文中的三个独立句子在译文中成了大流水句，全句中只有一个主语，原文中的一个从句，一个强势句，都消失在这个大流水句中了，只是在最后一句话前用了个“从而”，但整个句子读起来依然很顺，像是一气呵成，并没有造成任何歧义。
再看小说Alibi（《不在犯罪现场》）中的一个句子：
The pavilion was round in shape, about thirty yards in diameter. Although it was an open-air structure with a conical roof, the underside of which was strung with clear Christmas lights, the pitched ceiling trapped the noise inside, making the din incredible.
译文如下：
（二）译文继续保留原文的衔接词语
在很多情况下，汉语译文中可以保留英文原文中的衔接词语，因为它们同样符合汉语的逻辑思维。请看下面这段英文：
The point that I am anxious to make is that the search for model of this kind, the study of their behaviour and of the relationship of this behaviour to the real situations which they seek to represent, and the consequential modification of them so as to lead to reliable prediction and then to decision-making, would not be possible were it not for the assistance afforded to the investigator by the digital computer and by the work of the technologists who have successfully transformed the scientific idea on which it is founded into stable, reliable and economic pieces of electrical equipment.
译文如下：
有时可以根据原文中的语法结构，增添适当的词语。请看下面的例子：
Working on the principle that a first, an only or an unusual skill do not necessarily make a record, Guinness editors spend much of their time checking and analyzing data.
译文如下：
下面是介绍有关王安石的一篇文章的最后一段：
下面的译文采用了符合形合的译法，以几个同位宾语，较好地表达了上文的意思，而对“历史的烟海不会湮没前贤称颂于世的风采”中的个别词语则进行必要的省略，进行了意译：
History will never forget the elegance of Wang Anshi, the great statesman, man of the letters, and poet, and the many stories handed down from generation to generation still telling about his life as a prime minister and as an ordinary man.
（三）弄清结构关系，在译文上进行大胆变通
形合与意合在翻译中起着一根无形杠杆的作用。但有时仅仅考虑形合和意合还不足以解决问题。这时就要考虑进行更大胆的变通，对句子结构进行重组。其实这一点在本讲一开始所使用的例句中已经有所体现。“等效翻译”是我们进行这种重组的理论根据。这是否可以看成是更大意义上的“意合”呢？请看下面的例子：
例1 The international currency markets the Nikkei and the Nasdaq never close.This is liquid-crystal globalism, virtual, instantaneous, and networked.
译文：日经和纳斯达克这样的国际货币市场永远不会关闭。这是液晶化、虚拟化、瞬时化和网络化了的全球化。
分析：第二句中liquid-crystal globalism的意思是液晶显示的全球化，后面相当于which is virtual, instantaneous, and networked。翻译时进行适当调整，译文就会比较符合汉语的习惯。
例2 Extracting pure water from the salt solution can be done in a number of ways.One is done by distillation, which involves heating the solution until the water evaporates, and then condensing the vapor.Extracting can also be done by partially freezing the salt solution.When this is done, the water freezes first, leaving the salts in the remaining unfrozen solution.
译文：从盐水中提取纯水有若干种方法。一种是加热蒸馏法，另一种是局部冷冻法。前者是将盐水加热，使水分蒸发，然后再使蒸汽冷凝成水。后者是使盐水部分冷冻，这时先行冷冻的是水，盐则留在未曾冷冻的液体中。
分析：翻译时打破了原文中非限定性定语从句、状语从句的格局，甚至打破了被动语态的结构，对原文顺序进行大胆的调整。
例3 再请看Closing Time中的一个有116个词的长句，注意其中的粗体词在形合中所起的衔接作用：
Early every weekday morning, all of the fathers on the block, and all of the brothers and sisters already out of school, would begin materializing soundlessly from their buildings and turn toward the stop of the Norton's Point trolley cars on Railroad Avenue that would take them to the elevated Stillwell Avenue terminus of the four separate subway lines, following different routes, that ended in Coney Island, to the subway cars that would then transport them into the city to their various places of work or, as with me when I was just seventeen and a half with my high school diploma, to the succession of employment agencies in Manhattan in timorous search of a job.
译文：除周末之外，每天一早我们这个街区的所有父亲们，还有那些已经走出学门的哥哥姐姐们，都开始无声无息地离开家门，走到铁路大街上的诺顿点电车站，乘车到坐落在斯蒂尔威尔大街上的科尼艾兰高架地铁起点站，换乘四条不同的地铁线，到城里的不同的地点去上班，而当时已拿到中学毕业文凭、才17岁半的我也已壮着胆子到曼哈顿一家又一家职业介绍所去找工作了。
分析：对这样的句子，一定要从语法关系上把它弄清。这个句子中有三个定语从句，一个时间状语从句，还有由四个to表示的方向状语从句。
明白这几个关系之后，进行句子的重组就不太难了。这段译文中使用了两个主语，一个是“父亲们”和“哥哥姐姐们”，一个是“我”，从结构和表达方式上进行了大胆的变通。像这样一段文字的翻译是不可能一蹴而就的，要先译出一个初稿，然后才能在不违背原文意思的情况下进行必要的变通。
例4 再看一个选自小说China Lake的结构略为复杂的长句。在中译本《“响尾蛇”疑云》中，该文段的链接词都不见了：
Of course, this was a way of including Tannis as well, of keeping him on side, and by way of reward, he was then given an informal briefing on events-so-far during which he was told that the FBI's legal attache in Bonn—known in their jargon as a Legat—had established that Buhler's identity was apparently genuine and that he'd legally crossed into West Berlin about six months previously.
译文：当然，这种方法可以把坦尼斯拉进来，把他看成自己人，给他点优待，非正式地向他简单通报案件进展情况，告诉他联调局驻波恩法律事务代表——他们的行话叫法律专员——已证实布勒的身份看来是真的，而且是六个月前合法进入西柏林的。
例5 在小说Devil May Care（《007归来》）中，有这样一个句子：
The caviar was brought in a casket, whose lid was taken off to reveal an inner glass bowl set on ice.
译文：鱼子酱是用一个箱式容器端上来的，盖子打开之后，里面有一只放在冰上的玻璃碗。
分析：主句的被动结构在译文中变成了“是……的”结构，定语从句中的被动语态在译文中变成了主动结构，译文整体上采用了汉语中的流水句形式，非常符合汉语求意合的特点。
例6 下面这句话是余秋雨写的：
译文：In an instant, the ox began to take big strides.The people who came to see him off stopped at the gate.When he was two to three zhang away, his white hair, yellow robe, the black ox and the white bag were still visible.But soon, rising dust gradually enveloped him and his ox and turned them into grey figures.What they saw next was mere dust, nothing of them could be seen any more.
分析：中文句子从意合的角度看是很好理解的，可是要把它翻译成英语，就不得不考虑形合的问题了。译文中的粗体部分就是为形合而增加的。
四、切勿“当局者迷”
在翻译中运用形合和意合的方法不是纸上谈兵就可以奏效的。有时说得头头是道，做起来却会“当局者迷”了。一个最有意思的例子是陆树鉴在《实用英汉翻译技巧》中举出的，上海外语教育出版社出版的《英汉翻译教程》论述英汉两种语言在句法现象的对比一章中，出现了两个例句：
例1 As the weather was fine, we decided to climb the mountain.
译文：由于天气很好，我们决定去爬山。
例2 He had to stay at home yesterday because he was ill.
译文：因为他病了，昨天他不得不待在家里。
陆先生指出，按照汉语的意合法表现形式，最好把“由于”和“因为”分别从两句译文中删除，把译文改为“天气很好，我们决定去爬山”和“昨天他病了，只好待在家里”。
这两个例子可以说明，只有理论不行，一定要有实践。只有实践才能检验你是否真懂真会。在此，我们不妨举例说明，谈谈在英译汉时如何向形合的要求靠拢的问题。这就涉及要添加必要的连接词语的问题：
She was an attractive young woman, he thought, though not so very young—thirty-seven or eight. A well-rounded figure, dark hair and eyes, a general air of vitality and good health.She gave the impression of being both competent and intelligent.（Ordeal by Innocence）
译文：她曾经是个风姿绰约的女人，他心里思忖，虽然现在已经不那么年轻——大概三十七八岁，但依然体态丰盈，黑色的秀发和黑色的眼睛，周身上下充满活力，体魄健康，给人以聪明、干练的印象。（《无妄之灾》）
（1）下列例句后括号中的文字是机械的、字对字的翻译，没有从汉语意合的要求来考虑文字的处理，所以译文显得累赘。
例1 Think carefully before you answer his question.
先仔细考虑，再回答他的问题。
（在你回答他的问题之前仔细考虑。）
例2 Be careful while crossing the street.
过马路要当心。
（在过马路的时候要当心。）
例3 His car broke down when he was only half way home.
他在回家途中车抛了锚。
（当他才走到一半路程的时候，他的车子抛了锚。）
例4 Eczema may be found in all age groups and in both sexes.
男女老少都可能患湿疹。
（在所有年龄组和两性中都发现有湿疹。）
例5 The rain was so heavy that when we got home we were literally wet
through.
雨太大，等回到家里，我们全身都湿透了。
（雨下得如此之大，以致等我们到家的时候，我们全身实际上都湿透了。）
例6 Einstein's theory of relativity is so abstruse that very few people can appreciate it.
爱因斯坦的相对论非常深奥，没有多少人懂。
（爱因斯坦的相对论是如此深奥以致很少有人能理解。）
例7 The car sped passed before I could see clearly who was inside.
我还没看清车里坐的是谁，它就一下开过去了。
（在我能看清谁在车里之前，车就很快开过去了。）
例8 He didn't come home that night until 11.
那天晚上11点钟他才回来。
（那天晚上他没有回来，直到11点才到家。）
从上面所给的例句中，我们能学到什么呢？在翻译这些句子的时候，我们要不要把那些粗体词运用在我们的译文之中呢？
（2）英语虽然重形合，但也不乏意合句。
例1 You sweep the floor and I'll clean the windows.
你（如果）扫地，我就擦窗户。
例2 Cease to struggle and you cease to live.
（一旦）停止奋斗，生命也就停止了。
例3 The pursuit of science withdraws his interest from external things.
潜心科学研究，转移了他对外界事物的关注。
例4 Light burdens borne far, become heavy.
远路无轻担。
例5 The weather was overcast, visibility five miles, a fine day to dive beneath the ice.
天气阴沉，能见度5海里，非常适合冰下潜航。
例6 Hands locked behind his back, Sorokin paced along the line of sailors.
索罗金把手背在身后，在列队的水兵前面慢慢走过。
在例6中，Hands locked behind his back是名词独立结构，相当于with his hands behind his back。
（3）有些英语谚语就是非常好的意合句。请试译下面的句子：
Out of sight, out of mind.
First come, first served.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Give a dog a bad name and hang it.
Like father, like son.
Love me, love my dog.
More haste, less speed.
Nothing venture, nothing have.
No pains, no gains.
Waste not, want not.
本讲结束语：这里要重申的是，形合与意合无所谓孰优孰劣，译文好坏要以是否通顺达意为标准。但要记住，英语重形合，汉语重意合。汉译英能做到形合固然好，但不能为形合而形合。英译汉如不能做到意合也不要紧，只要达意通顺就行。
翻译练习
1.请看《红楼梦》中的一个流水句：
试比较下面两段译文（陆树鉴：《实用英汉翻译技巧》），然后从形合和意合的角度指出其优劣：
译文1：Zijuan was answering and hurried out to change a spittoon and put the spittoon in her hand on the table and opened the door of inner-room to go out, still closed it, let down the flowered portiere and go to wake Xueyan.
译文2：Zijuan, assenting, hurried out to fetch a clean spittoon, placing the used one on the table in the outer room.Having closed the door behind her, she let down the sort flowered portiere before going to wake Xueyan.
2.试译下面这段雨花台革命烈士展览馆中的解说文字，然后对照参考答案，看能否达到英语中形合的要求：
3.下面这段介绍中国长城的文字选自英文版《读者文摘》（Reader's Digest），其中使用了许多英语的动词非谓语形式。你是否能按照汉语注重意合的要求，把文字译得活泼一些：
The Great Wall of China, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gobi Desert, is one of man's most amazing engineering feats. It snakes, loops and doubles back on itself, meandering across plains and valleys, scaling mountains, plunging into deep gorges and leaping raging rivers, for 3，700 miles.If straightened out it would span the United States from New York to San Francisco, and back to Salt Lake City……Still standing are many of the 25，000 towers，40 feet high, that sheltered troops.In the Wall's heyday, an army of perhaps a million men were stationed in those towers to guard this mighty wall.Relaying smoke signals by day and flares by night from one watch-tower to another, the soldiers could transmit a message across the empire in 24 hours.
4.下面这段文字并不难理解，可是在翻译中如何想象作者描述的情景，如何用符合汉语的习惯来言传，的确不是一件容易的事情：
Later in the evening Gemma slipped out on to the terrace under the drawing-room windows to sit alone for a few moments among the great camellias and oleanders. The close air and continually shifting crowd in the rooms were beginning to give her a headache.At the further end of the terrace stood a row of palms and tree-ferns, planted in large tubs which were hidden by a bank of lilies and other flowering plants.The whole formed a complete screen, behind which was a little nook commanding a beautiful view out across the valley.The branches of a pomegranate tree, clustered with late blossoms, hung beside the narrow opening between the plants.
（The Gadfly）