时用“润色者”或“改稿人”。这些词并不相互排斥：每位译者在审 阅其初稿时都可以而且应当是他自己的润色者。 书中所提供的中式英语的例句（每一条初译文：A-version)都是 有根据的。虽然其中有的例句为了便于说明而简化了，但都不是 编造出来的。绝大部分例句是从初译稿中搜集的，出书之前都作 了修正。有些是从出版物中找到的，如：正式文件、《中国日报》、几 种英语杂志等等。给出处的例句都是引自外国出版物，如：《远东 经济评论》或某份美国报纸。 书中凡是为从初译稿里引用的例句提供的修改译文(B version),除个别例外，都是由改稿人定的。但是，如果A-version是 从已出版的书中引用的，那么所提供的修改译文则是我认为当初 应该改面未改、现在建议这样改的。无论是哪一种情况，这里所提 供的修改译文不一定是惟一“正确”的。翻译不是一门科学，而是 一种需要特殊技能的专业。每个行业的技术工人对于解决某个技 术问题的最佳办法都会有不同的见解。 对于一个不懂汉语的人来说，向读者提供这样一部作品似乎 有些不自量力。而我所具备的条件是：我一生都在学习英语而且 是一名职业翻译（法译英），因此，对翻译问题考虑甚多。在80年 代到90年代期间，我在北京做了八年的修改译文工作。先是在外 文出版社，后来在中央编译局（马恩列斯著作编译局）。在这些年 里，我有机会同许多中国的翻译工作者密切合作，他们中间有刚走 出校门的新手，也有水平很高的教授。我从他们那里都学到不少 东西。 尽管如此，如果没有两位不可多得的人一迫又一遍地帮我审 阅我的手稿，这本书是不可能写出来的。首先是我的好朋友姜桂 华，她退休前任中央编译局英文处处长，她以一名有水平的改稿者 身份严格地检查了每一个例句。其次是我先生拉里，他是一名作 家和新闻学教授，曾多年在中国任教并从事修改译文工作，他的专 长使我受益非浅。这两位有知识的审校人，一位的母语是英语，一 5
位的母语是汉语，他们提出的批评和建议很简单，但却是不可或缺 的。 琼·平卡姆 马萨诸塞州，阿默斯特 1999年4月1日 6
Part One:Unnecessary Words All authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writ- ing is concise.Cereful writers say what they mean in as few words as possible. A classic statement of this precept appears in the famous little book of William Strunk,Jr.,and E.B.White,The Elements of Style [p.23]': Vigorous writing is concise.A sentence should contain no un- necessary words,a paragraph no unnecessary sentences,for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. It follows that any words which perform no useful function in the sentence-that is,which add nothing to the meaning-should be edited out. Almost every text that has been translated into English from Chinese,(or that has been written directly in English by a native speaker of Chinese)contains unnecessary words.Draft translations are commonly full of them,and even polished final versions are sel- dom free of them. Read anything that has been published in English for foreign readers-a magazine article,a news story,an advertisement,a gov- ernment report-and you are likely to find superfluous words.Read even the shortest of English texts-the label on a food product,a For identification of all works quoted in this Guide,see the Selected Bibliography be ginning on page 560
billboard on Chang'an,the company name on the front of a building -and,if you are on the alert to recognize them,chances are that you will find words that could and should have been omitted.Unne- cessary words are the hallmark of Chinglish. The late Sol Adler was the most distinguished practitioner of the English language who ever turned his attention to "polishing"in China.One of his most frequent marginal comments on translations of the works of Mao Zedong,Zhou Enlai,Deng Xiaoping,and other leaders was a laconic "Unnec." "Unnec."words can be any part of speech-nouns,verbs,ad- jectives,adverbs,prepositions,articles,and so on.In the following chapters we shall consider the most important types,starting with unnecessary nouns and verbs,which often go hand in hand
I.Unnecessary Nouns and Verbs Nouns Most unnecessary nouns in Chinglish appear not alone but in short phrases,combined with articles and prepositions.When you eliminate the nouns,you eliminate the articles and prepositions as well. Many of these nouns are easy to recognize.They are plainly re- dundant because their sense is already included or implied in some other element of the sentence.Here are a few examples ("A")with suggested revisions ("B")and comments in brackets. A:to accelerate the pace of economic reform B:to accelerate economic reform [“To accelerate'”=“to increase the pace of."] A:there have been good harvests in agriculture B:there have been good harvests ["Harvests"implies agriculture:there are no harvests inin- dustry.] A:living standards for the people in both urban and rural areas continued to rise B:living standards in both urban and rural areas continued to rise [The notion of living standards applies only to people. A:these hardships are temporary in nature B:these hardships are temporary [Any adjective describes the“nature”or“character'"of the 3