大学英语四级考试临近，各位考生在最后的备考阶段，掌握翻译技巧，熟记一些翻译句型，会起到事半功倍的效果。


　　第一步：经典句型展示

　　1. The enemy attempted to win over uncle Chen, but it was in vain. 敌人企图把陈大叔拉过去，但是徒然无效。

　　【分析】in vain = uselessly; without a successful result. 表示“徒然，枉然，没有结果”。

　　2. It is no use trying to persuade him to accept the gift. 设法说服他去接受这份礼物是徒劳的（白费心机的）。

　　【分析】①“It is no use ~ing”中，~ing是动词形式，它表示的是“做…是徒劳的”的意思；② 此外it也可以连接由疑问词所引导的从句。

　　3. It is not till they lose it that people know the value of health. 直到失去健康，人们才知道健康的价值。

　　【分析】“It is not till (until)…that…”是not till (until)的强调句型，它就是让it is…that…的一种变化，表示“直到”的意思。

　　4. It is with life as with a dream. 人生就像是一场梦。

　　【分析】It is with… as with…= It is in… as in…，表示“…就像是…”之意，前面的词语是句子的重点，as with紧跟的词语则是它的比喻。

　　5. It will be some time before it returns to its original shape. 到它恢复到原来的形状为止，是要花上一些时间的。

　　【分析】“It will be…before…”表示“到…为止，要花…的时间”，它除了将来时的形式出现外，还可以用其他的形式来表达。

　　第二步：练习与进步

　　A. 翻译

　　1. 我在这儿干死干活的，可是根本就没有机会涨工资，更别说升职了。

　　2. 当火车启动时，设法赶上那趟车是徒劳的。

　　3. 夏天到了，直到19:00，天才开始逐渐黑下来。

　　4. 人生就像是一次远行，经历喜怒哀乐，同时积累经验。

　　5. 人类就像土地一样，有时会存在着所有人都没有发觉的金矿。

　　6. 花了八年多时间，军队才击败敌人获得全面胜利。

　　7. 不管你说什么，我和那件事无关。

　　8. 总统和这起贿赂案没有关系。

　　9. 老师听到那个男孩小声地说了些什么，她让他高声重复。

　　10. 他们完成这项工程的监理工作需要花半年的时间。

　　【参考答案】

　　1. I am just spinning my wheels here—there’s no chance to get a pay raise, much less a promotion.

　　2. It is no use trying to catch up with the train once it starts.

　　3. Summer is coming, now it was not until 7:00 p.m. that the sky starts getting dark.

　　4. It is in life as in a long journey: going through difficulties, as well as pleasant times, and at the same time, concentrated experiences.

　　5. It is in man as in soil that there is sometimes a vein of gold that the owner is unaware of.

　　6. It was more than 8 years before the army defeated the enemy completely

　　7. Whatever you may say, I have no concern with that issue.

　　8. The president had no concern with the bribery case.

　　9. The teacher heard the boy say something under his breath and she asked him to repeat it aloud.

　　10. It will be about another half a year before they finish the engineering construction supervision.

　　B. 改错

　　1. We protested on vain. The government still insisted on

　　demolishing the building.

　　2. All he has done is vain. It won’t save our company.

　　3. It is absurd think about a plan that is impossible to implement.

　　4. Discipline can be relaxed until the last day of school has passed.

　　5. The country did not became a real democracy unless the middle

　　of last century.

　　6. It is with read books as with receiving education in social sciences.

　　7. It is with researching historic characters as with communicate with

　　persons of that time.

　　8. I thought it is with accepting the task as with putting it into

　　practice before I assimilated into the society.

　　9. It will be about half a year after you finish the engineering

　　construction supervision.

　　10.It will be about three years of getting to know each other

　　before they decided to marry.

　　【参考答案】

　　1. on―in 2. is―is in 3. think―thinking 4. can―cannot

　　5. unless―until 6. read―reading 7. communicate―communicating

　　8. is―was 9. after―before 10. will be―took

　　第三步：伟人伟招

　　1. 克己复礼式

　　The greater the man, the more restrained his anger. (Ovid )

　　人越伟大，越能克制怒火。（奥维德）

　　【点评】通过这句话我们要进一步学习两个类似句型：

　　The + ~er + S. + V., … the + ~er + S. + V. …

　　The + more + adj. + S. + V., … the + more + adj. + S. + V. …（愈…愈…）

　　The harder you work, the more progress you make. 你愈努力，你愈进步。

　　The more books we read, the more learned we become. 我们书读愈多，我们愈有学问。

　　2. 聪明易糊涂难式

　　It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them. (A. E. Stevenson)

　　为原则而斗争容易，按原则的要求活着难。（史蒂文森）

　　【点评】“it is +比较级+to do sth. than to do sth.”是另外一个重要的比较级的句型。

　　第四步：实践与提高

　　将下面的句子补充完整：

　　1. There is little doubt that serious attention must be called to the problem of …

　　2. It is necessary that effective action be taken to prevent the situation .

　　3. It is hoped that great efforts be taken to control the growth of…

　　4. It is hoped that great efforts will be directed towards finding …

　　5. It remains to be seen whether…, but the prospects are (not) very encouraging .

　　6. At any rate, wider attention should be given to the possible consequences of…

　　7. To reverse the trend is not a light task , and it requires a different state of mind towards …

　　8. For these reasons, I strongly recommend that…

　　9. For the reasons given above, I feel that…

　　10. Taking into account the reasons mentioned above, we can confidently come to a conclusion that….