Unit 5 Equivalence at sentence level
内容
财务内部控制制度的内容财务内部控制制度的内容人员招聘与配置的内容项目成本控制的内容消防安全演练内容
提要：The Translation of Sentences
1. Hypotactic vs. Paratactic (hypotaxis & parataxis) 形合与意合
2. The passive voice 被动语态
3. The Attributive Clause 定语从句
4. Affirmative vs. Negative肯定与否定
5. Amplification 增词法
6. Omission 省略法
7. Conversion转换
8. The translation of subjects
9. Long sentences 长句的翻译
学习目的：Attain practical translation abilities from comparative studies of Chinese and English sentence structures
重 点：Comparative studies of Chinese and English sentence structures
难 点：Restructuring (结构调整)
教学内容：
1. Hypotactic vs. Paratactic (hypotaxis & parataxis) 形合与意合
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “hypotaxis” as “The dependent or subordinate construction or relationship of clauses with connectives.” So overt cohesion (显性接应) through cohesive ties (连接手段和形式) is of the greatest importance to the English sentence-building.
The World Book Dictionary defines “parataxis” as “The arranging of clauses one after the other without connectives showing the relation between them.”
In English, clauses or phrases are coordinated with one another or subordinated to one another syntactically while in Chinese they are placed one after another without coordinating connectives.
The cohesive ties in English includes:
a. relative words (who, whose, that, where, etc.) and connectives (and, or, yet, either … or …, etc.)
b. prepositions
People can hardly do without using prepositions when making up English sentences.
c. other ties (word inflexions: gender, case, tense, style, voice, degree of comparison性、格、时、体、语态、比较级等; grammatical and notional concord前后一致, etc.)
In making up Chinese sentences, great importance is attached to covert coherence (隐性连贯), logical and chronological sequence of happenings, and functions and meanings.
例1他引进了许多新装置，大大节省了时间和劳力。
He introduced a lot of new devices, which saved much time and labour.
例2一定要吸取这次失败的教训，避免重犯此类错误。
Be sure to learn from the failure to avoid similar mistakes.
例3. The monks may run away, but the temple will remain.（形合句）
跑得了和尚（但是）跑不了庙。（隐含“转折”的意合句）
例4. If one does not exert oneself in the youth, one will regret in old age.（形合句）
（如果）少壮不努力，老大（就要）徒伤悲（隐含“条件”的意合句）
例5 . The wisest thing is time, for it brings everything to light.（形合句）
时间最明智，（因为）能揭一切密。（隐含“原因”的意合句）。
2. The passive voice 被动语态
The passive voice is extensively used in English, while Chinese sentences are usually active. Due to the preciseness and objectiveness, passive voice is preferred to in informative styles such as scientific writings, journalistic writings, official writings, argumentative writings, and so on. In these writings, extreme emphasis has been laid on the “impersonal activity seen objectively”.
The passive voice in Chinese is less commonly used in comparison with English on account of the flexible syntax of the Chinese language. Therefore, in English-Chinese translation, we should avoid sticking to the original patterns, and try to convert the passive voice into various ‘active’ patterns.
(1) Keeping the passive structure in Chinese
Sometimes, an English passive voice may keep its passive structure in the Chinese version.
1) Translating into Chinese by using “被”，“受”，“给”，“由”…
a. Evidently，the color changes are caused by plants that do not grow by earth processes.
明显地，颜色的变化是由那些不按照地球上的过程生长的植物造成的。
b. The photo was bought by a computer programmer from Federal Germany.
那张照片被一位来自前联邦德国的计算机程序员买走了。
c. The mystery may be resolved when more advanced space probes were sent to the Mars.
当更先进的宇宙探测器被送向火星时，这一神秘的现象将得以澄清。
2) Translating into Chinese without using the words indicating passive meaning
a. This city was built many years ago and it is now inhabited by none.
这座城市是许多年以前建成的，而现在无人居住。
b.Perhaps because salt and then water contained in the cell are lost through the cell wall.
也许因为细胞中含的盐分和水透过细胞壁而损失。
c. Solution to the problem was ultimately found.
这个问
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的解决办法终于找到了。
3）Translating into “是…” structure in Chinese
a. Insectivorous plants and some touch_sensitive plants are the examples found earlier.
食虫植物和某些触敏植物是较早发现的例子。
b. Because the air and water in Biosphere_II are recycled，the residents have to take special pains to keep everything pure.由于生物圈2号中的空气和水是循环的，因此，居民们必须特别小心，使一切东西都保持纯洁。
c. The element of helium was first found in the sun. 氦元素最初是在太阳里发现的。
4) In Chinese, “可望”,“予以处理”,“播放”,“概括成” and “加以控制” can express passive meaning 。
a. The unemployment rate in that country is expected to remain stable for 2000.
该国2000年失业率可望保持稳定。
b. His frequent absence from class must be dealt with immediately.
他经常缺课的情况必须立即予以处理。
c. The difference between a brain and a computer can be expressed in a single word: complexity.
电脑与人脑的差异可以概括成一个词：复杂性。
d. The spread of AIDS can be controlled through education.
艾滋病的蔓延问题可以通过教育加以控制。
e. If a computer can be made complex enough, it can be as creative as we.
如果能把电脑造得足够复杂的话，那么电脑就能像人一样富于创造力。
f. The brain is made up of cells in a certain arrangement.
人脑是由细胞按一定的排列方式组成的。
g. 30% of the food consumed in the world today is produced by horticulturists.
全世界消费的食品中，30%是由园艺师生产的。
(2) Converting the passive voice into the active voice in Chinese
1） Keeping the original subject unchanged, and use the word “加以”, “经过”, “用……来” to indicate the SL passive meaning.
a. Other questions will be discussed briefly. 其他问题将简单地加以讨论。
b. In other words mineral substances which are found on earth must be extracted by digging, boring holes, artificial explosions, or similar operations which make them available to us.
换言之, 矿物就是存在于地球上, 但须经过挖掘、钻孔、人工爆破或类似作业才能获得的物质。
c. Nuclear power's danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.
核能对健康、安全, 甚至对生命本身构成的危险可以用一个词—辐射来概括。
2） Changing the noun after the proposition (by, in, for etc.) into Subject. Generally, the subject in the SL is changed into object.
a. A right kind of fuel is needed for an atomic reactor. 原子反应堆 要一种合适的燃料。
b. By the end of the war, 800 people had been saved by the organization, but at a cost of 200 Belgian and French lives. 大战结束时, 这个组织拯救了八百人, 但那是以二百多比利时人和法国人的生命为代价的。
c. And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind can be by no means compared with these processes, and that they have to be acquired by a sort of special training.
许多人认为, 普通人的思维活动根本无法与科学家的思维过程相比, 而且认为这些思维过程必须经过某种专门的训练才能掌握。
3) Changing the passive into the predicative verb “是…”
a. English is spoken here.这儿讲的是英语。
b. The decision to attack was not taken lightly. 进攻的决定不是轻易作出的。
c. On the whole such an conclusion can be drawn with a certain degree of confidence, but only if the child can be assumed to have had the same attitude towards the test as the other with whom he is being compared, and only if he was not punished by lack of relevant information which they possessed.
总的来说, 得出这种结论是有一定程度把握的, 但必须具备两个条件: 能够 假定这个孩子对测试的态度和与他比较的另一个孩子的态度相同; 他也没有 因为缺乏别的孩子已掌握的有关知识而被扣分。
(3) Converting the passive structure into a sentence without subject
a. It has to be pointed out that one and the same word may have different meanings in different branches of science and technology. 必须指出:同一个词在不同的学科和技术中可以有不同的含义。
b. Care should be taken not to destroy the building. 注意不要破坏建筑物。
c. Attention should be paid to your handwriting. 应该注意你的书写。
d. Account should be taken of the low melting point of this substance. 应该考虑到这种物质的熔点低。
d. The lights are usually turned on at 6∶30. 通常六点半开灯。
1)一般情况下，我们以“施动者+动词+受动者”的顺序翻译
Knowing what he is going to ask in advance should make it easier，I thought，except that the opposite psychology Was used．
我想，在他提问以前先知道他要问什么，可能会好办些。却没有想到他们利用了相反的心理作用。
In certain circumstances a decision maker may have some statistical data available that can be used to calculate these probabilities．
在某些情况下，决策者可得到一些统计数据来计算这些结果。
2)用“把”字带出受动者，形成“施动者+把+受动者+动词”或“施动者+把+受动者+动词+补语”的排列顺序。
For now，it is enough that the issue be postponed，with neither side accepting the status quo but with both sides living with it．
目前双方都不接受但还能容忍这样的现状：即把问题推迟到以后去解决，这就足够了。
3)在报导文章和科技文章中有许多被动式句型，在翻译时可以增添施动者，构成“施动者十动词+引述内容”的形式。如：
It is believed(thought／taken／regarded／considered)that．．．人们认为……
It is noticed／noted that．．．人们注意到／前面已经指出……
In is announced(declared，claimed)that．．．有人宣称，据称……
It is stressed that．．。有人强调说……
It is sometimes asked that．．．人们有时会说……
It is asserted that．．．有人主张……
It is expected that．．．人们希望…．．
It is suggested that．。．有人建议……
It is recommended that．．．有人推荐……
It is proposed that．．．有人提议(指出)／一般认为……
3 The Attributive Clause 定语从句
An English sentence may be followed by an unlimited number of attributive clauses following the word being modified, while a Chinese sentence allows only a limited amount of words preceding the word being modified. As a result, there is rarely correspondence between their sentence structures.
When translating sentences with attributive clauses, the following methods are often used.
1) combination 合并法
When the sentences are short, translate the attributive clause into a “…的”structure, make it preceding the word being modified, and translate the SL complex sentence into a simple Chinese sentence. This method is often used to deal with Restrictive Attributive Clauses.
a. A youngster who has no playmates of his age living nearby may benefit greatly from attending nursery school.
附近没有同龄伙伴和自己玩的儿童，上托儿所可以得到很多的益处。
b. The first two must be equal for all who are being compared, if any comparison in terms of intelligence is to be made. 如果要从智力方面进行任何比较的话，那么对所有被比较者来说，前两个因素必须是一样的。
2) Division 分译法
When the English sentence with an attributive clause is too long, it is difficult for the translator to translate it as a whole. In this case, we may divided it into two, and place the attributive clause after the principle clause to conform to the Chinese usage.
a. They 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。
b. It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources and to social science historians who equate their activity with specific techniques.
这种谬误在历史传统派和历史社科派中都存在。前者认为，历史旧事史学界内部和外部人士对各史料来源的评论；而后者则认为，历史的研究就是具体方法的研究。
3) Mixture 混合法
Mixture means combining the principle clause and the attributive clause into one Chinese sentence. This method is often used to deal with ‘there be…’ structure.
a. There is a girl downstairs who wants to see you.楼下有人要见你。
b. There are many people who are interested in the new invention.很多人对这项发明感兴趣。
4) Translating into Chinese Adverbial Clauses
Some English attributive clauses, especially non-restrictive attributive clauses function as the adverbial in the complex sentences, indicating time, condition, cause, concession, purpose, result, and so on.
For example: He insisted on building another house which he had no use for. Is it proper to translate it into “他坚持再建一座他不用的房子”or“他坚持再建一座房，这房他不用”？No, because the translation doesn’t make sense. In translating such sentence, we should render it into a Chinese adverbial sentence.
More examples:
a. These actions, which have aroused universal and unreserved disapproval, must nevertheless give us a pause.这些行动，虽已激起普遍而毫不掩饰的反对，却也使我们举棋不定。（concession）
b. In a dispute between two states with which one is friendly, try not to get involved.在两国发生争端时，如与该两国皆友好，则应避免卷入。（condition）。
c. Copper, which is used so widely for carrying electricity , offers very little resistance. 铜的电阻很小，因此被广泛用于输电。（result）
d. I think it will grow even on non-irrigated land where there is a forest belt. 我想即使在没有灌溉的土地上，只要有一条树林带，苜蓿还是会生长的。（condition）
e. In a personal sense, I think of my eldest daughter, whose birthday is today. 就个人来讲，我想到我的大女儿，因为今天是她的生日。（cause）
4 Affirmative vs. Negative肯定与否定
When doing English-Chinese translation, we often meet with such translation problems: what is affirmative in form in one language may often mean negative in another. In other cases, the negative meaning is expressed without using negative words, which poses even greater difficulties for the translators. For example:
riot police防暴警察 (anti-riot police，not “暴乱的警察”)
crisis law反危机法案（anti-crisis law, not “危机法案”）
These two phrases are translated by the method of ‘negation’ to express the real meaning of the SL. The translation is easy for the readers to understand. In addition, negation is often used to translate newspaper titles. For example, there was a piece of news in China Daily. The title is Inflation is target of bank’s new policy. The news was telling the reader that the bank would take effective measures to stop inflation in 1995. However, the meaning expressed by the title is just the opposite to the content of the news. In this case, we should use the method of ‘negation’, and translate inflation as anti-inflation. This kind of titles is often seen in English newspapers, the purpose of which is to make the title concise. When doing translation, special attention should be paid to the negative words and readjust their meaning according to different context.
For another example: This sort of situation highlights a critical weakness in the ANC leadership：accountability. If it is translated into“这种情况突出了非国大领导层方面的极为严重的弱点：有责任心”, there is obvious illogicality in meaning. If the ANC leadership is accountable, how can this be a ‘critical weakness’? Therefore, the ‘accountability’ should be understood as ‘unaccountability’. The whole sentence should be translated as “这种情况突出了非国大领导层方面的极为严重的弱点：玩忽职守（无责任心）。” The following are the methods used deal with the problem:
1) Render English negative structure into a positive one in Chinese
a. I never passed the theatre but I thought of his last performance.每一次经过那家剧院，我都会想起他的最后一次演出。
b. There is no rule that has no exception.任何规则都有例外。
c. Hardly a month goes by without word of another survey revealing new depths of scientific illiteracy among U.S. citizens.美国公民科盲日益严重，这种调查
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几乎月月都有。
d. The United Nations Organization has not, so far, justified the hopes which the people of the world set on it.到目前为止，联合国辜负了世界人民寄予的希望。
f. Under such times as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more“unnatural food”.除非人类终于意识到要把人口减少到这样的程度，使地球能为所有的人提供足够的饮食，否则人们将不得不接受更多的“人造食品”。
f. The conclusion we reached in Britain is that change simply cannot sensibly be put off.我们英国人得出的结论是，改革是大势所趋。（ ‘be put off’ is passive in voice. If we translate it as“不能合乎情理地被推迟”, it is not a Chinese usage. Therefore, we translate it into a positive structure.）
2) Render English positive structure into a negative one in Chinese.
a. Everyone has the right to be free from hunger.人人有不挨饿的权利。
b. This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high-energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.这种困境将是确定无疑的，因为能源的匮乏使农业无法以高能量消耗、投入少数农民就可能获得高产的美国耕种方式继续下去了。
c. Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers.男人们很聪明，他们不会上时装设计者们的当。
d. He showed unfeigned satisfaction at his friend’s success.他对朋友的成功表现出真正的满足。
g. The target is wrong, for in attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users.把标准化测试作为抨击目标是错误的，因为在抨击这类测试时，批评者不考虑其弊病来自人们对测试不甚了解或使用不当。
3) Render Chinese positive structure into a negative one in English
a 欧妮铺上一块洁净的白桌布，又去取来些葡萄。
Eugenie unfolded a clean white table cloth and went to fetch some grapes．
b. 在希腊人的生活中，奴隶制是得到默许的。 Slavery was implicit in Greek life．
c. 她非常勉强地来了。 She came very unwillingly．
d. 这家机构因公正在国际上享有声誉。 The agency enjoys an international reputation for impartiality．
e. 她光着脚走进了房间。 She came into the room with no shoes on．
f. 尼克松是个彻底的现实主义者。 Nixon was nothing if not a realist．
4) Render Chinese negative structure into a positive one in English汉译英反说正译法
a. 风景之美，非任何言语所能形容。 The beauty of the scenery passes all power of description．
b. 星期四对我来说不方便，我们星期二碰头好吗？ Thursday is rather awkward for me．Could we meet on Tuesday？
c. 他们的会面即使说不上轻松愉快，也是亲切的。 Their meeting is cordial，if hardly relaxed．
d. 他刚一走开，她就把汤姆穿着去当海盗的那件破得不成样子的上衣取出来。
The moment he was gone，she ran to a closet and got out the ruin of a jacket which Tom had gone pirating in．
e. 他提前三天到达是我们没有想到的。 His arrival three days in advance is beyond our expectation．
g. 毋庸置疑，中国的航空航天工业在过去的四十年中已取得了辉煌的成就。
It is beyond doubt that China has made brilliant achievements in aviation and space industry in the last forty years．
5 Amplification 增词法
Amplification means supplying necessary words in the translation on the basis of accurate comprehension of the original. A translator is not supposed to add any meaning to or subtract any meaning from the original work. However, this does not mean that a translator should refrain from supplying necessary words to make his or her version both accurate in meaning and in keeping with the idiomatic use of the target language. In fact, it is precisely for the purpose of ‘faithful representation’ of the thought of the author that we often resort to ‘amplification’. This is because English and Chinese are two entirely different languages and each has its own historical and cultural background. Besides, many ideas, idiomatic expressions and shorthand words, etc. that are well understood in the country of their origin can hardly make sense to people abroad. Therefore, it is unimaginable for a translator to stick to the original pattern without alteration.
1 没有调查，就没有发言权。He who makes no investigation has no right to speak.
2 重点是普及义务教育，积极发展职业教育和成人教育，适度发展高等教育，优化教育结构。
We must lay emphasis on making compulsory education universal, vigorously developing vocational and adult education, moderately developing higher education and optimizing educational structure.
3 三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮。Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhu Geliang, the master mind.
4 国际争端应在此基础上予以解决，而不诉诸武力和武力威胁。
International disputes should be settled on this basis, without resorting to the use or threat of force.
5 中国在近代历史上，备受帝国主义和殖民主义的侵略、瓜分，人民饱受凌辱。
Modern history has witnessed China’s great suffering and the humiliation of Chinese people as the result of imperialist and colonialist invasion and partition.
6 Asia’s strength of economic management, however, has not been its perfection, but its pragmatism and flexibility. 亚洲经济管理向来不以完美见长，而是以务实和弹性取胜。
7 She was more royal than the royals. 她比皇家成员更有皇家气质。
8 When the students finished all the book they had brought, they opened the lunch and ate it. 学生们看完了随身带的书，就打开饭盒吃起来。
9 What could marriage mean if we did not feel ourselves capable of love? 连爱都爱不起来，还谈什么婚姻？
6 omission 省略法
In translation, ‘faithfulness’ does not mean that you have to translate every word in a sentence. In fact, there are few exact equivalences between them. In order to express the source language text faithfully and concisely, sometimes it is necessary to use the technique of Omission in translation.
Omission in English-Chinese translation is used to achieve the effect of succinctness, especially in dealing with excessive use of English pronouns and such functional words as the article, the preposition, the conjunction, etc. For example: Smoking is not allowed in the store-house. (仓库重地，禁止吸烟). The omission of the proposition ‘in’ helps to make the translation like something on a sign board to call for people’s attention, not just a narration.
汉语里有些“范畴词”，其本身没有什么具体含义，只是重复地概括已表达的意思。翻译时一般省略不译。比如：干热环境，译成dry heat，“环境”一词则不译。
计划
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生育工作，译成family planning，“工作” 一词则不译。“香港问题已经有近一个半世纪的历史。”“This problem has lasted for a century and half.”
1 他在我不知道的情况下私自拿走了那东西。He took it away without my knowledge.
2 此新产品耐寒、耐旱、适合在北方生长。Cold resistant and drought tolerant, the new variety is adaptable to north China.
汉语有个特点，为了获得“强调”效果，往往将同一个意思反复地表达。或者为了说明清楚，重复陈述。翻译这些意义重复的语句时就要使用省略法，避免句法上的重复和混乱。
1 他从小就认真读书，刻苦学习。He worked hard at his studies in early childhood.
2 专家们非常重视八五计划中轻重缓急，孰先孰后。The experts attached great importance to the priorities of the English Five-Year Plan.
对于任何特定的信息内容，语言中几乎总是可以有许多传译的方式。我们必须尽力保留内容，在有些情况下，为了保留内容，往往不得不改变语言形式。对于赘语的处理，就要采用省略法。
1 桂林公园里阵阵桂香扑鼻而来，满树金花，芳香四溢的金桂；花白如雪的银桂；红里透黄，花多味浓的紫砂桂；花色似银的四季桂；竞相开放，争妍媲美。
The Park of Sweet Osmanthus is noted for its profusion of Osmanthus trees. Flowers in different colors from these trees are in full bloom, which pervade the whole garden with the fragrance of their blossoms.
7 Conversion转换
Conversion means converting parts of speeches in translation. Due to the great differences between English and Chinese syntax, it is very difficult for the translator to keep to the SL part of speech in the process of translation. When doing translation, nouns, propositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc. can be converted into verbs, and Verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. can be converted into nouns. Adjectives can be converted into adverbs and vice versa. The key point is to keep the meaning of the sentence unchanged.
a. Difference between the social systems of states should not be an obstacle to their cooperation．
国与国之间不同的社会
制度
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不应该妨碍彼此的合作。(noun-verb)
b. Such robots controlled by computer impressed us deeply．
这些用电脑控制的机器人给我们留下了深刻的印象。(adverb-adjective)
c. Congratulations on your new promotion. 祝贺你的又一次高升。(noun-verb)
d. Wherever you go, there are signs of human presence.（无论你走到哪里，总有人迹存在）
本句英文名词的presence在译文中用了动词“存在”表达。
e. A well-dressed man, who looked and talked like an American, got into the car. （一个穿着讲究的人上了车。他的外表和谈吐都像个美国人。）
f. Securities laws require companies to treat all shareholders reasonably equally.（证券法要求公司给所有持股人既合理又平等的待遇。）
g. Time Warner will pay TCL 360 million for Southern Satellite company.（时代华纳愿付给TCL三亿六千万美元购买南方卫星这家公司。）本句中介词for中文表达时变成了动词“购买”。
8 The translation of subjects
Chinese has been identified as a Topic-prominent language（话题显著语言）, while English is subject-prominent language(主语显著语言), and English sentences are constructed on a subject-predicate pivot（主谓轴）.
(1) A comparative study of Topic-prominent language and subject-prominent language
A topic-prominent language is one that organizes its syntax so that sentences have a topic-comment structure, where the topic is the thing being talked about (predicated) and the comment is what is said about the topic. This structure is independent of the syntactic ordering of subject, verb and object, and may be marked by word order (typically mentioning the topic first thing in the sentence, and then the comment).
The difference between topic-prominent languages and non-topic-prominent languages is that topic marking is done systematically in the former, while the latter resort to various idiosyncratic means for topicalization.
A subject-prominent language (eg. English) is a language in which the grammatical units of subject and predicate (SV) are basic to the structure of sentences and in which sentences usually have subject-predicate
structure.
A topic-prominent language (eg. Chinese) is one in which the information units of topic and comment are basic to the structure of sentence.
1) Common features of topic-prominent languages
1.They tend to downplay the role of the passive voice, if a passive construction exists at all, since the main idea of passivization is to turn an object into a subject in languages where the subject is understood to be the topic by default.
2.They usually don’t have ‘dummy subjects’ (pleonastic pronouns) like English it in It's raining. Since topic-prominent languages do not consider the subject, but the topic, to be the most important part of the sentence, it may not matter if there is no apparent subject.
3. They often have sentences with so-called ‘double subjects’, actually a topic plus a subject, for example: 那棵棕榈树，叶子真大。 (Chinese) — "That palm tree (topic), leaves (subject) are big".
The difference between subject and topic prominent languages is characterized in the following way. A topic prominent language allows any (NP) argument to enter into a predication relationship with the VP while a subject prominent language restricts this relationship to some notion of 'external' or 'most prominent' argument. Thus subject prominent languages have a thematically restricted element of predication, while topic prominent languages impose no such restriction.
The notion of subject has long been considered a basic grammatical relation in the sentential structure of a language. However, the evidence we have gathered from certain languages suggests that in these languages the basic constructions manifest a topic-comment relation rather than a subject-predicate relation. This evidence shows not only that the notion of topic may be as basic as that of subject in grammatical descriptions, but also that languages may differ in their strategies in construction sentences according to the prominence of the notions of topic and subject.
2) Features of the Subject in English
1. There must always be a subject;
2. The subject is the theme of the sentence that the verb structure describes;
3. The subject has grammatical control;
4. The subject must be a noun or a noun structure.
3) Features of the Subject in Chinese
1. The subject is not essential;
2. The subject has no grammatical control over the whole sentence;
3. There can be more than one subject;
4. The subject can be a noun, verb, adjective or any such structures.
4) Difficulties with Chinese Subjects (SVO?):
1）宾踞句首
2）主谓谓语句
3）宾踞动前
4）主状不分
∴可以没有主语，也可以有多个主语，除名词以外，可以由动词，形容词，副词，介词短语，主谓结构担当主语。
Since English and Chinese are so different, the translation of the subject sometimes pose great difficulties for translators. The following are the ways to deal with the problem.
1）Adding a subject when there is no subject in Chinese.
a. 出太阳了！The sun is rising!
b. 冷死我啦！I am dead cold.
c. 累得我走不动了。It exhausted me so much that I couldn’t walk.
or I was too tired to walk.
e. 知己知彼，百战不殆。You can fight a hundred battles without defeat if you know the enemy as well as yourself.
2）Choosing a proper subject when there are several subjects in Chinese.
a. 近二十年的时间已经充分证明，我们进行改革开放的方向是正确的，信念是坚定的，步骤是稳妥的，方式是渐进的，取得的成就是巨大的。
The practice in the past 20 years has eloquently proved that the direction of our reform and opening up is right, our conviction is firm, our steps are steady, our approach is gradual and our achievements are huge.
The practice in the past 20 years has eloquently proved that we are right in direction, firm in conviction, steady in our steps and gradual in our approach when carrying out the reform and opening-up and have achieved tremendous success.
3) Using Conversion when the subject in the Chinese sentence is not a noun.
a. 采用新工艺大大降低了产品的成本。
The adoption of the new process has greatly cut the cost of production.
b. 能吃能睡不一定就健康。
Great eaters and sleepers are not always healthy.
c. 今天讨论的范围涉及时事政治的问题。
Today’s discussion covers issues of current political affairs.
d. 工作的时候心不在焉，经常会带来不必要的损失。
Absent-mindedness in our work will often lead to unwanted losses.
e. 各民族之间建立了平等、团结、互助的新型关系。
We have established a new type of relationship characterized by equality, solidarity and mutual assistance between different ethnic groups.
A new type of relationship of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance between different ethnic groups has been established.
f. 中国历史上产生了许多杰出的哲学家、思想家、政治家、军事家、科学家和文学艺术家。
China produced in its history many outstanding philosophers, thinkers, statesmen, strategists, scientists, writers and artists.
Many outstanding philosophers, thinkers, statesmen, strategists, scientists, writers and artists were produced/emerged in China’s history.
g. 但是中美之间的关系也不能幻想从此就会一帆风顺。
（我们不能幻想中美之间的关系从此就会一帆风顺。）
But we cannot have the illusion that Sino-US relations will be free from troubles from now on.
h. 如果仅以此作为一个标准，来说中国就是一个发达国家，我觉得这种说法是不公平的。
But if you consider this the only standard and say China is a developed country, I think this
is unfair.
But I think it is unfair to use this as the single standard to conclude that China is a developed country.
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