翻译常用之八大技巧三 减译法 OmissionShakespeare: Brevity is the soul of wit.莎士比亚: 言贵简约。* Structural Omission: Differences in sentence structures of the two languages.Eg. articles (esp. possessive pronoun物主代词), pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, copula verbs 系动词 (be, seem, appear, etc.), antecedent先行 词, particle引导词 (that, when, who, etc.)This is the book which I am looking for.中的book是先行词,which是引导词. He is Mr. Robertson who comes from England. 中的Mr. Robertson.是先行词,who 是引导词. Attention: English is more likely to have complete structures, while Chinese is more likely to stress on certain parts, thus some indispensable English components become dispensable or even redundant in Chinese.Omission of pronouns:They had ground him beneath their heel, they had taken the best of him, they had murdered his father, they had broken and wrecked his wife, they had crushed his whole family. 他们把他踩在脚下，压得粉碎，他们榨干了他的精髓，害死了他的父亲，摧残 了他的妻子，毁灭了他的全家。They (salmons) dig out shallow nests in the riverbed and lay their eggs; then, exhausted by their journey, the parent salmons die. 它们（桂鱼）在河床上挖掘一个个浅巢，在巢中产卵；这时种鱼由于长途跋涉， 被弄得精疲力尽，就此死去。That dishonest boy is not at all ill. He is alive and kicking in the swimming pool. We all saw him. 那个不诚实的男孩根本没病,他在游泳池里还活蹦乱跳的,我们都看见了。Omission of articles:On a cold, frosty day an Ant was dragging out some of the corn which he had laid up in the summer-time, to dry it. A Grasshopper, half perished with hunger, besought the Ant to give him a morsel of it to preserve his life. “What were you doing,” said the Ant, “this last summer?” “Oh,” said the Grasshopper, “I was not idle. I kept singing all the summer long.” Said the Ant, laughing and shutting up his granary. “Since you could sing all summer, you may dance all winter.”一个霜冻的冷天，一只蚂蚁拖出夏天贮存的一些谷子来晒。一只饿得半死的 蚱蜢恳求蚂蚁给它一口谷子来维持它的生命。蚂蚁说：“你今年夏天干什么来 着？”蚱蜢说：“哦！我并没闲着，我唱了一夏天的歌。”蚂蚁关起谷仓笑着说 ：“你既然能唱一夏天的歌，那么你也可以跳一冬天的舞喽。”Attention: if the indefinite article means “one” or “every”, it needs to be translated; if it is just for general reference, it needs to be omitted. Omission of conjunctions:No man can be brave who considers pain as the greatest evil of life; or temperate, who regards pleasure as the highest goal. 把痛苦视为生活中最大不幸的人不可能勇敢；把快乐当做生活中最高目标的人 不可能自我节制。Attention: English, hypotactic(形合,主从的), more hypotactic conjunctions(从属连接词), such as because, although, since, relative pronouns or relative adverbs, such as who, which, where and infinitive clauses. Chinese, paratactic(意合,并列的), no clear conjunctions to link sentences.Because everyone uses language to talk, everyone thinks he can talk about language. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 人人都用语言交谈，人人也就自认为能够谈论语言。（歌德语）All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother. (A. Lincoln)我之所有，我之所能，都归功于我慈爱的母亲。Wise men love truth, whereas fools shun it.智者热爱真理，愚者逃避真理。As the police put it, anything you say may be used as evidence against you.警察常说： 你说的每一句话都可能会成为对你不利的证据。Rhetorical omission: omit some self-evident words, or those whose meanings are included between the lines, or some adverbs which are added for tone purpose.We think we have freed our slaves, but we have not. We just call them by a different name. Every time people reach a certain status in life they seem to take pride in the fact that they now have a secretary. 我们总以为已经解放了奴隶，但事实上并没有。我们只不过使用了另一个名称来 称呼他们罢了。每当人们上升到某个位置时，他们似乎就以拥有一名秘书而自豪 。There was no snow, the leaves were gone from the trees, the grass was dead. 天未下雪，但叶落草枯。Remember: you are not any old Tom, Dick or Harry giving his opinion. Youre a man who was sent as a representative of the British Government.你要记住，你不是一个普普通通的老百姓，可以随便发表意见。你是英国政府 派出的代表。 The late Mrs. Achson had passed to her Maker somewhere about 1930.亚奇逊太太升天大约是在1930年。 Instead of one old woman knocking me about and starving me, everybody of all ages knocked me about and starved me.那时打我并且使我挨饿的不只是一个老太婆，而是老老少少各式各样的人。她连续讲了两小时的法语，没有出现任何错误。She has been talking in French for two hours without (making) any mistakes.中国足球的落后状态必须改变。The (state of / condition of) backwardness of the Chinese football must be changed.可怜两个强徒，化作南柯一梦。（施耐庵水浒传，第六回）Poor ruffians, their lives vanished like a dream (in Nanke).From Chinese into English1. Omission of nounstypical national colors: liberal translation or literal translation plus explanation.三个臭皮匠，胜过一个诸葛亮。The wisdom of the masses exceeds that of the wisest individual.不到黄河心不死。Until all is over ambition never dies.2. Omission of particles (语助词) Particles in classical Chinese have no meanings.问今是何世，乃不知有汉，无论魏晋。（桃花源记）They enquired about the politics of the day, ignorant of the establishment of the Han dynasty, and of course of the later dynasties which had succeeded it. （ Peach-Blossom Spring ）天见其明，地见其光，君子贵其全也。（荀子劝学篇）Heaven is prized for its brilliance; the earth is prized for its vastness; the superior man is prized for his perfection. 3. Omission of conjunctions学而不思则罔；思而不学则殆。Learning without thought is vain. Thought without learning is idle.4. Omission of pronouns For syntactic purpose: Chinese pronouns can be omitted; while these pronouns can