The Adjustment of Word Order 2

The article leads us to the adjustments of adverbial modifiers and attributes.

First, the adjustments of adverbial modifiers are commonly seen in Chinese to English translation. And due to the differences between the two languages, it is neccessary to do the job.

1. 她认真热情，一字不漏地记下了所说的话。

She was conscientious and eager and, without missing a word, took down what was said.

Conscientious and eager, she took down what was said, careful not to miss a word.

2. 她每天早上教我们学法语。

She teaches us French every morning.

3. 会议没能取得一致意见就结束了。

The meeting didn’t achieve agreement and ended.

The meeting ended in disagreement.

4. 我们①为顾全大局②于同年③秋末④在第三方的调停下⑤开诚布公地⑥多次⑦强烈要求贵方赔偿我们的一切损失。

④ With the third party acting as an intermediary, ① to take the interest of the whole into account, we ⑦ strongly demanded ⑤ with frankness and sincerity ⑥ many times ③ at the end of the autumn ② of the same year that you should compensate all our losses.

Second, the adjustments of attributes also demand our attention in order to create good translation version.

1. 一直在一旁观看的小学生们开始鼓起掌来。

The always watching pupils started to applaud.

The pupils that had been watching started to applaud.

2. 这三个县经历了那场①中国②70年代③第四次④较为严重的⑤遍及数省的⑥自然灾害。

The three counties underwent the ③fourth ④rather serious ⑥ natural disaster ⑤that plagued several provinces ① in China ②in the 1970s.

Besides, there are a lot of other adjustments for different reasons. For example, the logical adjustment is usually ignored by most people. Yet, really good translation can not be produced without it.

我撬开小木箱一看，(a)是四条鲜鱼。教授一定是(b)怕在路上耽搁坏了，(c)在鱼的上下两旁都放了冰，(d)冰有点化，(e)水从木箱的空隙中流 了出来。

I opened the letter box to find out (a) four fresh fish in it. (c) There was ice all around them, and (d) since the ice was melting, (e) water ran through the cracks on the box. It was clear that the Professor had (c) placed ice in it (b) for fear that the fish would go bad during the delivery.