英语新闻语法的特点与翻译 新闻英语语法特点n新闻英语作为一种特殊语体，除了在词汇、修辞上有自己的特色外，新闻英语的语法也区别于其他语体 一、时态1、现在时n为了吸引读者，给读者一种动态的新鲜感与现实感，英语标题中多采用现在时或将来时Israeli General Says Lebanon Offensive Will Last WeeksHillary Clinton suffers collapse(希拉里·克林顿当众晕倒) 2、过去时n新闻报道正文常用过去时来记叙事件的发生经过JERUSALEM, July 18—A top Israeli general said today that Israel’s offensive in Lebanon would last another few weeks and he said that the use of large numbers of ground forces had not been ruled out… (New York Times, July 18, 2006) 3、进行时n在新闻英语中，广泛运用进行时态，把动作写成如在进行之中，使读者觉得在第一时间获知了新闻消息。
Republican leaders, elated and surprised at the dimensions of their victory on Tuesday, were calling the 1980 election a political watershed, … (New York Times, March 3, 2000) 4、时态的不一致性n在一般文体中，按照传统英语语法规则，宾语从句中谓语动词的时态要受制于主句中谓语动词的时态这被称之为时态的一致(sequence of tenses)n同样，把直接引语改为间接引语时，动词形态也要作相应的调整n英语新闻一般也遵循这种时态的变化规则 n在实际的新闻报道中，其时态常常并不拘泥于这种语言规则，而是按照实际情况，根据新闻事实发生的时间变化与顺序，酌情灵活使用各种时态Under pressure or not, she said, citing Israeli intelligence, many civilians in southern Lebanon have Katyusha and other rockets under their beds. (New York Times, July 19, 2006) Tax Collector Carol Mahoney reported this week her office has posted a 99.06 collection percentage for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2006. This rate surpasses any previous collection, according to both Ms Mahoney and First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, who announced the milestone at the last Board of Selectmen’s meeting. (Newtown Bee, CT, July 27, 2006) UNITED NATIONS, New York—President George Bush wants the former attorney general, Dick Thornburgh to take a new top post at the United Nations, overseeing the organization’s budget and administration, UN and US officials say. Secretary-General Butros Ghali asked Mr. Bush to find an American to fill this job when he attended the summit meeting of the Security Council here last month and the President then offered the job to Mr. Thornburgh, the official said. (The International Herald Tribune) 二、语态n新闻英语中 动词的主动语态的使用占主导地位。
使用主动语态句叙事可以使读者产生一种直接感，使叙述具有无可置疑的效果LOS ANGELES, Oct7—Angry Californians ousted unpopular Democratic Gov. Gray Davis Tuesday and replaced him with Republican movie star and political novice Arnold Schwarzenegger. n然而，新闻英语中，动词的被动语态的使用相当普遍，出现的频率远高于其他英语文体n为了突出重点，新闻报道中常用被动语态强调行动或事件的结果More than 50 million acres of farmland have been submerged and grain stores damaged. Thousands of peasants have been shown on television trying to save their grain by loading sacks into boats or trying to move them to higher ground. 五千多万亩粮田被淹，很多粮仓被毁。
电视屏幕上，成千上万的农民在设法抢救粮食他们把麻袋装的粮食运到船上，或把它们移到高处At least 26 people were killed at the weekend in a new army offensive in which the army fired rockets, artillery and mortars at targets around the town as air force made repeated strikes. 在周末发动的一场新的攻势中，至少有26人被打死在这次进攻中，军队用火箭、大炮和迫击炮向该市周围的 目标进行袭击，同时空军也不断地向这些目标轰炸扫射 三、情态n在新闻报刊英语中，主观显性的情态隐喻用于作者介绍某一人物的观点和看法，多出现在直接引语中；客观显性的情态隐喻往往出现在作者对问题的评价中，隐含了作者的主观倾向 1. “In the debates, though, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Kerry won. That didn't change the partisans, but I think we’re going to see some of that independent vote here shifting to Kerry”, says Bruce Merrill, a pollster and political scientist at Arizona State University.2. It is fully justifiable that a country would defend itself when its territorial integrity is threatened. n例句2中划线部分是客观显性的情态隐喻，相当于 “I firmly believe that a country has a right to defend itself when its territorial integrity is threatened”. 这种取向的隐喻式表达既表达了报道者的 观点，又隐去了作者的主观迹象，是新闻英语经常使用的表达方法。
nIt is likely that…nIt was apparent that…nIt is conceivable that…nThere is good evidence that…nThere is no doubt that…nIt seems that… 四、句式结构1、单句多于复合句n人们读报就是为了在最短的时间内获得最多的信息n英语新闻中的句子多为单句A brief case containing highly sensitive documents about British operations in Saudi Arabia was stolen. It was revealed last night to the press. But no details were provided. 一个装有关于英军在沙特阿拉伯行动的极敏感文件的手提箱被盗此事是昨晚向报界披露的，但没有提供详细情况n英语新闻经常使用分词短语、介词短语、名词短语、不定式短语等代替从句Partial election returns released yesterday showed a clergy-backed Shi’ite coalition performing better than expected in Baghdad and southern Iraq, diminishing Iyad Allawi’s chances of holding onto the position of prime minister in political horse- trading that already has begun. 昨天公布的部分选举结果显示，在巴格达和南部伊拉克，由僧侣支持的什叶派联盟得票高于预计结果，这个结果缩小了阿拉维在这场政界的讨价还价中继续担任总理的机会。
n修饰成分靠近它所修饰的中心词President Bush said that the Russian leader’s response to the message, sent on Friday, had been inadequate. (Washington Post) 布什总统说，俄国领导人对（美国）星期五发出的电报的答复，不足以说明问题2、特殊定语（1）名词定语n有些名词作定语与相应的形容词作定语存在意义上的差别. a bankruptcy lawyer 处理破产诉讼的律师a bankrupt businessman破产商人economy measure 节约措施economic measure 经济措施 an efficiency expert 效率问题研究专家an efficient worker 工作效率高的工人an obesity specialist 肥胖病专家an obese specialist 长得胖的专家 n名词作定语侧重于职能方面修饰或限制另一名词,而形容词作定语则在属性方面起修饰作用.(2) 复合定语n复合定语避免了使用短语或从句,既简化了句子结构,节省了篇幅,又方便阅读.American journalist Terry Anderson, the longest-held American hostage, and Germans Thomas Kemptaner and Heinrich Struebig, are the last retaining Western captives in Lebanon. multi-drug-resistant virus 抗多种药物病毒war-weary citizens 厌倦战争的公民on-site service 现场服务the up-to-the-minute information 最新信息 most-favored-nation treatment最惠国待遇earth-circling flight 环球飞行middle-of-the-road policy 中立政策a neck-or-nothing chance 孤注一掷的机会the off-and-on-again civil war断断续续的内战 3、直接引语与间接引语n直接引语是新闻的重要组成部分。
恰当使用直接引语对于提升新闻报道质量，增强新闻传播力意义重大n间接引语是指记者对新闻消息中人物所说的话的转述，并不加引号，要求与新闻消息中人物的话意相同 Senior Iraqi officials confirmed early Saturday that former president Saddam Hussein and two former allies were hanged at the dawn.周六早晨，伊拉克高级官员证实前总统萨达姆.侯赛因和另外两名支持者于黎明时分被执行绞刑 “I believe so, yes. He has been executed. It has been officially announced that he has been executed.” Abbawi said in a phone interview with BBC News 24. 阿巴维在接受BBC新闻24频道采访时说：“我想是的他已被处死官方已经正式宣布了 五、英语新闻句子的翻译1、顺译法在英语和汉语中，许多句子表达的行为、事情或情感通常按其发生的时间顺序安排，或按所表达的逻辑意义关系排列。
翻译时，一般可按照原句的顺序译出 Even American fans can’t get enough of him, having selected Yao in a vote for the All-Star game ahead of the legendary Shaquille O’Neal, who ran into the “Great Wall” at the weekend as the Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers.甚至连美国的球迷也为之倾倒他们在选举NBA全明星队时把姚明排在了传奇人物大鲨鱼奥尼尔的前面在上周末火箭队挫败洛杉矶湖人队的比赛中，奥尼尔还撞在了这座“长城”脚下 British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the annual conference of his governing Labor Party: “There is only one outcome—our victory, not theirs.”英国首相托尼.布莱尔在其执政党工党的年度大会上说；“战争的结局只有一个：胜利是我们的，不是他们的。
2、逆译法有些英语句子和汉语句子的表达习惯不同，甚至相反采用与原文句子相反的顺序来翻译，称为逆向译法 There are several reasons why he (Kissinger) no longer appears to be the magician the world press had made him out to be, an illusion which he failed to discourage because, as he would admit himself, he has a tendency toward megalomania. 全世界曾经把他（基辛格）渲染成魔术大师一般的人物，他也没有阻止人们制造这种错觉，因为他自己也承认有一种自大自狂的倾向现在，他看来不再像魔术师了，这里有几个原因 Iraqis yesterday got a glimpse of what life without Saddam Hussein may hold, as protests and politicking marked the first day of meetings to decide the country’s fate.昨天是伊拉克召开的讨论国家命运会议的第一天，与会人士举行了一系列的抗议和其他政治活动，让伊拉克人首次体验到了没有萨达姆后生活是什么样子。
3、拆译法英语新闻中的句子信息量大，结构紧凑，有时语法关系比较复杂汉译时，可以在正确反映原文的意思的前提下，用几个汉语句子来表达一个英语句子提供的信息这种方法就是拆译法 But, should Clinton decide to play the heavy with China, the politics are reversible, though there is a feeling among some analysts that with the US such a huge market for China’s exports, the last thing that China will do is to risk cutting off access to it. 但是，如果克林顿决心下大赌注，政治形势是可以逆转的尽管有些分析家有一种感觉，美国是中国出口商品如此巨大的市场，中国决不愿冒失去这个市场的风险4、综合法根据具体情况，将几种方法结合起来，或按照时间的先后，或按照逻辑顺序，顺逆结合，主次分明地对长句进行综合处理，这种翻译方法称为综合法 But without Adolf Hitler, who was possessed of a demoniac personality, a granite will, uncanny instincts, a cold ruthlessness, a remarkable intellect, a strong imagination and—until toward the end, when drunk with power and success, he overreached himself—an amazing capacity to size up people and situations, there almost certainly would never have been a Third Reich. 然而，如果没有阿道夫.希特勒，那就几乎可以肯定不会有第三帝国。
因为希特勒有着恶魔般的性格、坚如花岗岩的意志、不可思议的本能、无情的冷酷、杰出的智力、深远的想象力以及对人和局势惊人的判断力最后，他由于被权力和胜利冲昏了头脑而自不量力，弄巧成拙 课后练习n温家宝总理在致奥巴马的贺电中表示：良好的中美关系是我们两国人民的共同期盼，也是维护亚太地区和世界和平、稳定与繁荣的需要n中国政府有关部门已于上周日向公众保证增加政务信息透明度，并承诺公布国家4万亿元（合5855亿美元）经济刺激方案的投资细节 n财政部于本周二在一份声明中表示，中国政府已推出一项试点计划，对13个城市的公交系统使用节能与新能源汽车提供补贴n这次彩排从周六凌晨开始，内容包括有将近20万市民参加、动用了60辆模拟彩车的群众欢庆游行，有1.2万人参与演出的联欢活动以及阅兵式 Key to Exercises09.12.5 nHowever, even the prescient Tocqueville, who predicted 150 years ago that the United States and Russia would emerge as two great contending world powers, could not have foreseen that the nation that potentially could decide the world balance in the last decades of the twentieth century, and that could become the most powerful nation on earth during twenty-first century, would be China. n然而，即使是一百五十年前预言过美国和俄国将成为互相争夺的两个世界大国的托克维尔，也可能没有预见到在二十世纪最后几十年具有决定世界均势的潜力，并能成为二十一世纪地球上最强大的国家，将是中国。
nThey were in the dark about their population and natural resources and, when the job began, much of the territory had not been explored because racial conflicts had been spreading all over the country. n他们对本国的人口和自然资源一无所知，而当这项工作开始时，该国大部分土地则又因为种族冲突在全国蔓延开来还未得到勘探 nTeachers and classes in those schools no longer must meet a rigid schedule to view important program and instructive series, which now can be copied on tape and replayed later at more convenient times. n这些学校的师生再也不必按死板的规定时间看重要的节目和教学系列片，而可以将它们录制下来，在方便的时候播放。
nIn any case, when jeans were ready for a Risorgimento in the 1960s, they already carried an enormous mythic significance. To a generation that believed a massive military-industrial complex was brutalizing the American dream, jeans symbolized a return to the friendlier, simpler values of the frontier, where each man, so goes the wistful legend, had control over his own life, and where people co-operated to survive. To a movement of largely middle-class youths concerned with political and economic justice, jeans evoked an identification with the working-class, even the oppressed, and made any economic distinction among young people themselves practically impossible. n总之，当牛仔服在六十年代行将成为势不可挡的风尚之时，它就有了一种神奇的巨大意义。
青年一代认为，军工联合企业的兴盛，摧毁了美国的梦想，而牛仔服则是回到西部开拓时期那种纯朴友善的价值观念的象征；那时，人人都像在令人神往的传说中那样能主宰自己的命运，并为生存而风雨同舟对六十年代以中产阶级子弟为主体掀起的一场争取政治和经济平等的运动而言，牛仔服则唤起他们与劳工阶级，甚至被压迫者阶级打成一片，并使青年人看不出他们之间在经济上存在的差别 nMoreover, in China, government subsidies for housing and other necessities reduced household spending on these items to a mere 5%, compared with 20—40% in other Asian countries. n况且，在中国政府对住房和其它日用品的补贴，使家庭这一部分的开支降低到家庭收入的百分之五，而在其它亚洲国家这方面的开支是百分二十至四十。