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    1、1Part One: Unnecessary WordsAll authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writing is concise. Careful writers say what they mean in as few words as possible.Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same

    2、 reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. It follows that any words which perform no useful function in the sentence that is, which add nothing to the meaning should be edited out.Almost every text that has been translated into English from Chinese (

    3、or that has been written directly in English by a native speaker of Chinese) contains unnecessary words. Draft translations are commonly full of them, and even polished final versions are seldom free of them.Read anything that has been published in English for foreign readers a magazine article, a n

    4、ews story, an advertisement, a government report and you are likely to find superfluous words. Read even the shortest of English texts the label on a food product, a billboard on Changan, the company name on the front of a building and, if you are on the alert to recognize them, chances are that you

    5、 will find words that could and should have been omitted. Unnecessary words are the hallmark of Chinglish.Unnecessary words can be any part of speech nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, and so on. In the following chapters we shall consider the most important types, starting w

    6、ith unnecessary nouns and verbs, which often go hand in hand.I. Unnecessary Nouns and VerbsNounsMost unnecessary nouns in Chinglish appear not alone but in short phrases, combined with articles and prepositions. When you eliminate the nouns, you eliminate the articles and prepositions as well.Many o

    7、f these nouns are easy to recognize. They are plainly redundant because their sense is already included or implied in some other element of the sentence. Here are a few examples (“A“) with suggested revisions (“B“) and comments in brackets.加快经济改革步伐A: to accelerate the pace of economic reform B: to a

    8、ccelerate economic reform【“To accelerate“ = “to increase the pace of. “】农业获得大丰收。A: There have been good harvests in agriculture.B: There have been good harvests.【“Harvests“ implies agriculture: there are no harvests in industry.】城乡人民生活水平持续上升。A: Living standards for the people in both urban and rural

    9、 areas continued to rise.B: Living standards in both urban and rural areas continued to rise.【The notion of living standards applies only to people.】 这些困难从本质上说是暂时的 A: These hardships are temporary in nature.2B: These hardships are temporary.【Any adjective describes the “nature“ or “character“ of the

    10、 noun it modifies. To say that hardships are “temporary in nature“ is like saying that the Chinese flag is “red in color“ or that pandas are “few in number. “】 我国未来的经济发展在很大程度上有赖于A: The development of our economy in the future will, to a large extent, depend on .B: The development of our economy will

    11、 depend to a large extent on , The future tense of the verb (“will depend“) is sufficient to express futurity. 我们应采取一系列措施来保证A: We should adopt a series of measures to ensure that .B: We should adopt measures to ensure that .Here the plural form of “measures“ covers the sense of a “series. “Other unn

    12、ecessary nouns (or gerunds) may be less easy to identify. Nevertheless, a little thought will reveal that they add nothing to the meaning of the sentence. When they are deleted the sense is not diminished, only clarified. Some examples:在实现农业机械化和电气化后A: following the realization of mechanization and e

    13、lectrification of agriculture B: following the mechanization and electrification of agriculture必须加强国防建设。A: It is essential to strengthen the building of national defense.B: It is essential to strengthen national defense.这些构成了努力实现过渡时期的伟大任务的重要条件。A: These constitute important conditions in striving for

    14、 the fulfillment of the general task in the transitional period.B: These are important conditions for fulfilling the general task in the transition period.当时,东北的形势仍然是敌强我弱。A: At that time the situation in northeast China was still one where the enemy was stronger than the peoples forces .B: At that t

    15、ime the enemy was still stronger than the peoples forces in northeast China.“Situation“ is a particularly dangerous noun. Not only is it generally unnecessary, but it drags other unnecessary elements after it (in this instance, “one where“).解决问题的关键在于削减开支。A: The key to the solution lies in the curtai

    16、lment of expenditure.B: The solution is to curtail ( or. cut back on) expenditure.“Key“ is sometimes useful, but usually it too can be dispensed with. And like “situation,“ it often leads to further unnecessary complications (here, “lies in“). 党内民主是已详细讨论过的问题。A: Inner-Party democracy is a subject tha

    17、t has been discussed in detail.B: Inner-Party democracy has been discussed in detail.Category nounsThere is one type of noun that deserves special mention, because it is the commonest 3unnecessary word in Chinglish. This is the general noun that serves only to introduce a specific noun (or gerund) t

    18、o follow: “a serious mistake in the work of planning.“ 计划工作中的错误In such constructions, the first noun announces the category of the second; in this case, it tells readers that “planning“ falls into the category of “work.“ That is something they already know. Accordingly, the first noun should be dele

    19、ted: “a serious mistake in planning.“Other examples:促进和平统一事业A: promoting the cause of peaceful reunificationB: promoting peaceful reunification经济领域的改革A: reforms in the sphere of the economyB: reforms in the economy (or: economic reforms)保证双方之间的亲密合作关系A: to ensure a relationship of close cooperation b

    20、etween.B: to ensure close cooperation between.我们必须反对铺张浪费的行为。A: We must oppose the practice of extravagance.B: We must oppose extravagance.这些原则适应于处理中外关系中的所有情况A: These principles apply to all cases of relations between China and other countries.B: These principles apply to relations between China and

    21、all other countries.这种情况,加上价格不稳定的因素,引起A: This, coupled with the factor of price instability, caused.B: This, coupled with price instability, caused.Whatever function the category noun serves in Chinese, in English it is generally useless. All it adds to the sentence is weight without substance.Verbs

    22、Like unnecessary nouns, most unnecessary verbs in Chinglish occur in phrases. Usually, they are combined with nouns (plus the inevitable articles and prepositions that nouns bring with them). These phrases are of two principal types:1. unnecessary verb plus noun2. unnecessary verb plus unnecessary n

    23、oun plus third wordWe shall look at first one and then the other.1. Unnec. verb + nounThe commonest type is a phrase like “we must make an improvement in our work. Here the verb (“make“) is a weak, colorless, all-purpose word having no very specific meaning of its own, while the real action is expre

    24、ssed in the noun (“ improvement“).Since the verb is not contributing anything to the sense, it can be edited out: “we must improve our work.“The basic pattern is unnec, verb + noun. Both translators and polishers tend to overlook constructions of this sort, because they are grammatically correct and

    25、 because precisely 4everyone is so accustomed to them. Once you become alert to the pattern, however, it is easy enough to eliminate the unnecessary words by substituting plain verbs:我们想在一夜之间完成整个社会的变革是不可能的A: It is impossible for us to accomplish the transformation of the whole society overnight .B:

    26、It is impossible for us to transform the whole society overnight.他们应该对进行仔细的检查A: They should conduct a careful examination of.B: They should carefully examine.试图诱使朝鲜军队对他们发动一场攻击A: trying to entice the Korean army to launch an attack against themB: trying to entice the Korean army to attack them改变这种局面A

    27、: to bring about a change in this state of affairsB: to change this state of affairs他们必须下决心对现存体制进行改革A: They must make up their minds to implement the reform of the current system.B: They must make up their minds to reform the current system.直到中国实现工业现代化A: until China realizes industrial modernization

    28、B: until China modernizes its industryThe construction may also appear in passive voice. That is, instead of “we must make an improvement in our work,“ we find “an improvement must be made in our work.“ But this is only a variation of the same pattern, and the solution is the same too: substitute a

    29、plain verb. The result is “our work must be improved“ (because “to make an improvement in“ = “to improve“).More examples in passive voice: 应当批准所有这些项目。A: Approval should be given to all these projects.B: All these projects should be approved.Because “to give approval to“= “to approve. “只有通过才能找出解决这些问题

    30、的办法。A: Solutions to these problems can be found only through.B: These problems can be solved only through.Because “to find solutions to“= “to solve. “实行粮食配给A: Grain rationing was implemented.B: Grain was rationed.Because “to implement rationing“= “to ration. “The verb most frequently found in these

    31、combinations with nouns is to make:to make an investigation of = to investigate to make a careful study of = to study carefullyto make a decision to = to decide to5to make a proposal that = to propose thatto make efforts to= to try (or: attempt) toto make an analysis of = to analyzeThe runner-up is

    32、doubtless to have:to have a dislike for = to disliketo have trust in= to trustto have an influence on = to influenceto have adequate knowledge of- to know enough aboutto have the need for = to needto have respect for = to respectBut many others can be seen on every page as well:to give guidance to =

    33、 to guideto provide assistance to = to assistto carry out the struggle against = to struggle againstto conduct reform of = to reformto engage in free discussion of= to discuss (it) freelyto achieve success in = to succeed into accomplish the modernization of = to modernizeto realize the transformati

    34、on of = to transformto bring about an improvement in = to improveto place stress on = to stressto exercise control over = to controlto register an increase = to increaseYou should be on the watch for all of them.2. Unnec. verb + unnec, noun + third wordAs we have seen, in the first type of phrase a

    35、vague and general verb, incapable of expressing specific action, shifts the responsibility for that task onto a noun. In the second type, however, the noun cannot perform the task either.Consider “our efforts to reach the goal of modernization. Here the noun (“goal“) is no more precise than the verb

    36、 (“reach“). (Indeed, “the goal of“ is only another example of the superfluous category noun. ) This means that the work of the verb has to be done by still another word, a second noun (“modernization“). Since now the first noun is not doing anything useful in the sentence, it too can be eliminated,

    37、along with the all-purpose verb. The result is, “our efforts to modernize.“In phrases of this type, the basic pattern unnec, verb + noun has been expanded to unnec, verb + unnec, noun + third word. As in the example above, the third word is usually another noun (or gerund).Since this new noun is per

    38、forming the function of a verb, it should be given the form of a verb.6我军缓慢前进A: Our troops used the method of slow advance .B: Our troops advanced slowly.需要三个师的驻军来执行守卫仓库的任务。A: Three garrison divisions were necessary to perform the task of guarding warehouses.B: Three garrison divisions were necessar

    39、y to guard warehouses.我们决定后撤。A: We adopted the policy of withdrawal.B: We withdrew (or: decided to withdraw).This was a particular tactical retreat, not a general military policy. 在所有问题上我们都要采取“知之为知之,不知为不知”的态度。A: In all matters we must assume the attitude of admitting what we do and do not know.B: We

    40、 should always (be ready to) admit what we do and do not know.我们应坚持将解决人民的眼前困难同长远发展相结合的原则A: We should adopt the principle of combining solutions to peoples immediate difficulties with long-term development.B: We should combine solving peoples immediate problems with promoting long-term development.A

    41、further simplification would be: we should try to solve peoples immediate problems and at the same time to promote long-term development. 我们需要在意识形态上保持清醒的头脑。A: We need to achieve the objective of clarity in ideology.B: We need to be clear in our ideology.But sometimes the third word called upon to do

    42、 the verb-work is an adjective. Then it is the adjective that should be promoted to the rank of verb, while the idle words are dismissed from service:该措施将限制投机活动。A: This measure will have a restrictive effect on the activities of speculators.B: This measure will restrict the activities of speculators

    43、.And sometimes the third word is another verb. Again, only the functioning word need be retained:我们未能保证在既定目标间保持全面的平衡。A: We failed to take care to ensure that there must be an all-round balance between the various planned targets. B: We failed to ensure an all-round balance between the planned target

    44、s.“There must be“ merely duplicates the sense of “ensure.“ “Various“ adds nothing to the plural “targets.“Like the category-noun phrases on which they are often based (“to reach the goal of modernization“), these unnec, verb + unnec. noun combinations are only empty preliminaries to 7other words tha

    45、t carry real content. They add no more to the meaning of the sentence than a cough. The writer is merely clearing his throat before he comes to the point.Overworked introductory verb phrasesChinglish texts typically contain many of these throat-clearing verb phrases, but there is one group of them w

    46、hich recurs so constantly, especially in official statements, that it merits special attention. As noted below, these particular verb + noun combinations have a few plain-verb equivalents that are sometimes found as well. However, no matter whether the verbs appear combined with nouns or standing in

    47、dependently, they do nothing but delay the advent of the main action:特别需要极其努力地汲取其他文化的优点。A: It is especially necessary to make great efforts to assimilate the achievements of other cultures.B: It is especially necessary to assimilate the achievements of other cultures.What is especially necessary is

    48、to assimilate. It is obvious that this process is going to take effort, so we dont have to say so. Variants: make every effort to, try our best to, do our utmost to, do everything possible to (also, plain verbs: strive to, endeavor to, work hard to ), etc.所有企业都必须注意提拔优秀工人。A: All enterprises must pay

    49、attention to promoting excellent workers.B: All enterprises must see to it that excellent workers are promoted.The point is not that the enterprises must “pay attention “ to doing something but that they must do it. If they promote workers, they are clearly paying attention to promoting them. Variants: pay heed to, lay stress on, attach importance to (also, plain verbs: stress, emphasize), etc.目前主要任务是做好科学技术研究成果的推广应用工作。A: The principal task at present is to do a good job in disseminating and applying the results of scientifi

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