定语从句的译法
1. 译成前置定语
一般说来，限定性的定语从句可提前译成定语。还有一些定语从句，虽然并不明显地带有限定
性质，但本身较短，和被修饰语关系紧密，也可译为前置定语。如：
例1. To be sure, a great rebuilding project would give jobs to many of those people who need them.
诚然，一个宏伟的重建计划也许能为许多需要工作的人提供就业机会。
例2. There is no royal road to science, and only those who don not dread the fatiguing climb of the steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.
在科学上没有平坦大道，只有不畏劳苦，沿着陡峭的山路攀登的人，才有希望到达光辉的顶点。
例3. In recent years, however, people have begun to become aware that cities are also areas where there is a concentration of problems.
可是，近几年来人们开始意识到城市也是问题成堆的地方。
例4. The moon is a world that is completely still and where utter silence prevails.
月亮是一个声断音绝的世界，是一个万籁俱寂的世界。
例5. Furthermore, humans have the ability to modify the environment in which they live, thus subjecting
all other life forms to their own peculiar ideas and fancies.
而且，人类还有能力改变自己的生存环境，从而是所有其他形态的生命服从人类自己独特的想
法和想象。
例6. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for
what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.
但更为重要的是，这是科学家们所能观察到的最遥远的过去的景象，因为他们看到的是150亿年前宇宙云的形状和结构。
如以上例句所示，这种译法最适于翻译较短的限定性定语从句。有时较长的限定性定语从句也
可采用这种译法，以使修饰关系清晰，句子结构紧凑。如：
例7.This practice book is intended for foreign engineers or students to engineering who have already mastered the elements of English, and who now want to use their knowledge of the language to read books on their subjects.
这本练习是给那些已经掌握了英语基础知识而现在要利用学到的语言知识来阅读专业书籍的外
国工程师或学习工程学的学生用的。
例8. To write a genuine familiar or truly English style is to write as any one who would speak in common conversation, who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force and perspicuity.
用真正的普通文体即纯正的英语文体写作就像那些谙熟词汇而又善于选择词汇，能高谈阔论且
言词流畅，说话有力而明确的人的日常交谈一般。
例8中的who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force and perspicuity本应紧接先行词any one，但由于太长而后移，而who would speak in common conversation则修饰上述两个定语从句及其先行词。
有些起附加说明作用的非限定性定语从句，对先行词也有程度不同的修饰、限制意义，有时也
可译成前置定语。如：
例9. He liked his sister, who was warm and pleasant, but he did not like his brother, who was aloof and arrogant.
他喜欢热情活泼的妹妹，而不喜欢冷漠高傲的哥哥。
2. 译成后置的并列分句
A. 一些结构较复杂，或者意思上有较强的独立性的限定性定语从句，通常可译为后置的并列分句。
采取这种译法往往要重复关系代词所代替的词，有时可在这些词之前加指示词“这”、“这些”等，以使译文明确。如：
例1. But world attention also is focusing on another step, which will make the smoker increasingly self-conscious and uncomfortable about his habit.
同时，人们也正把注意力集中在另一项措施上，这项措施将使吸烟者越来越意识到自己的不良
习惯并为之感到不安。
例2. In 1883 an American physician, A, King, listed twenty observations, which pointed to mosquitoes as a factor in malaria.
1883年，美国医生 A.金列举了二十个观察报告，这些报告表明蚊子是引起疟疾的一个因素。
例3. This volume is prepared as examples for writing compositions which, as it were, has been taken as a difficult task.
本书旨在为写作提供范例，可以说写作是一个难题。
例4. I was endeavoring to put off one sort of life for another sort of life, which was not better than the life I had known.
我一直在竭力摆脱一种生活，改换另一种生活，但是我所改换的生活并不见得比我原先的生活
好。
例5. Matter is composed of molecules that are composed of atoms.
物质是由分子组成的，而分子又是由原子组成的。
在例4中，从句在语意上与主句相矛盾；在例5中，从句在语意上与主句相承。在译文中除重
复关联代词所代替的词外，加上了连词“但是”、“而”，是译文语气连贯。
有些定语从句汉译时可不必重复关系代词所代替的词，而将其译成人称代词“他”、“他们”等，使句子简明扼要。如：
例1. Honeycutt was 40, an affable man who had to leave his family in Raleigh, North Carolina, when he ‘d gone north to work.
亨尼卡行年40，和蔼可亲，他去北方工作时不得不把家室留在北卡罗来纳州罗利市。
例2. Above the English lettering the words are repeated in the Chinese calligraphy of Premier Zhou, who wrote the brief text.
在这些英文字的上方，是周总理亲笔书写的同样内容的汉字，他拟定了这简短的铭文。
B. 非限定性定语从句与先行词的关系不十分密切，只是对先行词加以说明，描述或解释，或对整个
语句所陈述的事实或现象加以总结概括，补充说明，其前都用逗号分开。在汉译时，一般译为后置
的并列分句。如：
例1. In English, attributive clauses are used extensively, some of which are very long and complicated in structure.
在英语中，定语从句的运用极为广泛，有的从句很长而且结构复杂。
例2. These books, which are only a small part of my collection, were picked up in America.
这些书是我在美国买的，它们在我的藏书中只占一小部分。
例3. Bertrand Russell, whose philosophical writings made a profound impact on philosophers all over the world, died in 1970.
伯特兰德.罗素于1970年逝世，他的哲学著作对全世界哲学家都有深刻的影响。
例4. He gave in his resignation, which was the best thing he could do in the circumstance.
他提出了辞职，这在当时的情况下是最好的办法。
例5. He blamed me for everything, which I thought very unfair.
他把一切错误都归罪于我，我认为这很不公平。
例6. John Fetzer, career consultant and chemist, first suggested this trait, which has already been written about a great deal.
职业顾问和化学家约翰.费策尔最早提出了这个特征。关于这个特征，人们已经写了大量的文章。例7. The Queen will visit the town in May, when she will open the new hospital.
女王将于5月访问该城。届时，她将主持那家新医院的开业仪式。
