典型事例

　 ◇Title of Lesson: Conversion

　◇Time Needed：Two periods（40 minutes per period）

　◇Teaching Objectives：

　Introduce to the students one of the translating methods: conversion

　◇Key Teaching Points：

　Conversion into verbs

　Conversion into nouns

　Conversion into adjectives

　Conversion into adverbs

　◇Difficult Teaching Points:

　Conversion into verbs

　Conversion into nouns

　Teaching Contents:

　The reason for using conversion in translation

　Owing to the different thinking styles and language habits of English and Chinese, some parts of speech have to be converted into others during translating to convey the proper meaning of the original. Mainly there are four ways of such converting:

　Conversion into Verbs

　Nouns Converted into Verbs

　Nouns derived from verbs（动词派生的名词）

　e.g. The government called for the establishment of more technical schools.

　 政府号召建立更多的技术学校。

　Nouns containing verbal sense（含有动作意思的名词）

　e.g. A look at his photos reminded me of our school days.

　 看到他的照片使我想起了我们的学生时代。

　Nouns with suffix “–er”（一些加后缀-er的名词有时并不指其身份或职业，而是含有较强的动作意味。在汉语中没有对应的名词时，往往译为动词。）

　e.g. He is a very good story-teller. 他极善于讲故事。

　e.g. Some of you in your class are good singers.

　你们班上有些人歌唱得很好。

　Nouns as the principle part of a fixed expression（作为习语主体的名词）e.g. Shall we have a rest? 我们休息一下，好吗？

　e.g. He made no mention of his resignation. 他没提到他辞职的事。

　Prepositions Converted into Verbs

　e.g. Did you see the boy in blue? 你看到那个穿蓝衣服的男孩了吗？

　e.g. Drug taking is against the law. 吸毒是违法的。

　Adjectives Converted into Verbs

　e.g. The doctors said that they are not sure whether they can save his life.

　 医生说他们不敢肯定能否挽救他的生命。

　e.g. I have to be cautious. 我必须小心谨慎才是。

　Adverbs Converted into Verbs

　e.g. The boy told me that his mother was out.

　那个男孩告诉我他的母亲出去了。

　Conjunctions converted into Verbs

　e.g. Five and six is eleven.

　五加六等于十一。

　Conversion into Nouns

　Verbs Converted into Nouns

　Verbs transformed from nouns（名词转化的动词）

　e.g. The design aims at automatic operation, easy regulation, simple maintenance and high productivity.

　 设计的目的在于自动操作、调节方便、维护简易、生产率高。

　e.g. To them, he personified the absolute power.

　 在他们看来，他就是绝对权威的化身。

　Passive voice（英语被动句式常可译为受到/遭到/予以/加以＋名词的形式）

　e.g. The invasion of another independent country must be stopped.

　 侵犯另一个独立国家的行为必须予以制止。

　Adjectives Converted into Nouns

　e.g. Crying is considered to be characteristic of woman.

　人们认为爱哭是女人的特点。

　e.g. In this fission fragments are very radioactive.

　在裂变过程中，裂变碎片具有强烈的放射性。

　**此外，the + adj.往往表示一类人，通常也汉译为名词。

　e.g. Do not look down upon the poor. 不要看不起穷人。

　Adverbs Converted into Nouns

　e.g. Nowadays many people in the society are materially rich but spiritually poor. 当今社会中，有许多人物质富有却精神空虚。

　Pronouns Converted into Nouns

　e.g. Radio waves are similar to light waves except that their wavelength is much greater. 无线电波与光波相似，但无线电波的波长要长得多。

　Conversion into Adjectives

　Nouns Converted into Adjectives (a/an + n.)

　e.g. Independent thinking is an absolute necessity in study.

　 独立思考对学习是绝对必需/ 必不可少的。

　Adverbs Converted into Adjectives

　e.g. This film impressed him deeply. 这部电影给他留下了深刻的印象。

　Conversion into Adverbs

　Adjectives Converted into Adverbs:

　e.g. Only when we study their properties can we make better use of these materials. 只有研究这些材料的特点才能更好地利用它们。

　e.g. A helicopter is free to go almost anywhere.

　直升机几乎可以自由地飞到任何地方。

　Nouns Converted into Adverbs

　e.g. I have the honor to inform you that your request is granted.

　 我荣幸地通知你，你的请求已得到批准。

　Classroom Exercises

　Meanwhile, half-starved and often ill, Crane continued to write.

　The language of the poem is colloquial, yet it's deep in its understanding of human emotions.

　Independent observers have commented favorably on the achievements you have made in this direction.

　Traditionally, there had always been good relations between them.

　No wonder the sight of it should send the memories of quite a number of people of the old generation back 36 years ago.

　It is impossible to live in society and be independent of society.

　The lecture was called Thieves, and was a demonstration that the proprietor of an unearned income inflicted on the community exactly the same injury as a burglar does.

　The young scholar worked long hours, on meager food, in cold hut, by dim lamp.

　She skimmed over the lawn, up the path, up the steps, across the veranda and into the porch.

　Most U.S. spy satellites are designed to burn up in the earth’s atmosphere after completing their missions.

　Reference Version:

　在此期间，克兰处于半饥饿状态，而且常常生病，但他仍坚持写作。（a.→n.; a.→v.）

　诗的语言虽很通俗，但对人的感情的揭示/理解却有深度。（a.→n.）

　有独立见解的观察家们对你们在这方面取得的成就给予了积极的评价。(v.+adv. → v.+a.+n.)

　他们之间一直保持着传统的友好关系。（adv.→a.）

　难怪老一辈的人见了这个就会想起36年前的往事。（n.→v.）

　生于社会，就不可能脱离社会。（a.→v.）

　演讲的题目是“贼”，表明了一个攥取不义之财的人对公众造成的危害和盗贼是完全一样的。（n.→v.）

　年轻的学者吃着简单的饭食，住在寒冷的茅屋，靠着昏暗的灯光，长时间地工作着。(prep.→v.)

　她轻盈地越过草地，跑上小道，跨上台阶，穿过凉台，走进了门廊。(prep.→v.)

　大多数美国卫星完成使命后，按其设计在大气层中焚毁。（v.→n.）

　Homework

　Versatile Man

　It is, perhaps, no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past were exceptionally versatile men. Right up until comparatively recent times, it was possible for an intelligent person to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge. Thus, men of genius like Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Philip Sidney engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course. Da Vinci was so busy with his numerous inventions that he barely found the time to complete his paintings; Sidney, who died in battle when he was only thirty-two years old, was not only a great soldier, but a brilliant scholar and poet as well. Both these men came very near to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the “universal man”, the man who was proficient at everything.

　Today, we rarely, if ever, hear that a musician has just invented a new type of submarine. Knowledge has become divided and sub-divided into countless, narrowly-defined compartments. The specialist is venerated; the versatile person, far from being admired, is more often regarded with suspicion. The modern world is a world of highly-skilled “experts” who have had to devote the greater part of their lives to a very limited field of study in order to compete with their fellows.

　With this high degree of specialization, the frontiers of knowledge are steadily being pushed back more rapidly than ever before. But this has not been achieved without considerable cost. The scientist, who outside his own particular subject is little more than a moron, is a modern phenomenon, as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides that have been made in technology. Similarly, specialization has indirectly affected quite ordinary people in every walk of life. Many activities which were once pursued for their own sakes, are often given up in despair: they require techniques, the experts tell us, which take a life-time to master. Why learn to play the piano, when you can listen to the world’s greatest pianists in your own drawing-room?

　Little by little, we are becoming more and more isolated from each other. It is almost impossible to talk to your neighbor about his job, even if he is engaged in roughly the same work as you are. The Royal Society in Britain includes among its members only the most eminent scientists in the country. Yet it is highly disconcerting to find that even here, as one of its Fellows put it, at a lecture only 10% of the members can understand 50% of what is being said!

　Reference version:

　多才多艺的人

　过去有许多杰出人物都异乎寻常地多才多艺，这也许并不是偶然的。就在距今不远的时代，一个聪明人仍有可能熟悉几乎每一个门类的知识。因此，对于列奥纳多·达·芬奇和菲利普·西德尼爵士这样的天才来说，同时致力于好几种事业也是顺理成章的事。达·芬奇忙于众多的发明，几乎抽不出时间来完成他的画作；三十二岁就战死在沙场的西德尼不仅是一名勇敢的战士，也是才华横溢的学者和诗人。他们很接近文艺复兴时期对理想人物的要求——“全才”，即精通一切的人。

　今天，我们很难得会听说哪位音乐家刚刚发明了一种新型的潜水艇。知识领域被一分再分，分成无数个范围狭窄而且互不通气的部门。人们敬仰的是专家；多面手非但不受人钦佩，反而常常遭到怀疑。当今的世界是精通专业的“专家”的世界，这些专家不得不用自己一生的大部分时间研究一个十分狭小的领域，这样才能与同行竞争。

　随着专业化程度的提高，知识的疆界正以前所未有的速度不断拓展。然而我们也为此付出了相当大的代价。现在一个科学家离开了他自己的专业就不会比一个傻子强多少，正象一个文学家对科技方面的重大进展几乎一无所知一样，这都是现代才有的现象。同样的，专业化也间接影响到了各行各业的普通人。以前仅仅是由于对它们本身感到兴趣而去从事的许多活动，后来却往往被无可奈何地放弃了，因为专家们说，从事这些活动所需要的技巧得付出毕生的精力才能掌握。当你能在自家客厅里欣赏到世界上最杰出的钢琴家的演奏时，你干吗还要学钢琴呢？

　渐渐地，人们相互间的隔阂变得越来越深了。你简直不可能跟你的邻居交谈工作上的事，哪怕他的工作跟你的相差不多。英国皇家学会的会员都是全国最优秀的科学家。然而，令人深感不安的是，正如它的一位会员所指出的那样，即便是在这里举办一次讲座，也只有10％的会员能够听懂其中50％的内容！