董爱华

(新乡学院外国语学院，河南新乡453000)

科技英语中长句的句法特点和句法结构

董爱华

(新乡学院外国语学院，河南新乡453000)

科技英语;长句;句法特点;句法结构

科技英语作为一种严肃的文体，深受拉丁文风的影响，长句的历史由来已久。由于组句较长，结构严谨，成分复杂，给读者的解读带来了困难。拟从传统语法角度来探析科技英语中长句的句法特点和句法结构，并试图通过分析给读者阅读时带来一定的启示和指导。

科技英语(English for science and technology)产生于20世纪50年代，自20世纪70年代以来引起了人们的广泛关注和研究。它是“人们从事科学技术活动时进行交际的工具，是英语全民语言用于理、工、医、农等自然科学题材时产生的变体”。(侯维瑞，1996)科技英语是用来陈述自然界、科技界所发生或出现的事情。描述其规律、特点，以及过程等的语言，其表达客观准确、逻辑性强、结构严谨。为了更好地记录自然界的现象和科技界的动态，用来记录的句子往往偏长，结构复杂，所以造成了科技英语长句中语言结构层次多，成分多，修饰语多的特点。本文拟从传统语法角度来探析科技英语中长句的句法特点和句法结构，并试图通过分析给读者阅读时带来一定的启示和指导。

一、科技英语长句的句法特点分析

科技语言是客观现实的真实反映，由于其本身的性质决定了其文体具有严谨周密、概念准确、逻辑性强、行文简洁、重点突出、句式严整、少有变化等特点。科技英语的长句常常是由一个主语带着若干个从句，从句又带着短语，短语又带从句，从句又套从句，相互依附，相互制约，一环扣一环，错综复杂。下面本人拟就科技英语中出现的长句的句法特点做粗略的分析，试从以下四个方面来探讨。

(一)被动语态的大量使用

科技英语的长句在句法上最突出的特点就是被动语态数量之多，可以占到全部谓语动词的1/3～1/2以上。究其原因主要有三点，其一:科技作者在探讨事物发展过程和阐述科学原理时，往往着眼于演绎论证的结果，而不大考虑动作的实行者。这需要使事物，过程和结果处于句子的中心地位，而被动结构正好能突出要论证和说明的对象;其二:科技作品对现象的描述，对规律的论证，对事物的分析和对事物相互关系的推理，要求尽量客观，而客观的表达与感情色彩有冲突，被动结构正好可以避开人的主观因素。其三:科技文章崇尚准确，严谨和精炼，而被动结构在很多情况下正好使句子更为紧凑和简短。被动语态的使用在下面两个长句中可见一斑:

例一:The Harry Diamond Laboratories performed early advanced development of the Arming Safety Device(ASD)for the Navy’s 5-in guided projectile．The early advanced development was performed in two phrases．In phrase 1，the ASD was designed，and three prototypes were fabricated and tested in the laboratory．In phrase 2，the design was refined，35 ASD’s and a large number of explosive mockups were fabricated，and a series of qualification tests were performed．The qualification tests ranged from laboratory tests to drop tests and gun firing．The design was further refined during and following the qualification tests．The feasibility of the design was demonstrated．

例二:As oil is found deep in the ground its presence cannot be determined by a study of the surface．Consequently，a geological survey of the underground rock structure must be carried out．If it is thought that the rocks in a certain area contain oil，a“drilling rig”is assembled．The most obvious part of a drilling rig is called“a derrick”．It is used to lift sections of pipe，which are lowered into the hole made by the drill．As the hole is being drilled，a steel pipe is pushed down to prevent the sides from falling in．If oil is struck a cover is firmly fixed to the top of the pipe and the oil is allowed to escape through a series of valves．

在第一个例子中，12处谓语动词竟有9处采用被动结构。第二例中，14处谓语动词包含了13个被动语态。在这两例长句篇章中，被动语态的使用尚且如此，那么在一篇科技文体的文章中的应用就可想而知了。

(二)非谓语动词的普遍使用

在科技英语的长句中，可以发现动词的非谓语形式(分词，动名词，动词不定式及复合结构)被广泛应用，尤其是分词短语用作后置定语的现象更是层见叠出。究其原因主要有两点，其一:在科技作品中，人们往往要说明各个事物之间的关系，事物的位置和状态变化，如:机器，产品，原料等的运动，来源、型式、加工手段、工艺流程和操作方法，这些都要求叙述严谨、准确。动词的非谓语形式容易实现这些要求，而且能用扩展的成分对所修饰的进行严格的说明和限定。(每一个分词定语都能代替一个从句);其二:科技作者为了完整准确地表达某一概念和事物，常需对某些词句进行多方面的修饰和限定。为了使长句匀称，避免复杂的复合结构并省略动词时态的配合，使长句既不累赘又语意明确，这种语法策略经常采用。

例一:Hill’s idea of stating a perturbation theory with a better intermediate orbit than a Keplerian ellipse was quickly applied to artificial satellite theories with some success，depending on the possibility of obtaining higher order theories．

例二:What is really required therefore is a safe，reliable and inexpensive device，which can be inserted between the transmission line and the consuming apparatus，to convert the high voltage and low current of the economical transmission line into the low voltage and high current required by the consuming apparatus，that is，a piece of apparatus to perform the same function in electrical transmission that a pair of reduction gears does in mechanical transmission，in which a high torque and low speed are readily and effectively converted into a low torque and high speed，or vice versa．

(三)形容词短语作后置定语居多

在科技英语长句中，形容词短语用作后置定语的现象，虽不及分词短语后置定语多，但也大量使用。按照R．Quirk的说法，形容词短语作后置定语可以看作是定语从句的省略形式。其作用是对所修饰的词语加以严格的限定和准确的说明，同时又会句子结构简短紧凑。

例一:With the acceptance of the Copernican system，the Earth was added to the number of planets revolving around the Sun，and the Moon was recognized as the Earth’s satellite．Uranus，which is barely visible to the unaided eye，was discovered in 1781.

例二:In the 24 years since the birth of Louise Brown，the world＇s first test－ tube baby，thousands of would － be parents have been assure that as far as scientists knew there was no extra risk of genetic damage associated with in － vitro fertilization，or IVF．No matter how sperm meets egg—whether in a woman＇s body or in a Petri dish(and even if the sperm needs some help getting inside the egg)—nature is equally vigilant about preventing serious genetic mishaps from coming to term．With those assurances，test-tube births have soared from a few hundred a year in the early 1980s to tens of thousands today．

(四)虚拟语气的广泛运用

科技作者在说明事理、提出设想、探讨问题和推导公式时，常常涉及到各种前提、条件和场合。为了避免武断，总是从假定、猜想、建议或怀疑的角度出发，这就往往需要采用虚拟语气;另一方面，有不少作者为了表示自己的谦逊，为了谨慎和留有余地，也乐于采用虚拟语气而是口吻变得委婉。

例一:Had astronomers then been able to see the ultraviolet part of the spectrum，which our own atmosphere absorbs，they could have seen the Lyman series of absorption energies that come from photons which are absorbed by hydrogen atoms with electrons in the smallest possible orbits，they probably would have made an entirely different classification of stellar spectra on the basis of the still more intense Lyman lines．

例二:In the spring of 1999，ACT’s new troika sat down to discuss just how to venture into what＇s arguably the most controversial area in medicine today．We knew that we would have to fend off attacks，recalls Lanza．But we never imagined all the insanity that would come．Over the course of the next two years，the men would be called ‘mad scientists’，‘baby killers’，and‘monsters’;their names would be added to antiabortion‘assassination’lists on the Web;the FBI would warn them of threats on their lives，and conservatives would push a bill through the House of Representatives declaring them federal criminals deserving of 10 years in prison and a$1 million fine．

二、科技英语长句的句法结构分析

科技英语由于内容、语域、语篇功能的特殊性和悠久的外来语影响，通常使用结构复杂的长句，其句法结构主要包括以下五个方面。其一:大量使用名词化结构以及垂悬结构来压缩句子长度;其二:常用先行it结构来保持文风凝重平稳;其三:常用平行结构使层次清晰;其四:使用圆周句结构，从句交错重叠;其五:采用介词词组的结构准确简练地反映了事物之间的逻辑关系。现就这五种结构作详细分析。

(一)名词化结构

在科技英语中，含名词化结构的长句出现的频率很高。这些长句内涵丰富，信息量大，语言简洁严谨。R．Quirk在《当代英语语法》(A Grammar of Contemporary English)中说:“人们会发现，科技文献中的语言与语法关系更为复杂，分句经常‘名词化’。”(R．Quirk，1973:27)他还提出:“大量使用名词化结构是科技英语的特点之一。”(R．Quirk，1973:48)

例一:Many attempts for nearly a hundred years having been made to use this property in a reliable system of signaling the electric telegraph was made a practical device about the middle if the last century．

例二:The successful launching of China first experimental communication satellite，which was propelled by a three-stage rocket and has been in operation ever since，indicates that our nation has entered a new stage in the development of carrier rockets and electronics．

例一中使用了独立主格结构“Many attempts for nearly a hundred years having been made to use this property in a reliable system of signaling the electric telegraph”

作状语;例二中的主语是由介词“of”连接成的名词词组。通过以上两例，我们还可以看出，科技英语中的长句离不开短语和分句;而短语和分句之间的紧密衔接又离不开大量的关联词。除了介词(of，with，over，by，in 等)，还包括关系词(which，that，when 等 )，连词(and，if，or等)。

(二)先行词it结构

使用形式主语it引导句子，把较长的主语子句移到句末，使句子平衡，避免头重脚轻，从而使行文更加凝重平稳，符合科技英语的文体风格。

例一:It is needed to produce many natural hormones，including sexual hormones，as well as vitamin D and bile acids which help us to digest fat，all of which are required to sustain in the body and human life on the planet in general．

例二:It is particularly exciting to have the ability to infer the properties of the meridional circulation，the giant cells，and the general state of the turbulent convection from the fine structure and frequencies of the p-and g-modes．

这类句子通常又叫作无人称句子。这是因为科技文献所描述和讨论的是科学发现或科技事实，尽管科技活动时人类所为，但科技文献所报道的主要是科技成果或自然规律，但并不强调是谁发现或完成。

(三)平行结构

科技英语长句中有许多平行不悖，前后衔接，相互照应的现象。在有条不紊的描述中追求表达的严密效果，通常把众多并列成分纳入一体，归合一句，形成一种“突出”的文体特色。运用平行结构可以使句子铿锵有力、富有节奏、思路脉络分明，层次清晰等。

例一:If doors，describe physical treatment of walls，ceiling and floor，include a sketch showing location of source and room contents;if outdoors，include a sketch showing location of source with respect to surrounding terrain，including physical description of test environment．(用分号隔开两个平行的复句，其中 If doors和if outdoors分别为成分省略的条件句。)

例二:The typical digital computer has five different units or sections，an input unit where inform action or orders go into the computer，a control unit which controls the actions of the computer in accordance with the input orders，a computation，or arithmetic，unit where the arithmetic is carried out，a memory unit where information is stored，and an output unit which reports the results．(此长句是由五个带定语从句的unit构成了平行。)

(四)圆周句结构

使用圆周句，从句交错重叠，关系复杂。从句的意义主要依赖于主句，特别是主句谓语的明确表述。其特点主要是“主句谓语动词被推迟到句子的中部或后部，这就增加了理解句子的困难。”(侯维瑞，1996)

例一:We assumed that there were forces of attraction between molecules which varied rapidly with the distance so that the attraction between molecules that were more than a few tenmillions of millimeter apart was very small but became considerable when the molecules approached more closely．(此长句句式复杂，信息含量丰富，包含五个子句，看图解如下:)

例二:Electronics，like any other field of human activity，has gone through several stages in its rapid development which are marked by the electron tube，the transistor，the integrated circuit and the microprocessor．

例三:Owing to the fact that electricity and be transmitted from where it is generated to where it is needed by means of power lines and transformers．Large power stations and be built in remote places far from industrial centers or large cities，as is often the case with hydroelectric power stations that are inseparable from water sources．

上述例二中，主语是“Electronics，like any other field of human activity”为介词短语作插入语，对主语“electronics”起到了进一步说明的作用，谓语是“has gone through”;在宾语中含有一个由which引导的定语从句修饰stages。在例三中，主语是“large power stations”;谓语是“can be built;owing to……transformers”是分词短语作原因状语。但是，在这个短语中还含有三个从句，一个是由that引出的同位语从句，另外两个是由where引出的地点状语从句。除此之外，还有far from形容词短语作后置定语修饰places和由as引出的定语从句修饰全句。

对于上述三个例句，首先应该做的是找出它的主要成分，其它部分是一些起修饰作用的从句或短语等。句子之所以长，大多数情况下是由于修饰成分多造成的，如果把这些修饰成分先放在一旁，就可以较容易地理解其大意了。

(五)介词词组结构

科学注重事实、概念和逻辑，科技文体具有严肃性、真实性。为了准确、详尽地描述事物特点、发展过程、演变规律或应用，科技英语叙事要求突出事实本身，避开主观因素，用结构严谨的关系来明确无误地表达因果、条件、让步、目的、对比等上下人逻辑概念。因此，介词和介词短语结构在科技英语的长句中出现的频率很高，主要用于准确而简练地反映各事物之间的时间、空间、隶属、依附以及因果等逻辑关系。

例一:According to a pair of reports in last week＇s New England Journal of Medicine，that conventional wisdom may be wrong．In the first study，doctors in Britain and Australia found that infants conceived with both straightforward test－tube methods and a more invasive technique called intra-cytoplasm sperm injection，in which sperm is injected directly into the egg，have an 8.6%risk of major birth defects—including heart and kidney abnormalities，cleft palate and undescended testicles-compared with the 4.2%rate in babies made the old － fashioned way．The second study，conducted by the U．S．Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC)，reported that babies conceived through what doctors call assisted reproductive technologies(ART)have 2.6 times the risk of low or very low birth weight—a significant risk factor for cardiac and cognitive problems．

例二:Diagnosis of such unrelated conditions as migraine，gall stones or ulcer of the duodenum sometime depends much more on an understanding of the patient’s history and symptoms and on knowledge of what diseases will produce than on what can be learned objectively．

四、结 语

上述是对科技英语长句的句法特点和句法结构的粗略探讨，并不是说其特点和结构只是局限于此。随着科学技术的迅速发展和国际间科技交流的日益增多，科技书刊和资料作为科技信息交流的重要媒介，越来越重要。目前，科技英语已经发展成为英语科学与理工学科相结合的一门独立学科，它除具有一般基础英语的特点之外，还具有其自身特点。科技人员在阅读英文科技资料时遇到的困难，主要是科技英语中长句的句法特点和结构所致，因此更值得我们去推敲和研究。掌握好长句的句法特点和句法结构，对指导科技人员阅读科技文章有着重要的指导作用。参考文献:

［1］ R．Quirk．A Grammar of Contemporary English［M］．London:Longman，1973.

［2］ 陈伟．科技英语长句的句法特点和汉语译文结构重构［J］．沈阳农业大学学报，2007(3)．

［3］ 董丹玲．浅谈科技英语词汇、句法、修辞特点及其翻译［J］．牡丹江大学学报，2009(1)．

［4］ 范瑜，李国国．科技英语文体的演变［J］．中国翻译，2004(5)．

［5］ 冯志杰．汉英科技翻译指要［M］．北京:中国对外翻译出版公司，1998.

［6］ 高庆华．英汉科技翻译中的三种句法差异的转化［J］．绵阳师范学院学报，2006(3)．

［7］ 何固佳．科技英语语言特点［J］．中国科技翻译，1998(4)．

［8］ 侯维瑞．英语语体［M］．上海:外语教育出版社，1996.

［9］ 李延英．科技英语的句法特点［J］．天中学刊，1996(4)．

［10］ 刘国仕．科技英语的句法特征分析［J］．贵州工业大学学报，2007(3)．

［11］ 王力．中国语法理论［A］．王力文集［C］．济南:山东教育出版社，1984.

［12］ 王泉水．科技英语翻译技巧［M］．天津:天津科学出版社，1997.

［13］ 吴建兰．科技英语词汇和句法的特征及翻译［J］．安徽工业大学学报，2005(6)．

［14］ 于建平．科技英语长句的分析及翻译［J］．中国科技翻译，2000(3)．

［15］ 张庭秀，等．科技英语语法精要［M］．西安:陕西人民出版社，1986.

A Tentative Analysis of Syntactic Features and Structures of Lengthy EST Sentences

DONG Ai-hua
(Xinxiang University，School of Foreign Language Xinxiang Henan 453000，China)

EST;lengthy sentences;syntactic features;syntactic structures

English for science and technology(abbreviated to EST)，as the term suggests，is a strict style of writing．Because of the influence of Latin writing style，the history of EST lengthy sentences is long-standing．The EST syntactically features are lengthy，strict and intricate，which cause much trouble to the readers’understanding．This paper mainly examines the syntactic features and structures of EST lengthy sentences from the perspective of traditional grammar．After this general analysis，this paper aims to provide a certain instructive significance for the EST readers．

H314

A

2095-2708(2012)01-0110-03

2010-10-18