Omission
Because of the difference in syntax and usage between Chinese and English the methods of“amplification”and“omission”are called for, depending on the real meaning of the original and the usage of the language to be translated into.
1. Omission of the "article". e. g.
"That veteran scientist says，‘Remote sensing of the earth from man-made satellites seems to have an extremely promising future. ’ ”
“那位老科學(xué)家說，‘從人造衛(wèi)星上對(duì)地球進(jìn)行遙感勘測(cè)，其前途看來是不可限量的。’ ”
2. Omission of“possessive pronoun”, e. g.
“Seamen who went on the first great voyages of discovery in the Antarctic got their drinking water by melting blocks of ice. ”
“最初航行在南極地區(qū)從事偉大科學(xué)考察的船員和水手，就是靠融化冰塊來獲取飲用水的。”(Here the possessive pronoun“their' which is syntactically necessary in English，should be omitted in the Chinese version, in line with the usage of the Chinese language.)
3. Omission of the“relative pronoun”，“relative adverb”or“pronoun”.
“There is a certain aeroplane noise which is quite unmistakable. ”
“有一種飛機(jī)的響聲是完全不會(huì)被聽錯(cuò)的。”
“Indeed there are times when it (speed) can be a great disadvantage. ”
“的確，有時(shí)候飛得快反而會(huì)成為很大的缺點(diǎn)。”
4. Omission of“structural words”.
Some“structural words”，though necessary in English syntactically, should be omitted, too. e, g.
“Some of the machine tools are so small that they can be moved by hand. Others are so big that they weigh 100 tons or more. ”
“有些機(jī)床很小，用手就可以搬動(dòng)；另外一些則很大，重達(dá)100噸或100噸以上。”
5. Omission of“formal subject‘it’”or “formal object‘it’” e. g.
“It would not be appropriate to discuss this matter at length in a book on one branch of science.”
“在一本只涉及某一科學(xué)分支的書里詳盡地討論這個(gè)問題是不合適的。”
6. Omission of“linking verbs”or those verbs which serve as“linking verbs”，e, g.
“It is permissibJe, however, to postulate that the effect of viscosity is confined to a thin boundary layer (except where flow separation occurs) so that the main flow is approximately dependent only on Mach number. ”
“然而，可以假定，粘性影響只局限在一層薄薄的附面層之內(nèi)（流動(dòng)發(fā)生分離的情形除外）因此，主流仍然近似地只同馬赫數(shù)有關(guān)。”
7. Omission of“signs of comparison”in the Chinese version.
On this question, two paints are to be noted.
First，there are quite a few English expressions which, though of a "comparative degree" in form，stand for a specific concept or state of affairs; and this kind of "comparative degree" is usually not to be expressed in the Chinese version, e. g, "Many seats of higher learning have graduate programs in this field." In this sentence “higher learning”means“高等學(xué)問”。So the sentence should be translated into：“許多高等學(xué)問的研究場(chǎng)所（如大學(xué)、研究院、所等）都開設(shè)這方面的研究生課程。”Similarly, “higher education”——“高等教育”；“younger generation”——“年輕的一代”；“better students”——“優(yōu)秀學(xué)生”；“weaker states”——“弱國(guó)”etc.
Second, whereas in English there are“signs of comparison”like “-er” and “-est”，in Chinese too there are “更” and “最”. Howevert we should on no account equate“更” with“-er”and“最”with “-est” in a mechanical way. For instance, how are we to translate“To make this simpler, research workers often use specific gravity instead of density." According to usage of the Chinese language, “更”is not called for and the sentence should normally be rendered into：“為了簡(jiǎn)便，研究人員常常使用比重而不用密度。”Similarly, we should translate "But if the steel plate is shaped into a ship, the air that is in the space in the steel hull makes the specific gravity of the ship smaller." into“但是，如果將鋼板做成船的話，那么，鋼質(zhì)船體內(nèi)所含的空氣使船的比重減小。”“It is enough to know that the sound becomes weaker as the air is taken from the bottle. ”into“只要知道當(dāng)空氣從瓶中抽出時(shí)鈴聲變?nèi)蹙蛪蛄恕?rdquo;“This laboratory is smaller than that one. ”——“這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室比那個(gè)小。”
參考譯文
省略法
因?yàn)闈h語同英語在句法上和用法上的差異，要求根據(jù)原文的真正意義和被譯成語言的用法而采用“增字法”和“省略法”。
1. 冠詞的省咯
（例句和譯文參考上文。）
2. 所有格代詞的省略
(例句和譯文參考上文。）
（句中的所有格代詞“their”從英語的句法要求來看是必要的，但根據(jù)漢語的用法，卻應(yīng)予以省略。）
3. 關(guān)系代詞、關(guān)系副詞或代詞的省略
（例句及譯文考上文。）
4. 結(jié)構(gòu)用詞的省略
盡管從英語句法上看來有些結(jié)構(gòu)用詞是必需的，但在漢譯中也應(yīng)省略。
(例句及其譯文參考上文。）
5. 形式主語或形式賓語(it)的省略
(例句及其譯文參考上文。）
6. 聯(lián)系動(dòng)同或起聯(lián)系動(dòng)詞作用的動(dòng)詞的省略。
(例句及其譯文參考上文。）
7. 漢譯中省珞“比較級(jí)的標(biāo)記”
在這個(gè)問題上，有兩點(diǎn)要注意。
第一，有相當(dāng)多的英語表述，盡管在形式上用的是“比較級(jí)”，但卻表示事物的具體概念或狀態(tài)。因此，這類“比較級(jí)”在漢語中通常不表示出來。例如：Many seats of higher learning have graduate programs in this field. 在這個(gè)句子中“higher learning”的意思是“高等學(xué)問”。因此該句應(yīng)譯成：許多髙等學(xué)問的研究場(chǎng)所（如大學(xué)、研究院、所等)都開設(shè)這方面的研究生課程。與此類似：“higher education”是“高等教育”：“younger generation”是“年輕的一代”；“better students”是“優(yōu)秀學(xué)生”；“weaker states”是“弱國(guó)”等等。
第二，像英語中有“-er ”和“-est ”一類比較級(jí)的標(biāo)記一樣，漢語中也有“更”字和“最”字，但是，決不可機(jī)械地把“更”字同“~er”、把“最”字同“-est”劃上等號(hào)。例如，如何翻譯“To make this simpler, research workers often use specific gravity instead of density. ”按照漢語的用法，不需要用“更”字，句子通常應(yīng)譯成：為了簡(jiǎn)便、研究人員常常使用比重而不用密度。與此類似，（例句參考上文。）
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