“越……就越……”的翻译方法

问题描述

表示“越……就越……”的方法我见过用 the more…the more…的。如：

The more he eats the fatter he gets. 他吃得越多就越胖。

The more I study, the less I learn. 我学得越多就越学不好。

The better I knew him, the more I liked him. 我越了解他就越喜欢他。

The earlier you start the sooner you’ll be back. 你出发得越早，回来得就越早。

请问一下，除此之外，还有哪些方法来翻译“越……就越……”。谢谢！

老师答疑

陈老师：

大致归纳了一下以下几种，可能并不全面，仅供参考：

方法一：用the more…the more…来翻译

这是最常用的方法，你的例子都很好，再补充几例：

The more you save, the more interest you’ll earn. 存款越多，所得的利息就越多。

The more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea. 我越想就越不喜欢这个主意。

The more expensive petrol becomes, the less people drive. 汽油越贵，开车的人就越少。

The sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll get there. 我们出发得越早，到那里也就越早。

The greater the mass of an object, the greater its gravitational pull. 物体的质量越大重力也就越大。

The higher the interest rate, the greater the financial risk – which, of course, cuts both ways. 利率越高，金融风险也就越大，这当然是有利有弊的事。

方法二：用as来翻译

这样用的 as 通常表示“随着”，但结合句中的其他表示“变化”特征的动词，有时与汉语中“越……就越……”意思相近。如：

As he grows older, he grows wiser. 他年纪越大越有智慧。

As you get older you get more tolerant. 你年纪越大就越能容忍。

The path grew steeper as we climbed higher. 我们越往上爬路就越陡。

The weather became colder as the day progressed. 天色越晚，天气就越冷。

You get more aches and pains as you get older. 年纪越大，疼痛就越多。

As he got drunker, his mood darkened. 他喝得越醉，情绪就越是不好。

One advances in modesty as one advances in knowledge. 一个人知识越多越谦虚。

She grew increasingly nervous as the date of the audition drew closer. 遴选试演的日期越近，她就越紧张。

方法三：用decrease来翻译

decrease 的意思是“变小，减少”，含有“变化”之意，在特定语境有时也与汉语中的“越……就越……”意思相似。如：

The number of quarrels among children decreases with age. 孩子年龄越大，吵架的次数就越少。

The number of women decreases as you ascend the professional hierarchy. 专业级别越高，女性越少。

方法四：用increase来翻译

increase 的意思是“增加，增大”，也含有“变化”之意，在特定语境有时也与汉语中的“越……就越……”意思相似。如：

Houses increase in size further away from the city centre. 离市中心越远，住房面积就越大。

The risk of cancer increases with the number of cigarettes you smoke. 吸烟越多，得癌的危险就越大。

方法五：用in proportion as来翻译

in proportion as 的意思是“按……比例，依……程度而变”，也含有“变化”之意，在特定语境有时也与汉语中的“越……就越……”意思相似。如：

Men are happy in proportion as they are virtuous. 人越是有德行就越幸福。

Some people are happy in proportion as they are noticed. 有些人越受到注意就越高兴。

方法六：用其他表达

Navigation becomes more difficult further up the river. 越往河的上游，航行就越困难。

He is raised the higher that he might fall the heavier. 人被抬得越高，摔得会越重。

A larger sample size yields more reliable data. 样本越大，得出的数据就越可靠。

Smaller cars have better mileage and so cost less to run. 汽车越小，同等油耗下跑的里程就越远，因此使用成本也越低。