“as … as”倍数比较漫谈
2017-06-01张满胜
张满胜
有读者来信提问针对倍数比较的问题,具体如下:
张老师,麻烦您帮忙看下这句话“Twice as many fourth babies were boys as were girls.”有问题吗?我有点看不太懂。
该句话出自下面的短文:
我们看到,图中对这句话的译文为:
1992年的时候,男孩是女孩的两到四倍之多。
大家思考一下,这个译文正确吗?其实,这个译文是错误的,译者由于没有搞明白这句话的构造逻辑,因而想当然地译成了“两到四倍”。本期我们就来讨论这句的构造过程以及相关的一些问题。
英语的倍数比较
我们来看上面这句话。
a. Twice as many fourth babies were boys as were girls.
这句虽然不长,但构造并不简单,有很多看点。
首先,我们要看到这句的核心结构是“twice as X as Y”,这是一个含有倍数关系的比较结构,基本意思是“X是Y的两倍”(当然可以把twice改为three times等倍数关系,本文就以twice为例来讨论)。进而,根据名词的可数性,该结构可以进一步分为:
A. twice as many +复数名词 … as …
B. twice as much +不可数名词 … as …
另外,也可以在twice as后面接一个形容词或副词,因此说成:
C. twice as adj./adv. as …
其次,从句法结构的角度来看,twice as X部分可以在句中充当主语、宾语、表语等成分,而第二个as后面的结构也各异。
从上述两个角度,我们就能够清晰地把握这个比较结构。据此我们来分析上面a句。
显然,twice as many fourth babies属于上面的A结构,即接了复数名词babies。另一方面,这部分是作主语,后接谓语部分were boys。第二个as作主语,谓语were girls相当于Y部分。如果没有比较,那么a句可以拆分成下面两个简单句(以10和5为例)。
a1. Ten fourth babies were boys.
第四胎婴儿中,有10个是男孩。
a2. Five fourth babies were girls.
第四胎婴儿中,有5个是女孩。
这里笔者采用了具体数字(比如10和5)来表达两倍的关系。
我们可以把a1和a2两句合并成a句。下面的转换过程非常重要,请大家认真体会。
鉴于两倍关系,所以,我们就用twice as来传达;鉴于主语是复数名词,所以我们就用many来替换具体数字ten,于是把a1句改成:
a1-1. Twice as many fourth babies were boys ...
鉴于a2中的fourth babies与前面完全重复,故省去;并且前面twice as many已经表达了10与5之间的二倍关系,故five省去。所以我们把a2中的five fourth babies都省去了,只需用as (以便与前面twice as结构呼应)来作主语,因而把a2句改为:
a2-1. … as were girls.
现在,只需要把a1-1和a2-1合并即构成a句:
a. Twice as many fourth babies were boys as were girls.
从这个转换中,我们看到,第二个as的确是作主语,并且与前面主句的主语twice as many fourth babies有呼应关系。
分析至此,我们就能很好理解a句的意思了,可以譯成:
1992年的时候,在出生的第四胎婴儿中,男婴的数量是女婴的两倍。
这就说明,在某些家庭中,晚出生的婴儿的性别更可能被人为因素操纵了。这与上下文语境能够很好地吻合。而原译“1992年的时候,男孩是女孩的两到四倍之多”对应的英文是:
b. In 1992 twice to four times as many babies were boys as were girls.
其实,再仔细想想:一个国家的出生人口中,男女比例应该不会出现两到四倍这样大范围的差距。
关于as Y部分:as were girls倒装了吗?
现在我们比较下面两个句子。
a. Twice as many fourth babies were boys as were girls.
c. Boys were not as smart as were girls.
以前男孩不如女孩聪明。
虽然a、c两句都有as were girls,但实质是不一样的:a句的as were girls不是倒装句,但c句中的as were girls是倒装句,正常语序是as girls were。因此c句可以改成:
c1. Boys were not as smart as girls were.
或者进一步把were省去:
c2. Boys were not as smart as girls.
为什么说a句没有倒装,而c句有倒装呢?这就需要从第二个as的指代来判断。在a句中,第二个as指代前面的主语部分fourth babies,在as从句中作主语,因而girls是表语,所以as were girls不是倒装句。在c句中,as指代前面的表语smart,也在as从句中作表语,因而girls是主语,所以as were girls为倒装句。