最近,笔者看到一道考题,要求学生用英语介绍中国的山东省。不少学生在作文里反复运用Shangdong of China。这种表达引起笔者的思考。如果Shangdong of China正确的话,那么London of Britain, New York of the United States不也一样可行吗?很显然,这些词组都存在语义上的重复,即同义反复。同义反复是汉语中一种惯用的表达方式,在英语中则应尽量避免使用。英、汉两种语言对同义反复现象一般持两种迥然不同的态度。
1. 英汉词组比较
同义反复现象在汉语中很普遍。许多联合型的复合词组如道路、声音、群众等和重叠式词组如妈妈、哥哥等都属同义反复。英语复合词极少由两个同义词素构成,所以类似的同义反复现象在英语中很少见。再如,汉语成语多为“四字格”,其间也不乏同义反复,如唉声叹气、垂头丧气、深思熟虑等。英语中类似的结构并不多,仅限于safe and sound,wail and weep,heart and soul等有限的几个仅在结构上和以上的汉语成语相似的短语。
(1)Everybody feels, I think unanimously, that that wouldn’t sound like the New York Times.(粗体部分为同义反复,下同)
(2)That idea has also interested me for a long time. And the two ideas happened to merge together. What then emerged was a story of strong family tensions and conflicts, as you say.
?)The actual facts are that I began this book impulsively and wrote it continuously.