Word translation is the most important part in the translation of scientific English texts because a word is the basic unit of meaning and it is also the basic building block of language．The correct understanding and rendering of words lays the basis for success in translating．In translating an EST word，the translator should take its context into account．Besides，he should also consider the branch of learning in which this word is used．For this reason，he or she should have a basic knowledge of the field he or she is translating．To be more specific，the translator should pay attention to the following points in translating words．

1)A word should be translated according to the branch of learning in which it is used．

As we have pointed out before，the exact meaning of a word in EST often depends on the field in which it is used．This is especially true of semi-technical words，which account for the bulk of vocabulary in EST．Therefore，we have to take account of this factor in rendering EST words．Let＇s take the word “power”for example．This semitechnical word can be translated in different senses depending on the following branches of learning in which it is used:

Mathematics: The sixth power of two is 64. 2的6次方是64。

　Physics: horse power马力(功率)　 rated power额定功率

　Optics: 1，000 power microscope千倍显微镜

　Electrology: power network电力网;电源开关

　Chemistry: chemical power化学能　combining power化合力

　Mechanics: power shaft传动轴　　 brake power制动力

The word“system”also has different senses in a variety of fields，so it should be translated differently．

Electrics: electric light system电照明系统　system fault电力网故障

　　　　　　charging system装料装置　　　　 loading system装载设备

　Mathematics: system of equations主程组

　Mechanics: system of forces力系

　Chemistry: acid system酸法

　Philosophy: ideological system思想体系

　Sociology: industrial system工业体系　　　 social system社会制度

　a new system of teaching English一套新的外语教学法

2)A word should be translated according to its collocation．

Collocation refers to the habitual concurrence of words in a language．A word might have different meanings when it collocates with different words．In English-Chinese translation，there are two types of collocation which should be particularly paid attention to．

The first type of collocation is“adj．+ noun” ，for example:

The patient is in a critical condition．

　病人处于病危状态。

The critical pressure is the pressure under which gases can be liquefied．

　临界压力指气体液化时所需的压力。

They are at a critical time．

　他们正处于危急的关头。

In order to meet the critical service requirement，scientists are still looking for better materials．

　为了满足紧迫的使用要求，科学家仍在寻求更好的材料。

These components are more critical for the latter than for the former．

　后者对这些部件的要求比前者更为严格。

Scientists should look on every new invention with a critical eye．

　科学家应该用挑剔的眼光看待每一种新发明。

The second type of collocation is“verb + noun” ，in which we need to pay special attention to the same word with different meanings．Let us look at the following examples．

Exercises develop health bodies．运动有益健康。

　develop a new method发明一种新方法

　develop a new energy source开发新能源

　develop a large amount of heat产生大量的热

　develop a new product研制新产品

　develop heart problem得(罹患)心脏病

　develop a photo洗照片

　develop a theory创立一种理论

　develop a new species of wheat培育新品种小麦

　develop one＇s abilities培养能力

In addition，a word should be translated according to its context．A renowned British linguist once remarked on the importance of context to the meaning of a word，“Every word is a new word in a new context．”To comprehend and render a word in consideration of its context is a fundamental principle in translation．When translating an EST word，we should not follow mechanically its definition in dictionary．Instead，we should flexibly comprehend its meaning according to its context and re-express its contextual meaning in Chinese．

Scientific discoveries and inventions have often been translated rapidly into practical devices．

　科学发现和发明常常迅速地转化成实用器件。

The weight of atypical man is around 65 kg．

　普通人的体重大约是65公斤。

Some species are killed in survival competition．

　有些物种在生存竞争中被淘汰了。

Head gear is protective clothing．

　安全帽是一种劳保用品。

This volcano has not been active for thousands of years．It is an inactive volcano．

　这座火山已有几千年没有喷发，是一座死火山。

Old energy sources will continue to play a major role in industrial activity．

　传统的能源将继续在工业生产中起到重要作用。

Comments In the first sentence，the word“translate”usually means翻译．But in this sentence，its literal meaning is extended into转化which is in accordance with its context．In the second sentence，the word“typical”usually means典型的．But its literal meaning is extended into普通which is in accordance with its context．This contextual meaning is nonexistent in dictionaries．In the third sentence，if“kill”is translated as杀死，it will distort the original meaning and cause misunderstanding on the part of the reader．In the forth sentence，the phrase“protective clothing”should not be rendered literally as保护衣服．In the fifth sentence，the word“active”is translated as喷发and“inactive”as死according to the context．In the last sentence，the word“old”should not be rendered literally as老的and“activity”should not be translated as活动．

6．2. 4. 2　Attentions on other skills注意其他技巧

About translation skills and methods，we can still adopt the ones mentioned in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3，in which the translation methods and skills are discussed in detail．That is to say，in EST translation，we also need to employ such methods and skills as addition or amplification，omission，conversion，diction principles in lexical translation，and the methods and skills in syntactic translation．

1)Lexical addition: To be specific，in translating scientific English，addition is employed according to the context to make the rendering clear and complete in meaning or to adapt to the linguistic norms of Chinese．Addition can only be used in EST translation when it is required for semantic，grammatical or logical reasons．We should not add words whose meanings are nonexistent in the original．The aim of lexical addition is to allow the meanings or concepts of original English lexical items to be reproduced intact in Chinese．For instance，Chinese nouns have no marker of plurality，which have to be inferred from the context．In EST translation，when it is necessary to indicate the plurality of a noun in Chinese，we have to add words for this purpose．Let us look at the following example．

The first electronic computers went into operation in 1946．

　第一批电子计算机于1946年投入使用。

Comments In the above Chinese version，批is added to indicate the plurality of “computers” ．By contrast，in the English version，the plurality is marked by the plural suffix -s．

Abstract nouns are changed into concrete noun．As has been stated before，in English for Science and Technology，there is a profuse use of abstract nouns derived from adjectives or verbs．These abstract nouns often express concrete concepts．Under such circumstances，when these abstract nouns are translated into Chinese，it is necessary to add other nouns to indicate their concrete concepts or categories．The added nouns are known as category nouns．

absorption吸收作用/吸水性　　　 administration管理部门

　compromise妥协办法/折中方案　 confusion混乱状态

　constraint约束条件　　　　　　display显示值

　application使用场合/适用范围　evaporation蒸发过程

　computation计算技术/计算结果　choice选择对象

　characteristics特性曲线　　　 emedy治疗方案

　option选择余地　　　　　　　　penetration穿透能力

　organization编排方式　　　　　repair检修措施

　damage损坏程度　　　　　　　　imagination想象力

　transition过渡时期

Comments In the above Chinese versions，the underlined words are category words that are collocated with nouns to form concrete concepts．

Grammatical addition is sometimes needed in translating scientific English．English grammatical structure is quite different from Chinese language．English language possesses grammatical marker—suffixes to indicate tense，voice，mood etc．In EST translation，these grammatical meanings often have to be re-expressed in Chinese by lexical means，i．e．by addition of words．Generally speaking，the following circumstances require grammatical addition．Addition is needed to express the logical meaning in non-predicate verbs such as infinitives，gerunds，present and past participles．These non-predicate verbs carry add-on logical meanings such as cause，effect，intention，means，condition，supposition，etc．These add-on logical meanings often need to be re-expressed in the Chinese version by means of addition．

Not having been discovered，many laws of nature do exit．

　虽然许多自然规律尚未发现，但它们确实存在。

Lung cancer，diagnosed early，can be successfully treated by surgery．

　肺癌如果能及早诊断，就能获得满意的手术治疗。

Comments In the first sentence，the non-predicate verb phrase“Not having been discovered”implies a logical meaning of concession．This logical meaning is made explicit in the Chinese version by adding虽然……但．In the second sentence，the non-predicate verb phrase“diagnosed early”implies a logical meaning of condition or supposition．In the Chinese rendering，this logical meaning is re-expressed by the added words如果．

Addition is needed to indicate tense．The concept of tense in English is indicated by verb changes．In Chinese，there is generally no need to highlight the tense of verbs which can be inferred from the context．But in some cases when it is necessary to clarify the concept of tense，we will have to add words to express this meaning．

People thought that the sun revolved around the earth．

　人们曾经认为太阳围绕地球旋转。

Pollution was，is and will still be a major problem in human society．

　污染过去是、现在是、将来仍然是人类社会的主要问题。

Comments In the first sentence，曾经is a necessary addition to suggest that people no long think so now．In the second sentence，it is necessary to highlight the concept of time that is also emphasized in the original．This concept of time is expressed by过去，现在，将来．

Addition can be used to indicate the concept of moods．In English，there are three moods: declarative，imperative and subjunctive．The declarative moods usually do not need to be re-expressed in Chinese，but in the case of imperative and subjunctive moods，it is often necessary to signify these concepts by means of adding such words like注意，请，务必，必须，切勿，假定，如果．

Should troubles occur，contact your supplier．

　如果出现问题，请与供应商联系。

Do not leave dead batteries in the battery box as this may cause malfunction．

　注意不要将废电池留在电池槽内，以免引起故障。

Comments The subordinate clause in the original English sentence is in a subjunctive mood that expresses a condition and the main clause is in an imperative mood that expresses a request．Since there is no such subjunctive mood or imperative mood in Chinese，we have to add如果and请in the first sentence to compensate for this inadequacy．The second English sentence is in an imperative mood．So in the Chinese version，we add注意to express a polite request．

Addition can be used to render English elliptical structures into Chinese．Elliptical structures often occur in EST for the purpose of concision．When translating these elliptical structures into Chinese，we often have to add words to conform to Chinese syntactical norms and to avoid loss of meaning in the Chinese version．

Yes，sport events are worth watching on television; you can often see them better if you were there in person．

　是的，体育比赛在电视上看是不错，但是假如能亲临现场观赏就更好了。

Comments In the adverbial clause of comparison(the underlined part)，the words“you could see them”is omitted．It is almost a norm in English to omit the subject and the link verb“be”of an adverbial clause of time，condition，or concession if the subject of the adverbial clause is the same as that of the main clause．In an adverbial clause of comparison，what is omitted is generally the part which is the same as that of the main．But in the Chinese version，we have to supplement the omitted part of the original to make the meaning complete．

English for Science and Technology is in general plain and simple，but it is also logical and rational since it is used to convey the logical reasoning of science．In EST translation，clarity，accuracy and logicality are primary requirements for the Chinese version．But due to the differences in linguistic norms and thinking habits between Chinese and English，some English sentences which in the original are logical might be very awkward when transferred into Chinese．Under such circumstances，we have to add words to make them smooth and natural in terms of Chinese linguistic logics．This is known as logical addition．

The leakage current of capacitor is an important measure of its quality．

　电容器漏电流的大小，是衡量电容器质量好坏的重要尺度。

Atomic cells are very small and light as compared to ordinary dry ones．

　与普通干电池相比，原子电池体积小、重量轻。

Comments If the underlined words are not added，the real meaning of the sentences will be lost in the Chinese version．

2)Lexical omission: Omission，which is often used in scientific English，means to omit words which are redundant in Chinese，or which are incompatible with Chinese linguistic or logic norms．Proper use of this EST translation technique can make the Chinese version smooth，clear and concise．But we should be careful not to omit the essential meaning of the original．The Chinese version should remain equivalent to the original in meaning and spirit，even though one or more original words have no counterparts in the rendering．Lexical omission，mainly has prepositional omission，pronoun omission and verb omission．

Vitamin A is toxicin high doses．

　大剂量维生素A可能引起中毒。

Comments In the Chinese version，the original English preposition“in”is omitted．If it is retained in the Chinese version，the rendering will be very clumsy．

You can retrieve information on Internet when you need it．

　在因特网上，可根据需要检索信息。

Animals can protect themselves from the heat of summer．

　动物能躲避夏日的炎热。

Comments In the first English sentence，the word“you”refers to an indefinitely specified person．On such occasions ，“you”should be omitted in Chinese．In the second sentence，the original self-pronoun“themselves”is omitted to achieve brevity．

Some substances，such as glass offer a very high resistance．

　某些物质，比如玻璃的阻值极高。

The spacecraft made a soft landing on the moon．

　这架空间飞行器在月球上软着陆。

Comments The Chinese versions are smooth and concise verb-free sentences．The verbs“offer” ，“made”are omitted．

Radioactivity may cause illness that could be passed on to our children and grand children．

放射线可引起遗传性疾病。

Comments The underlined part of the original is simplified as遗传性for logical omission which is fully equivalent to its counterpart in the English version．Due to the differences in linguistic norms and thinking habits between Chinese and English languages，if an English sentence is translated word-for-word under certain circumstances，it may lead to logical redundancy．In this case，it is necessary to omit certain words to make the Chinese version accurate and clear．

3)Syntactical translation: One of the characteristics in EST is the presence of long sentences that are very complicated in their structures，consisting of a variety of clauses，phrases and constructions．English sentences are hypotactic in nature，which means that they possess rich means of structural organization，such as suffixes，grammatical markers，and syntactic rules．This makes it possible to construct long and complicated sentences in English．Besides，English for Science and Technology is used to express abstruse logical reasoning involving a great variety of logical relations in scientific research．Long sentences can be used to meet the need of describing these relations．These two reasons account for the abundant presence of long sentences in English．By contrast，Chinese sentences are paratactic in nature．Chinese sentences are generally short and simple in structure．This is because Chinese language lacks the overt syntactic means to organize involved sentence structures．Therefore，in EST translation，we often need to break a long English sentence into several segments，and translate each segment into a Chinese short sentence．This technique is known as splitting in EST translation．Details about the translation methods of long sentences can refer to Chapter 3．Here are a couple of points that are emphatically mentioned，of utilizing this technique．

A．Sequential-order splitting: When the logical order of expression in a long English sentence is the same as that in Chinese，we can split this sentence into several sections，and translate each section into a Chinese short sentence and arrange these short sentences in the original order．

①Only by studying such cases of human intelligence with all the details②and by comparing the results of exact investigation with the solutions of AI(Artificial Intelligence)usually given in the elementary books on computer science③can a computer engineer acquire a thorough understanding of theory and method in AI，④develop intelligent computer programs that work in a humanlike way，⑤and apply them to solving more complex and difficult problems that present computer can＇t．

　①只有很详细地研究这些人类智能的情况，②并把实际研究得出的结果与计算机科学基础论著上所提出的人工智能解决方案相比较，③计算机工程师才能彻底地了解人工智能的理论和方法，④开发出具有人类智能的计算机程序，⑤并将其用于解决目前计算机不能解决的更为复杂和困难的问题。

Comments The original sentence is in an inverted order; it consists of two adverbial clauses (①and②)and three coordinate predicates (③，④and⑤)．Accordingly it is divided into 5 corresponding segments，each of which is translated into a Chinese short sentence．Since the logical order of description in the original is the same as in Chinese，the short Chinese sentences are organized in the same order as they are in the original．

①In his special theory of Relativity，presented in 1905②and evolved in his spare time while he worked as an examiner at the Swiss patent office，③Einstein proposed a new fundamental view of the universe，④based on an extension of the quantum theory．

　①爱因斯坦的相对论发表于1905年，②并在他担任瑞士专利局审查员的工作之余，得以完善，③该理论提出了一种全新的基本宇宙观，④这种观点的基础是对量子理论的进一步推导。

Comments Apart from the main clause，the above original English long sentence consists of a prepositional phrase，another past participial phrase(which contains an adverbial clause of time)，and another past participial phrase．According to the components of information in this sentence，we divide this sentence into 4 segments marked with①，②，③and④，and translate them into Chinese short sentences which are organized in the same order(i．e．time order)as in the original sentence．

B．Reverse-order splitting: In some long English sentences，the part that conveys primary information is placed at the head，while the part that contains secondary information is positioned in the end．This order is generally reverse in relation to Chinese way of logic thinking．In dealing with these long English sentences，we can break them into small sections which are translated into corresponding Chinese short sentences and reorganized in a reverse order．

①The increasing speed of scientific development is quite extraordinary②if we consider③that computer，satellite and television，which are taken for granted now④would have seemed fantastic⑤to people who lived in the 1920’ s．

　⑤对于生活在20世纪20年代的人来说，④计算机、卫星、电视还似乎是不可思议的东西，③而这些东西在今天早已司空见惯，②考虑到这一点，①科学发展的速度之快的确令人惊叹。

Comments According to its informational structure，the original sentence is split into 5 components which are translated into 5 corresponding short Chinese sentences．But in consideration of Chinese habitual mode of thinking，they are reorganized in a reversed order in relation to the original English sentence．

①A student of mathematics must become familiar with all the signs and symbols commonly used in mathematics and bear them in mind and be well versed in the definitions，formulas as well as the technical terms in the field of mathematics，in order that②he may be able to build up the foundation of the mathematical subject and master it well for pursuing advanced study．

　②为了能打好数学基础，掌握好数学，以利于深造，①学数学的学生必须熟悉和牢记数学中常用的符号和代号，精通数学方面的定义、公式和术语。

Comments According to Chinese habitual way of thinking，we generally express conditions first and facts or results next，or purposes first and actions next．

C．Altered-order splitting: Some English sentences are quite different from Chinese sentences in their sentence order，information structure and logical focus．On these occasions，we should alter the order of the original sentence and rearrange the split components of the sentence according to the Chinese habitual mode of logical reasoning．The Chinese version is neither in a sequential order nor in a reverse order as compared with the original English sentence．Instead，it is in an altered order．

①Scientific studies may be divided into pure science②which primarily deal with theoretical work and③applied science④which is more concerned with applied research．

　①科学研究可以分成理论科学和③应用科学，②前者以理论研究为主，④而后者更注重于应用研究。

Comments The original long sentence consists of two attributive clauses which modify two prepositional objects“pure science”and“applied science”respectively．In the Chinese version，we split the original sentence into several parts(see the marked number)．And regroup and reorganize them in an altered order and add the necessary words前者and后者to make the sentences more coherent．

①Ginevan says②it＇s reasonable，therefore，③to expect that the vulnerability of the studied bees④is indicative of what may be occurring⑤in small bees important to pollination，such as honeybees．

　①吉凡尼说，③既然发现所研究的这些蜂容易受到伤害，②所以人们就有理由担心，⑤对于植物授粉有重要作用的小型蜂(如蜜蜂)，④也可能会有类似的遭遇。

Comments The original English sentence is split(see the marked numbers)and regrouped in an altered order according to Chinese habit of logical reasoning and then translated into Chinese．

6．2. 4 Scientific Translation Techniques科学翻译的方法

6．2. 4　Scientific Translation Techniques科学翻译的方法