中式英语之鉴.pdf

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All authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writing is concise. Careful
writers say what they mean in as few words as possible.
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph
no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines
and a machine no unnecessary parts.
It follows that any words which perform no useful function in the sentence—that is ,
which add nothing to the meaning—should be edited out.
Almost every text that has been translated into English from Chinese( or that has been
written directly in English by a native speaker of Chinese) contains unnecessary words. Draft
translations are commonly full of them, and even polished final versions are seldom free of them.
Read anything that has been published in English for foreign readers—a magazine article, a
news story, an advertisement, a government report—and you are likely to find superfluous words.
Read even the shortest of English texts—the label on a food product , a billboard on Chang’an ,
the company name on the front of a building—and , if you are on the alert to recognize them,
chances are that you will find words that could and should have been omitted. Unnecessary words
are the hallmark of Chinglish.
Unnecessary words can be any part of speech—nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions, articles, and so on. In the following chapters we shall consider the most important
types, starting with unnecessary nouns and verbs, which often go hand in hand.
I .Unnecessary Nouns and Verbs
Nouns
Most unnecessary nouns in Chinglish appear not alone but in short phrases, combined with
articles and prepositions. When you eliminate the nouns , you eliminate the articles and
prepositions as well.
Many of these nouns are easy to recognize. They are plainly redundant because their sense
is already included or implied in some other element of the sentence. Here are a few examples (A)
with suggested revisions (B)and comments in brackets.
加快经济改革步伐
A: to accelerate the pace of economic reform
B: to accelerate economic reform
(To accelerate = to increase the pace of )
农业获得大丰收
A: There have been good harvests in agriculture.
B: There have been good harvests.
[“Harvest” implies agriculture: there are no harvests in industry.]
城乡人民生活水平持续上升。
A: Living standards for the people in both urban and rural areas continued to rise.
B: Living standards in both urban and rural areas continued to rise.
【The notion of living standards applies only to people.】
这些困难从本质上说是暂时的。
A： These hardships are temporary in nature.
B: These hardships are temporary.
[Any adjectives describes the “ nature” or “character” of the noun it modifies . To say that
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hardships are “temporary in nature” is like saying that the Chinese flag is red in color” or that
pandas are few in number.”]
我国未来的经济发展在很大程度上有赖于……
A：The development of our economy in the future will, to a large extent, depend on…
B: The development of our economy will, to a large extent, depend on…
[ The future tense of the verb(will depend) is sufficient to express futurity.]
我们应采取一系列措施来保证……
A: we should adopt a series of measures to ensure that….
B: we should adopt measures to ensure that….
[Here the plural form of “measures” covers the sense of a “series”]
Other unnecessary nouns(or gerunds) may be less easy to identify. Nevertheless, a little
thought will reveal that they add nothing to the meaning of the sentence. When they are deleted,
the sense is not diminished, only clarified. Some examples:
在实现农业机械化和电气化后……
A：following the realization of mechanization and electrification of agriculture
B：following the of mechanization and electrification of agriculture
必须加强国防建设。
A: It is essential to strengthen the building of national defense.
B: It is essential to strengthen national defense.
这些构成了努力实现过渡时期的伟大任务的重要条件。
A: These constitute important conditions in striving for the fulfillment of the general task in
the transitional period.
B: These are important conditions for fulfilling the general task in the transition period.
当时，东北的形势仍然是敌强我弱。
A: At that time the situation in northeast China was still one where the enemy was stronger
than the people's forces .
B: At that time the enemy was still stronger than the people's forces in northeast China.
["Situation" is a particularly dangerous noun. Not only is it generally unnecessary, but it
drags other unnecessary elements after it (in this instance, "one where").
解决问题的关键在于削减开支。
A: The key to the solution lies in the curtailment of expenditure.
B: The solution is to curtail ( or. cut back on) expenditure.
["Key" is sometimes useful, but usually it too can be dispensed with. And like "situation,"
it often leads to further unnecessary complications (here, "lies in"). ]
党内民主是已详细讨论过的问题。
A: Inner-Party democracy is a subject that has been discussed in detail.
B: Inner-Party democracy has been discussed in detail.
Category nouns
There is one type of noun that deserves special mention, because it is the commonest
unnecessary word in Chinglish. This is the general noun that serves only to introduce a specific
noun( or gerund) to follow: “ a serious mistake in the work of 。
In such constructions, the first noun announces the category of the second; in this case, it
tells readers that “planning” falls into the category of “work”. That is something they already
know. Accordingly, the first nouns should be deleted a serious mistake in planning.
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Other examples:
促进和平统一事业
A : promoting the cause of peaceful reunification
B: promoting peaceful reunification
经济领域的改革
A: reforms in the sphere of the economy
B: reforms in the economy (or economic reforms)
保证双方之间的亲密合作关系
A to ensure a relationship of close cooperation between….
B to ensure close cooperation between…
我们必须反对铺张浪费的行为。
A: We must oppose the practice of extravagance
B: We must oppose extravagance.
这些原则适应于处理中外关系中的所有情况
A: These principles apply to all cases of relations between China and other countries.
B: These principles apply to relations between China and all other countries.
这种情况，加上价格不稳定的因素，引起….
A: This, coupled with the factor of price instability, caused….
B: This, coupled with price instability, caused….

Whatever function the category noun serves in Chinese, in English it is generally useless.
All it adds to the sentence is weight without substance.

Verbs
Like unnecessary nouns, most unnecessary verbs in Chinglish occur in phrases. Usually they
are combined with nouns(plus the inevitable articles and prepositions that nouns bring with them).
These phrases are of two principal types:
1. Unnecessary verbs plus noun
2. Unnecessary verb plus unnecessary noun plus third word
we shall look at first one and then the other.

1. +noun
The commonest type is a phrase like “we must make an improvement in our work.” Here
the verb(make) is a weak, colorless, all-purpose word having no very specific meaning of its own,
while the real action is expressed in the noun (improvement).
Since the verb is not contributing anything to the sense, it can be edited out. “ We must
improve our work.”
The basic pattern is +noun. Both translators and polishers tend to overlook
constructions of this sort, because they are grammatically correct and
because—precisely—everyone is so accustomed to them. Once you became alert to the pattern,
however, it is easy enough to eliminate the unnecessary words by substituting plain verbs.

我们想在一夜之间完成整个社会的变革是不可能的。
A：It is impossible for us to accomplish the transformation of the whole society overnight.
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B：It is impossible for us to transform the whole society overnight.
他们应该对….进行仔细的检查。
A: They should conduct a careful examination of…..
B: They should carefully examine….
试图诱使朝鲜军队对他们发动一场攻击。
A：trying to entice the Korean army to launch an attack against them
B：trying to entice the Korean army to attack them
改变这种局面
A: to bring about a change in this state of affairs
B: to change this state of affairs
他们必须下决心对现存体制进行改革。
A: They must make up their minds to implement the reform of the current system.
B: They must make up their minds to reform the current system.
直到中国实现工业现代化。
A: until China realizes industrial modernization
B: until China modernizes its industry

The construction may also appear in passive voice. That is, instead of “we must make
improvement in our work,” we find “ an improvement must be made in our work.” But this is only
a variation of the same pattern, and the solution is the same too: substitution a plain verb. The
result is our work must be improved. (because “to make an improvement in”= “to improve”)
More examples in passive voice:
应当批准所有这些项目。
A: Approval should be given to all these projects.
B: All these projects should be approved.
[because “to give approval to ”= “to approve”]
只有通过….才能找出解决这些问题的办法。
A: Solutions to these problems can be found only through…
B: These problems can be solved only through…
[because “to find solution to”= “to solve”]
实行粮食配给
A: Grain rationing was implemented
B: Grain was rationed.
[Because “to implement rationing”= “to ration”]
The verb most frequently found in these combinations with nouns is to make:
To make an investigation of = to investigate
To make a careful study of = to study carefully
To make a decision to = to decide to
To make a proposal that = to propose that
To make efforts to = to try( attempt) to
To make an analysis of = to analyze

The runner-up is doubtless to have
To have a dislike for = to dislike
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To have an influence on = to influence
To have adequate knowledge of = to know enough about
To have the need of = to need
To have request for = to respect

But many others can be seen on every pages as well:
To give guidance to = to guide
To provide assistance to = to assist
To carry out the struggle against= to struggle against
To conduct reform of= to reform
To engage in free discussion of = to discuss(it) freely
To achieve success in = to succeed in
To accomplish the modernization of = to modernize
To realize the transformation of = to transform
To bring about an improvement in = to improve
To place stress on = to stress
To exercise control over= to control
To register an increase= to increase

You should be on watch for all of them.

2. ++ third word
As we have seen in the first type of phrase a vague and general verb, incapable of
expressing specific action, shifts the responsibility for that task onto a noun. In the second type,
however, the noun cannot perform the task either.
Consider “our efforts to reach the goal of modernization”. Here the noun