3)Component Equivalence

3)Component Equivalence

Sentence patterns in the report are single and lack obvious logical relationships.Therefore in its English rendition,several cohesive devices as well as component equivalences are used to better convey its meaning to target-language readers.Component equivalence refers to the type of translation in which the syntactic components or elements that are hidden or omitted in the original are supplemented,including subject,tense,and conjunction.

Supplement of Subject

Example 8“进一步整顿和规范市场秩序,全面清理各类开发区。”

“We further rectified and standardized the order of the land market screened development zones of all types.”

Example 9“继续清理开发区,整顿规范土地市场。”

“We should continue clearing up problems relating to development zones and rectifying and standardizing the land market.”

Example 10“要抓紧研究制定退耕还林的法规。”

“Laws and regulations on returning farmland to forests should be formulated without delay.”

Example 11“大力发展优质、高产、高效、生态、安全农业。”

“Great efforts will be made to develop high-quality,high-yield,costeffective,eco-friendly,and safe agriculture.

Example 12“增加农民收入必须加快农业和农村经济结构调整。”

“To increase farmers'incomes,it is necessary to accelerate agricultural and rural economic restructuring.”

There are a great number of zero-subject sentences in the government work report.Since the report describes achievements in the previous year and future task,the subject is usually the government,thus,it can be left out unstated.The above five examples adopted four ways to supplement the subject.In example 8 and 9,the vague and common English subject“we”is added.In example 10,the object in the original is converted into the new subject.In example 11,the adverbial phrase“大力”in the original is chosen as the new subject.And in example 12,“it is necessary to do something”is adopted to make the translation clear and idiomatic.And the last skill is most obvious in our senior high school translation.

Example 13“维生素片能否替代食物为我们提供足够能量仍然未知。”(2019静安区一模)

“It remains unknown whether vitamin pills can replace food to provide enough energy for us.”

Supplement of Tense

It is noteworthy that when summarizing the past achievements and laying out the future tasks for the same aspect,similar words or even the same words are used in the government work report.If taken out from the context,the sentences themselves cannot indicate the time.In their translations,the tense is indicated,either by the past tense of the English verb itself as showed in example 8 or by modal verb as showed in example 9 or by auxiliary verb as showed in example 11.

Supplement of conjunction

Example 14“情况是在不断地变化,要使自己的思想适应新的情况,就得学习。(adapt)”(2019徐汇区一模)

“Situations are changing continually,so we must study to adapt our thinking to new situations.”

Example 15“每个人应当牢记:己所不欲,勿施于人。(mind)”(2019奉贤区一模)

“Everyone should bear in mind that we should treat people the way that we want to be treated.”

Example 16“他如此醉心于古文化研究,这几年一直以健康为代价坚持工作着。(So)”(2019奉贤区一模)

“So absorbed is he in the study of ancient cultures that he perseveres in working at the cost of his health these years.”

As we can see in the three examples given above,it's clear that,sometimes,we need to insert proper conjunctions based on the relation between the sentence before and after,such as the word“so”in example 14 to infer the causal relationship,the first“that”in example 15 to lead in the object clause,the second“that”in example 15 to lead in the attributive clause and the conjunction“so...that...”in example 16 to lead in the adverbial clause of result.

Supplement of conjunction is a commonly used skill in translation,which can be widely seen in political report to build a bridge between Chinese and English texts.

Above all,though by different means,tone equivalence is always used to strengthen the tone and balance the structure in the process of translation of all kinds of material.While deletion or reduction is employed to achieve“tone equivalence”at the lexical level,substitution is adopted at the syntactic level,including substitutions by pronouns and general words or phrases.

Translations of political texts are complicated activities of communication which are affected by various factors.Though in senior high school,there may not be that many factors to consider,we cannot be too careful when choosing our words to avoid trans-cultural misunderstanding or meaning losses and increase the equivalence as much as possible.In order to improve the quality of the rendition,translators should not only convey information of original texts correctly,but also have sharp awareness of the differences in Chinese and English expressions.Besides,great importance should be attached to study and analysis based on a good command of both Chinese and English.