某些比较结构的翻译

本文中所论述的翻译方法来自于由外语教学与研究出版社出版的《新编大学英语》第二版第三卷中记载的内容（139–141 页）。以下内容仅用作教育、研究、个人用途，不可用于商业用途，侵权必究。

比较结构也是翻译中较为复杂的问题，英语的比较句型有原级、比较级、最高级三种比较形式。

用 as/so… as；the same… as；no more than；no more… than；no less than 等来表示两个具有相同性质或状况的事物

as/so… as，the same as 与……一样/相同
- She was as beautiful as she was sweet, and her two sisters were consumed with jealousy.
  她既美丽又温柔，两个姐姐为此嫉妒得不得了。
- The joy of laughing at a funny story is universal, probably as old as language itself.
  听了一个有趣的故事会发笑、很开心，古今中外都一样。这一现象或许同语言本身一样悠久。
no more than，no more… than 与……一样（不）
- His grammar is no better than mine.
  他的语法同我的一样糟。
- He's no more fit to be a priest than I am!
  他和我一样完全不适合当牧师。
no less… than，nothing less than 并不劣于，同等
- The joke is no less funny because it is so often used.
  这个笑话并没有因为经常讲而变得不再那么好笑。
- It's nothing less than murder to send such a small group of soldiers out to attack those heavily defended enemy positions.
  派这样一小股士兵去攻打那些有重兵把守的敌军阵地无异于叫他们去送死。
注意：在某些情况下，“no less than”可译为“多达，不少于”。
- There were no less than three officials waiting there.
  至少有三名官员在那里等候。
- By 1977, the USA was importing no less than 45% of its oil.
  到了 1977 年，美国要进口的石油多达 45%。

使用形容词或副词比较级或者其他句式来表示程度有差异的比较结构

Obviously some people are more sensitive to humor than others.
显然，有些人对幽默更敏感。
Some people have a better sense of humor than others just as some people have more musical talent, mathematical talent, etc. than others.
有些人比别人更有幽默感，就像有些人更具有音乐、数学等才能一样。

请注意一些特色句型：
more… than 更多……而不是
- I was more annoyed than worried when he didn't come home.
  他没回家时我更多的是生气而不是担心。
- This is more a war movie than a western.
  这应当说是战争片而不是西部片。
注意：“more than”可以表示“超过……”“……多”。例如：
- Even more to his surprise, he found himself accepting money for the drugs, much more than he'd paid for them.
  更叫他吃惊的是，他发现自己还在收他们的钱，比买进时的价格高得多了。
more and more 越来越……
- Pretty soon after that he found he was spending more and more time pushing drugs, and making more and more money at it.
  不久以后，他发现自己正投入越来越多的时间非法推销毒品，赚的钱也越来越多。
“the + 比较级…，the + 比较级…”：越……越……
- The more difficult the questions are, the less likely I am to be able to answer them.
  问题越难，我能回答的可能性越小。
less than 不到，不足，不太
- I bought it for less than a dollar.
  我买它花了不到一美元。
- We were busy and less than delighted to have company that day
  那天我们很忙，不太想接待客人。

一些表示最高级别的比较结构的译法

除形容词与副词用“most”或者“-est”形式构成最高级，翻译时译成“最”之外，还有其他一些隐含的表示最高级的句型，它们往往表示意义上的强调，语气上更为强硬。例如：

用否定词引导的表示最高级的结构
- 否定词 + so… as… 译作“没有比……更……”或“最……”
  - He never looked so energetic as when he was playing tennis.
    他在打网球时显得精力最充沛。
  - No book is so interesting as that which we read last night.
    没有比我们昨晚（原文为：昨天）读的那本书更有趣的了。
- 否定词 + 比较级，译作“没有比……更……”或“最……”
  - You can hardly imagine anyone less ignorant than my son.
    你难以想象还有任何人会比我儿子更无知。
  - You couldn't be better off, could you?
    你现在的日子最滋润，是吧？
- “could not have”结构，要根据上下文翻译
  - As a headliner, Horace Greeley could not have been bettered.
    作为头条新闻的制造者，谁也别想赛过霍莱斯·格里莱。
  - — "Leave me alone!" my father snarled.
    — If he had clubbed me over the head, I could not have been more burt.
    — “不要吵我！”我父亲喊道。
    — 他就是用棍棒打我头，也不会比这更令我难受。
as… as any 最……
- The weather here is as agreeable as any in the country.
  这里的天气是全国最好的。

用 as/so… as；the same… as；no more than；no more… than；no less than 等来表示两个具有相同性质或状况的事物

使用形容词或副词比较级或者其他句式来表示程度有差异的比较结构

一些表示最高级别的比较结构的译法

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