Exercise 1. Translate the following sentences into Russian without a dictionary. Determine the meaning of the italicized words by using the context method.

 

1. We could not find the necessary papers because the laboratory was in disorder.
2. Sound cannot be conducted in a vacuum because there are no air waves to transmit it.
3. Rain in the Sahara Desert is a rarity.
4. If some of the tasks seem complicated, I will explain them to you.
5. At one point of his report the speaker digressed to tell us about the previous experiments, but then he got right back to his topic.
6. Should the new buisiness prove lucrative, many investors will enter it.
7. Before the new hotel can be constructed, the two old buildings now on the site will have to be demolished.
8. He was the only one who gave an extemporaneous talk, all other speakers gave memorized reports.
9. Not a single civilian was appointed to the dictator’s cabinet. All the posts were given to military officers.
10. In some offices work comes to a halt at noon and does not resume until 1 p.m.
11. Choosing a career is a matter that calls for reflection, but I haven’t yet given it enough thought.
12. Albert Einstein proposed that light is transmitted as tiny particles, or photons.
13. Energy is released by the fission of atomic nuclei.
14. An alloy is a fusion of two or more metals that makes a stronger metal.
15. When there is a disparity between test results, the test should be repeated.

16. Tropical climates are characterized by a high frequency of rainfall.

 

В процессе работы над словом или словосочетанием переводчик занимается не только нахождением их эквивалентов, но также и лексическими и грамматическими преобразованиями. Например, возможно делать некоторые опущения, не меняя при этом общий смысл предложения. Опущения делаются для того, чтобы не нарушать нормы родного языка, например, в случае парных синонимов, характерных для английского текста, или семантически избыточных слов.

 

The treaty was pronounced null and void.

Договор был признан недействительным.

 

В ряде случаев возможны контекстуальные замены (замена слов иностранного языка словами родного языка, не являющимися словарными эквивалентами), которые диктуются особенностями контекста. Существуют следующие виды словарных замен:

- конкретизация – замена иностранного слова с более широким значением на родное слово с более узким значением:

 

Exact fare, please!

Передавайте без сдачи, пожалуйста! (обращение кондуктора в автобусе)

 

How are things?

Как успехи?

 

I want to look into the thing myself.

Я сам хочу разобраться в этом деле.

 

- генерализация – замена слова с более узким значением на слово с более широким значением.

 

The detective searched every inch of the ground.

Следователь осмотрел каждый сантиметр (клочок) земли.

 

- антонимический перевод – замена утвердительной конструкции отрицательной, или, наоборот, при этом лексическая единица иностранного языка меняется на ее антоним в русском языке:

 

When you leave the laboratory, remember to switch off the electricity.

Когда вы уходите из лаборатории, не забудьте отключить электричество.

 

Как говорилось в предыдущих главах, грамматический строй английского и русского языков отличаются, поэтому при переводе возможны замены частей речи и членов предложения:

 

I am no dancer, but I like watching her dance.

Я сам не танцую, но люблю смотреть, как танцует эта девушка.

 

I was offered another job.

Мне предложили другую работу.

 

В сложном предложении могут происходить следующие замены, что диктуется различным синтаксическим строем двух языков:

 

- замена простого предложения сложным:

 

Their experiment is reported to have been successfully completed.

Сообщают, что их эксперимент успешно закончился.

 

- замена сложного предложения несколькими простыми,  или объединение простых предложений в одно сложное:

 

When a substance is heated, the molecules move faster, which causes that substance to feel hot.

Когда вещество нагревают, молекулы движутся быстрее. Это приводит к тому, что вещество становится горячим.

 

Exercise 2. Translate the following sentences into Russian and explain all lexical, grammatical and syntactical transformations you have made in your translation:

1. Tin does not rust when exposed to air.
2. Clouds usually form in the cool upper air.
3. When a noise is made, the sound waves travel outward in a circle.
4. Chapter 10 discusses some general considerations with regard to the evidence collected in support of this hypothesis.
5. Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters of non-ferrous metals. Nickel and cobalt come from the vast Sudbury mines of Ontario while cobalt is produced mostly in Northern Ontario.
6. Otto Carlsberg came to the USA from Europe as a well-known author of a brilliant book on physical chemistry. A book was written by him in Harvard but never published until 1951.
7. When a theory explains or unifies a great deal of information, it becomes known as a principle, for example Archimedes’ principle of water displacements.
8. Oxygen causes metals to corrode, wood to rot, gasoline to burn, and iron to rust.
9. In certain places of the Middle East, there were times when coffee drinking was punishable by death, which probably was not enough to persuade some people to give up their morning cup.
10. Although many scientists studied motion, it was the great Sir Isaak Newton who formulated the theories of motion, veryfying and extending the earlier work of Gallileo and Copernicus.
11. Newton’s laws are applicable everywhere in the universe and synthesize both vertical and horizontal motion.
12. Conduction is one method of heat transfer that takes place when there is a difference between two objects.
13. Matter, like energy, can be converted from one form into another but neither be created nor destroyed.
14. Einstein’s theory proved to be valid in 1939, when it was discovered that enormous amounts of energy could be released by splitting uranium atoms, a process called fission.
15.  Atomic research has led to the development of artificially prepared manmade elements, such as einsteinium, fermium, californium and berkelium.
16. A lot of time and money is being spent on volts wagons because of the possible fuel shortage.
17. Under conditions of intense heat, such as are found at the centre of the sun, hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms, the transformation process known as fusion.
18. Just as the watch spring needs to be released to do the work moving the hands, the energy stored in food molecules needs to be released by enzymes or substances in the body, and the energy stored in gasoline must be released by the spark plug to do its work of propelling the car forward.