汉译英注意不要重复用词

我们平常看到正式文件中同一实词的使用率很高，特别是"发展"、"现象"、"问题"、"关系"这一类意义较抽象的词。而在英语中，重复用词是不太受欢迎的。

The King's English中有: "…the words repeated would ordinarily be either varied or left out; the repetition…is more or less abnormal, whatever is abnormal may be objectionable in a single instance, and is likely to become so if it occurs frequently."

单其昌先生也说：英译文中不要总用同一个词汇或短语，如果用得太多，会使读者感到厌烦，因此用词要多样化。

请看一篇汉译英的例子：

我国同广大发展中国家的友好关系继续加强，与周边国家的睦邻友好合作关系全面发展。去年，我国同俄罗斯和中亚四国共同宣布建立"上海合作组织"；在第五次中国-东盟领导人会议上，我国与东盟一致同意今后10年内逐步建立中国-东盟自由贸易区。我国同朝鲜、韩国和南亚各国的关系稳步发展。我国同非洲、拉美国家友好合作取得新的发展，与阿拉伯各国和其他伊斯兰国家的友好关系进一步发展。

一段话中"发展"（作动词和名词时）、"关系"各出现了四次。如果不重视词语变换使用技巧来翻译，译文的效果肯定不理想。然而如果稍动脑筋，灵活地变换用词，文章定会增色不少，下文就是一篇比较成功的例子：

China and other developing countries have strengthened their friendlyrelations. The good-neighborly friendship and cooperation between China and its surrounding countries have enjoyed all-round development/have developed in a comprehensive way/have multiplied. Last year, China, Russia and four Central Asia countries jointly announced the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. At the Fifth China ASEAN Summit, the two sides agreed to gradually establish a China-ASEAN free trade zone in the next ten years. The connections between China and DPRK, ROK and South Asian countries have developed steadily /have been maturing. China's friendship and cooperation with African and Latin American countries have made new development/fresh progress, and China's friendly relations with Arab and other Islamic countries have been further improved/have improved/have also warmed.

有时中文中的重复正是为了强调，然而这种强调照搬到英文中未必就有相同的效果。下一组译文就证明了英文里变换有时比重复更有说服力：世界要和平，人民要合作，国家要发展，社会要进步，是时代的潮流。

The world needs peace. The people want cooperation. Nations aspire for development. Society seeks progress. This is the trend of our times.

一个"要"的多种译法就能让译文更为生动，避免让读者产生厌烦和排斥。汉译英时要非常注意，如果一个重复使用的词不能vary，就只好被left out.