2008 Graduate Entrance Exam English Deconstruction and Combination Translation Method

Author: Tang Jing (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-02-01
Features: The first three chapters of this book introduce translation knowledge, explaining various translation methods and techniques, and introducing the author's unique "Splitting and Combining" translation method. Chapters four to six focus on the explanation and practice of translation questions. Chapter four analyzes the translation questions of the postgraduate entrance examination from 1990 to 2006, where the author combines examples to provide a detailed explanation of the application of the Splitting and Combining translation method. Chapter five consists of 50 difficult sentence exercises, where the author provides the splitting method, and the candidates need to independently combine them into complete translations. Chapter six is the simulated test section, where the author selects 10 articles for candidates to answer as in an actual examination. In Chapter seven, the author provides the Chinese translations of all the articles and sentences. Chapter eight presents the scoring criteria for the translation questions of the recent five years of the postgraduate entrance examination, allowing candidates to know whether the vocabulary used in their translations is correct.
Translation from English to Chinese is an extremely complex cognitive process. It not only requires translators to have a certain foundation in English but also enables them to freely convert between the two languages. In the translation section of the National Postgraduate Entrance Examination, candidates are required to translate relatively complex English sentences into accurate and fluent Chinese within a limited time. This often leaves non-English major candidates who have received no translation training feeling overwhelmed. However, the fierce competition of the entrance examination leaves no room for escape. The sole purpose of writing this book on postgraduate translation is to help candidates conduct the most effective systematic study and training, overcome translation difficulties, and thus pass the exam with high scores. For candidates who already have a certain foundation in English, this book can help them improve their translation skills and refine their English abilities in a relatively short time. For those who feel their English foundation is insufficient, this book can help them consolidate their basic English skills and enhance their language proficiency through translation exercises.
Below, the writing features and structure of the book will be explained separately.
I. Writing Features
This book is a product of translation teaching. Over the years, in translation classrooms for English majors and non-English majors, as well as in New Oriental's translation teaching classrooms, I have repeatedly analyzed, explained, summarized, and organized postgraduate translation articles and sentences, continuously refining them to make them systematic, rational, and simplified. At the same time, the valuable first-hand feedback from New Oriental students has allowed me to make the translation classes more engaging, further perfecting the translation problem-solving strategies I proposed. Specifically, this book has the following features:
1. Itively proposes the Splitting and Combining translation method. Starting from the analysis of the translation process, it simplifies the entire English-Chinese conversion process into two steps—Splitting and Combining. Since postgraduate translation sentences are all long and complex ones, understanding them is already difficult, and translating them is even harder. However, due to the highly rigorous grammatical and logical structures of the English language, we can split postgraduate translation sentences into shorter translation units by identifying grammatical connection points, thereby simplifying the complexity. If we then use Chinese conventions to combine these units, the entire translation process is smoothly achieved. This relatively simple and practical translation method undoubtedly enhances the operability of translation, enabling candidates to quickly master postgraduate translation techniques.
2. The results of sentence splitting align with the key points of postgraduate translation. Due to the scoring requirements of postgraduate translation, the sentences are often split into several parts under scoring criteria to ensure objectively graded subjective questions. The methods of splitting postgraduate sentences in the scoring criteria are almost identical to the splitting points I proposed. For this reason, the Splitting and Combining translation method also provides candidates with a breakthrough in solving postgraduate translation problems.
3. Emphasis on improving the systematic theory and practice of translation. Indeed, any English knowledge and skill cannot be mastered overnight, and translation is no exception. Therefore, this book starts from the basics—what translation is—to explaining how to translate; it moves from lexical translation to syntactic translation, supplemented by a large number of translation exercises—18 years of postgraduate translation questions from 1990 to 2007, totaling 90 sentences, 50 difficult sentence translation exercises, and 10 simulated translation tests (all articles are accompanied by full translations). This allows candidates to master systematic translation knowledge while gaining confidence through high-quality translation exercises, enabling them to enter the examination room with ease.
II. Writing Structure
The book is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter primarily explains the basic knowledge of postgraduate translation, starting from the postgraduate translation syllabus and question paper analysis to help candidates understand what translation is, what postgraduate translation is, and clarify the standards and methods of translation. This chapter also provides a relatively comprehensive summary of the Splitting and Combining translation method, allowing candidates to understand from the beginning how to conduct translation exercises and enabling them to apply this simple problem-solving approach more flexibly in later exercises, ultimately achieving a "sublime" translation level during the exam. Chapters two and three focus on basic translation techniques, including lexical and syntactic translation methods. The problem that candidates have long feared—"not enough vocabulary to do translation well"—can be solved through translation techniques such as word meaning selection and extension. At the same time, all translation techniques are supported by classic translation examples, and all translated examples are designed to be simple and clear, easy to understand.
Chapter four provides a detailed explanation of all postgraduate translation questions from 1990 to 2006. This is the core part of the book. It analyzes every sentence one by one, including sentence splitting, vocabulary explanation, and how to combine them into accurate and fluent Chinese translations using Chinese conventions and translation techniques. It is recommended that candidates translate the sentences themselves before reading the explanations, which can help them quickly consolidate the translation techniques learned earlier, master translation methods, and improve their English proficiency.
Chapters five and six are selected translation exercises. Chapter five consists only of single-sentence translation exercises, totaling 50 difficult sentences. The main purpose is to strengthen candidates' translation skills and focus on practicing syntactic translation commonly tested in postgraduate translation, such as noun clauses, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, and passive voice. Chapter six includes 10 simulated tests with difficulty comparable to actual exams, facilitating candidates' final practice. The reference translations for all exercises and the full translations of the 18 years of postgraduate translation tests from 1990 to 2007 can be found in Chapter seven.
Chapter eight lists the scoring criteria for the recent four years of postgraduate translation, allowing candidates to compare and know which words in their translations are used correctly and which are not when they start translating.