第5章 物称与人称(英汉对比研究)

第五章 物称与人称

(Impersonal vs．Personal)

英语较常用物称表达法，即不用人称来叙述，而让事物以客观的口气呈现出来，有些英语写作论著称之为“the writer and the reader are out of the picture，hiding themselves behind

impersonal language”．G．Leech和J．Svartvik在《英语交际语法》一书中指出：“Formal written

language often goes with an impersonal style：i．e．one in which the speaker does not refer directly

to himself or his readers，but avoids the pronouns I，you，we． Some of the common features of

impersonal language are passives，sentences beginning with introductory it，and abstract nouns．”该书以图书馆的一则通告为例：

It has been noted with concern that the stock of books in the library has been declining

alarmingly．Students are asked to remind themselves of the rules for the borrowing and return of

books，and to bear in mind the needs of other students．Penalties for overdue books will in the

future be strictly enforced．

近来已注意到本馆存书惊人地减少，此事令人关切。现要求学生不要忘记借书还书规则，并考虑其他学生的需要。今后凡借书逾期不还者，必将严格按章处罚。

英语写作教科书常常劝告作者不要滥用这种非人称表达法，认为这会使文章缺乏“personal reference and human touch”，失去“people-to-people relationship”，显得“abstract and

official”，甚至"cold and inhuman”．上述一例若多用人称表达，则可显得不那么正式：

The number of books in the library has been going down．Please make sure you know the

rules for borrowing，and don't forget that the library is for everyone's convenience．So from now

on，we're going to enforce the rules strictly．You have been warned!

虽然如此，非人称表达法仍是英语常见的一种文风，尤其常见于书面语，如公文、新闻、科技论著以及散文、小说等文学作品。这种表达法往往使叙述显得客观、公正，结构趋于严密、紧凑，语气较为委婉、间接。

汉语则较注重主体思维，这种思维模式以“万物皆备于我”作主导，往往从自我出发来叙述客观事物，或倾向于描述人及其行为或状态，因而常用人称。当人称可以不言自喻时，又常常隐含人称或省略人称。汉语重人称，英语重物称，这一特点主要表现在如何使用主语和动词这两方面。

一、英语常用非人称主语，汉语常用人称主语

英语可用人称主语表达，也常用非人称主语表达。用非人称主语表达时，往往注重“什么事发生在什么人身上”，而汉语则较常用人称主语表达，往往注重“什么人怎么样了”，如：

1)What has happened to you?

你出了什么事啦?

2)An idea suddenly struck me．

我突然想到了一个主意。

3)A strange peace came over her when she was alone．

她独处时便感到一种特殊的安宁。

4)Not a sound reached our ears．(A．S．Hornby)

我们没有听到任何声音。

5)A great elation overcame them．

他们欣喜若狂。

6)Alarm began to take entire possession of him(W．Thackeray)

他开始变得惊恐万状。

英语用非人称作主语的句子大体可以分为以下两大类：

1．用抽象名词或无生命的事物名称作主语，同时又使用本来表示人的动作或行为的动词作其谓语，因而这种句式往往带有拟人化(personification)修辞色彩，语气含蓄，令人回味，反映了英美民族的幽默感。O．Jespersen指出，“There can be no doubt that the poetic tendency

to personify lifeless things or abstract notions, for instance to apostrophize Death as if it were a

living being，and the related representation in plastic art of such notions，are largely due to the

influence of languages with sex-gender，chiefly，of course，Latin．’’汉语虽然也有用拟人法来描述抽象的概念或无生命的事物，如“什么风把你吹来的?”，“爱情把我们的心连在一起”，“高山低头，河水让路”，但这种表达法较常见于形象的比喻或轻松的文体，无论从使用的语境或出现的频率来看，都远远不及英语。汉人较缺乏幽默感，注重的是“什么人做什么事”，往往用人或比较确定的事物作主语。如：

1)From the moment we stepped into the People’s Republic of China, care and kindness

surrounded us on every side. (Hewlett and Nowell Johnson：To China at Ninety)

一踏上中华人民共和国国土，我们就随时随地受到关怀与照顾。

2)Excitement deprived me of all power of utterance．

我兴奋得什么话也说不出来。

3)The thick carpet killed the sound of my footsteps．(Joseph：English 3200)

我走在厚厚的地毯上，一点脚步声也没有。

4)The happiness——the superior advantages of the young women round about her, gave

Rebecca inexpressible pangs of envy．(W．Thackeray：Vanity Fair)

丽贝卡看见她周围的小姐那么福气，享受种种优越的权利，却有说不出的眼红。

5)The forty years，1840—80，brought almost ten million migrants to

America．(P．Bromhead：Life in Modern America)

从1840至1880这四十年中，近一千万移民移居美国。

6)The little chap’s good—natured honest face won his way for him．

这小伙子长相老实，看上去脾气也好，到处有人缘。

7)My good fortune has sent you to me，and we will never part．(H．Andersen：The Little

Mermaid)

我很幸运，能够得到你，让我们永不分离吧。

8)Friday started with a morning visit to the modern campus of the 22，000-student University

of Michigan in nearby Ann Arbor，where the Chinese table tennis team joined students in the

cafeteria Iine for lunch and later played an exhibition match．(“China U．S．Table Tennis”)

星期五那天，中国乒乓球队一早就到安亚伯附近去参观拥有两万两千名学生的密执安大学现代化校园。他们和该校学生在校内自助餐厅排队取午餐，然后举行了一场表演赛。

英语这类非人称主语句采用“无灵主语”(inanimate subject)，表示抽象概念、心理感觉、事物名称或时间地点等，但谓语却常常使用“有灵动词”(animate verb)，表示人或社会团体的动作和行为，如see，find，bring，give，escape，surround，kill，deprive，seize，send，know，tell，permit，invite，take，drive，prevent…from等。英语用“无灵主语”与“有灵动词”搭配的句式比汉语多，使用因为的场合也比汉语广。汉语的“有灵动词”一般只能与人称搭配，根据汉人的思维习惯，人或社会团体才有这类有意识、有意志的行为，非人类的、无生

命的事物一般只能有一些无意识、无意志的状态、运动或变化。汉语“无灵主语”与“有灵动词”搭配通常用作一种修辞手段——拟人化：

北京目睹过许多伟大的历史事件。

Beijing has witnessed many great historical events．

星光很早以前就踏上了旅程。

The light from the stars started on its journey long long ago.

在汉英转换中，用“物称”代替“人称”常常是一种有效的手段，

1) 一看到那棵大树，我便想起了童年的情景。

The sight of the big tree always reminds me of my child—hood．

2)近来忙于其他事务，未能早些复信，深感抱歉。

I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me from sending an

earlier reply to your 1etter．

3)恕我孤陋寡闻，对此关系一无所知。

My total ignorance of the connection must plead my apology.

4)凭良心讲，你待我礼貌有加，霉却受之有愧。

My conscience told me that deserved no extraordinary told me that I deserved no

extraordinary politeness．

5)五四运动以后，开始了“新红学”时代，代表人物有胡适、俞平伯等这样一些学者。

The May Fourth Movement of 1919 saw the beginning of the “New Redo1ogy”，represented

by scholars such as Hushi and Yu Pingbai．

6)小梅心地善良，性情温和，对她朋友这种没有心肝的行为，实在看不顺眼。

Xiaomei’s kindly and gentle nature could not but revolt at her friend’s callous behavior．

2．用非人称代词“it”作主语。代词“it”除了用来代替除人以外的生物或事物之外，还广泛用作填补词(expletive)，如：

1)用作先行词(preparatory “it”)，代替真正的主语或宾语(“to represent a whole group of

words which it would not be convenient to put in the place required by the ordinary rules of word一order without causing ambiguity or obscurity”)，如：

It never occurred to me that she was so dishonest．

我从来也没有想到她这么不老实。

It is not our view that the substance or the tone of his remarks this morning will contribute to

creating a lasting peace in the Middle East．

我们认为，他今天上午发言的内容和口气都无助于在中东建立持久的和平。

2)用作虚义词(unspecified “it”)，代替的主语是难以言明的现象或情形，如用以表示自然现象、时间、空间以及用于惯用语之中：

It’s only half an hour’s walk to the ferry．

只要走半个钟头就可以到轮渡。

How is it with the sick man?

那病人怎么样了?

3)用作强调词(emphatic “it”)，引导所要强调的成分，也是一种形式主语：

It is in the hour of trial that a man finds his true profession．(B．Shaw)

人总是在面临考验的关头，才发现自己的专长。

It is a good horse that never stumbles．(proverb)

人有失误，马有失蹄。

英语的非人称代词“it”往往使句子显出物称倾向，汉语没有这类用法的非人称代词，因而常用人称，或省略人称，或采用无主句。此外，英语的“There be”句式及用不定代词“one”作主语的甸子也具有非人称倾向，汉语则采用比较具体的人称或事物作主语，或不用主语：

In 1958，there was a strike participated in by five thousand workers．

1958年，五千个工人参加了一次罢工。

One must be a servant before one can be a master．(proverb)

要当主人，先当仆人。

二、英语常用被动式，采用物称表达法；汉语常用主动式，采用人称、泛称或隐称表达法

英语的被动式，尤其是用“it”作主语的非人称被动式(impersonal passive)，如it is believed，it is felt，it is thought等，往往不说出施动者(doer或agent)，而让所叙述的事实或观点以客观(objective)、间接(indirect)和婉转(roundabout)的方式表达出来。 G．Leech和J．Svartvik指出，“The by-phrase containing the agent of a passive clause is only required in specific cases (in

fact，about four out of five English passive clauses have no agent)．The passive is especially

associated with impersonal style (e．g．in scientific and official writing)，where the question of

who is the agent(i．e．who performs the action described by the verb)is unimportant and often

irrelevant．这种不提及行为者的被动式 (agentless passive)最常见于公文文体(bureaucratese)、科技文体及新闻文体，其非人称倾向可以使口气显得客观公正，避免主观臆断，作者也可借此“drowsy passive smokescreen”而免于承担可能有错的责任(a pusillanimous shrinking from

responsibility)．正如 F．Crews所指出的，“Those who don’t want to accept responsibility for their

actions or opinions have an intuitive fondness for the passive．”例如： A current search of the files

indicates that the letter is n0 longer in this Bureau’s possession．It is noted that the letter was

received two months ago，and after study，re- turned to your office．In view of the foregoing。it is regretted that your office has no record of its receipt．If the letter is found，it would be

appreciated if this Bureau was notified at once．我们最近查找了卷宗，发现本局并无此信。可以肯定的是，我们于两个月前收到此信，经研究后，已寄还贵处。鉴于以上情况，贵处仍无收信的记录，我们感到遗憾。如果你们找到此信，请即通知本局，不胜感谢。

汉语没有英语这类多重被动式，没有用“it”作主语的非人称被动式，也少用被动式，而较多用主动形式表达被动意义。这与汉人的主体思维甚有关系。汉人的思维习惯重“事在人为”，人的动作和行为必然是由人做的，事或物不可能自己去完成这些动作和行为，因而表达时往往要说出施动者，常常采用人称表达法；若无法说出确定的人称，则采用泛称，如“有人”、“人们”、“人家”、“大家”、“别人”等；若无法采用泛称，则采用无人称(如“无主句”)；当人称或泛称不言自喻时，又常常采用隐称——省略人称。即使是被动式，也常常指出施动者，虽然现代汉语有省略施动者的倾向。王力指出，“中国正常的被动式是必须把主事者说出的。”吕叔湘、朱德熙也指出：“在形式上，‘被’字底下一般要有宾语，表示主动者。”汉语若要表达类似英语那种被动式的客观口气，则常常采用无主句(subjectless sentences)、主语省略句(subject-omitted sentences)、祈使句或无形式标志的被动句(passives with no

grammatical marks)。如：

1)发现了错误，一定要改正。

Wrongs must be righted when they are discovered．

2)看树看果实，看人看作为。

A tree is known by its fruit，and a man is known by his actions．

3)必须调整高等院校的专业设置，改进教学方法。

Specialties in colleges and universities should be adjusted and teaching methods improved.

4)只要知道电压和电流，就能确定电阻。

The resistance can be determined provided that the voltage and current are known．

5)当两个物体在一起摩擦时，电子便从一个物体转到另一个物体。

Whenever two objects are rubbed together，electrons are transferred from one object to the

other．