Beware of nominalizations (AKA zombie nouns) - Helen Sword

Transcriber: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Crystal Lin 校对人员: Chen Zou

拿一个形容词，"implacable" (难以平息的)

Take an adjective such as "implacable,"

or a verb like "proliferate,"

或者动词，"proliferate" (增值)

or even another noun, "crony,"

或者是名词，"crony" (密友)

and add a suffix, such as "-ity," or "-tion," or "-ism."

然后帮它加上一个后缀，例如"-ity", "-tion" 或者 "-ism"

You've created a new noun.

你便创造了一个新的名词

"Implacability," "proliferation," "cronyism."

“无法改变性”，“增值现象”，“亲信主义”

Sounds impressive, right?

听起来很厉害， 对吗？

Wrong! You've just unleashed a flesh-eating zombie.

错误！你只是放出了一只肉食僵尸

Nouns made from other parts of speech are called nominalizations.

将其它词性词语变成名词的过程称之为名词化

Academics love them.

专业学者们很喜欢它们

So do lawyers, bureaucrats, business writers.

律师，官员和商业作家们也很喜欢

I call them zombie nouns, because they consume the living.

我称之为[僵尸名词]，因为它们会消耗生命

They cannibalize active verbs, they suck the lifeblood from adjectives,

它们蚕食活跃的动词，它们从形容词里吸取生机

and they substitute abstract entities for human beings.

它们代替人类抽象的实体

这里是一个例子

Here's an example.

"The proliferation of nominalizations in a discursive formation may be an indication

"散乱形式的名词化增值可能是

重要性和抽象性的倾向程度的一种暗示"

of a tendency towards pomposity and abstraction." Huh?

哼？

This sentence contains no fewer than seven nominalizations,

这个句子里面包含了不下七个名词化现象

然而它却没能告诉我们谁在干什么

yet it fails to tell us who is doing what.

When we eliminate, or reanimate, most of the zombie nouns,

当我们排除，或者复苏大部分的"僵尸名词"

so "tendency" becomes "tend," "abstraction" becomes "abstract,"

那么“倾向程度”变成“倾向”，“抽象概念”变成“抽象”

然后我们再加入一个人类的主语和一些活跃的动词

then we add a human subject and some active verbs,

the sentence springs back to life.

这个句子就重新有了生命

"Writers who overload their sentences with nominalizations tend to sound pompous and abstract."

“那些在句子里过度使用名词化的作家会使他们的句子听起来重要和抽象”

Only one zombie noun -- the key word "nominalizations" --

只有一个僵尸名词 -- 关键字"名词化"

has been allowed to remain standing.

被允许保持不变

At their best, nominalizations help us express complex ideas,

名词话的好处是帮助我们表达复杂的概念

perception, intelligence, epistemology.

看法，智慧，认识论

At their worst, they impede clear communication.

在最坏的情况下，它们妨碍清楚的交流

To get a feeling for how zombie nouns work, release a few of them into a lively sentence

去感知僵尸名词是如何运作的，把几个僵尸名词放到 一句生动的句子里

and watch them sap all its energy.

然后看着它们使所有的能量衰竭

George Orwell played this game in his essay "Politics in the English Language."

乔治·奥威尔在他的论文"英语语言里的政治" 里玩了这个游戏

He started with a well-known verse from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.

他先从圣经传道书里著名的一段段落中开始

It says "I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,

它说:"我又转念，在日光之下，跑得快的未必能赢；力战的未必能胜；

neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill;

智慧的未必得到粮食；明哲的未必得到资材；灵巧的未必的到喜悦。

but time and chance happeneth to them all."

所临到众人的是 在乎当时的机会。" [以上翻译来自维基百科]

Now here's Orwell's modern English version.

这个是奥威尔的现代英语版本

"Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities

"对当前现象的客观考虑强制得出的结论是，竞争活动的成败

exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable

并不与先天能力的相称，反而，相当分量的不可预料事件

must invariably be taken into account."

应该被纳入考虑范围之内。“ [以上翻译来自维基百科]

The Bible passage speaks to our senses and emotions with concrete nouns,

这圣经的段落用实在的名词与我们的感知与感情直接对话

descriptions of people, and punchy, abstract nouns such as "race,"

对人的描述，和强烈、抽象的名词，比如"竞争跑"

"battle," "riches," "time," "chance."

“战斗"，"富有的人"，"时间"，"机会"

Not a zombie among them.

它们之中没有一个僵尸

Orwell's satirical translation, on the other hand, is teeming with nominalizations and other vague abstractions.

奥威尔的讽刺性翻译，在另一方面，充满了名词化词语和其它含糊的抽象概念

The zombies have taken over, and the humans have fled the village.

僵尸占领了村庄，人类逃离了村庄

Zombie nouns do their worst damage when they gather in jargon-generating packs

僵尸名词在结合了专业名词之后，发挥最大的破坏力

and swallow every noun, verb and adjective in sight.

它们吞噬每一个能见的名词，动词和形容词

So "globe" becomes "global," becomes "globalize," becomes "globalization."

所以“球”变成了“全球”，变成了“全球化”，再到“全球化现象”

The grandfather of all nominalizations, antidisestablishmentarianism,

"antidisestablishmentarianism" 是所有名词化的祖先

contains at least two verbs, three adjectives, and six other nouns

在它那膨胀的胃里

包括至少两个动词，三个形容词，和六个其它的名词

inside its distended belly.

一个包含过多的名词化词汇的段落会让你的读者们直接睡着

A paragraph heavily populated by nominalizations will send your readers straight to sleep.

Rescue them from the zombie apocalypse with vigorous verb-driven sentences

把它们从这个僵尸末日中拯救出来，用实在的和简洁的

以动词为主的结构清晰的句子

that are concrete and clearly structured.

You want your sentences to live,

你希望你的句子是有生命的

not to join the living dead.

而不是加入行尸走肉