减词是指将原文中需要、而译文中又不需要的词语省去。减省的词语应是那
些在译文中保留下来反而使行文累赘噜嗦、且不合汉语语言表达习惯的词语。减
词一般用于以下两种情况：一是从语法角度进行减省；二是从修饰角度进行减省。
一、从语法角度进行减省
英汉两种语言在语法上差异较大，例如：英语有冠词，而汉语却没有；英语
重形合、连接词较多，汉语重意合、连接词较少；英语中介词丰富，多达280
多个，汉语中介词则较少，只有30 来个；英语中经常使用代词，尤其是经常使
用人称代词、关系代词等，而汉语中代词则用得较少；因此，英译汉时可根据具
体情况将冠词、连接词、介词、代词略去，使译文练达晓畅。例如：
(1) I know my friends from the feel of their faces.
我靠触摸脸庞来辨认朋友。
(2) Ice is a solid. If we heat it, it melts and becomes water.
冰是固体，如果加热，就融化成水。
(3) John got up very early in the morning. He put on his jacket, sat down at his
desk and began to do his homework.
约翰早晨起床很早，他穿上夹克，就坐在桌旁开始做家庭作业。
(4) But at the present moment the whole road looked rather pretty, for the sun
had just set in splendor, and the equalities of rent were drowned in a saffron afterglow.
但此时整条路看起来都挺美，金灿灿的太阳刚落下山，橙红色的余辉掩盖了房屋
的种种差异。
(5) He had a shelf there, where he kept his Bohemian papers and his pipes and
tobacco, and his shears and needles and thread and tailor’s thimble.
他放在那儿有一个架子，摆着他的波希米亚报纸、烟斗、烟叶，还有大剪刀、针、
线，以及裁缝用的顶针。
(6) Most of the people who appear most often and most gloriously in the history
books are great conquerors and generals and soldiers…
史书上最经常出现、最为显赫的人物，大多是些伟大的征服者、将军和军事家。
(7) The city has a dense manufacturing population.这个城市有稠密的工业人口。
(8)The products should be sampled to check their quality before they leave the factory.
产品出厂前应该进行抽样检查。
(9) The mother and the eldest daughter weeded the ridges, passing before the
others…A younger son, of twelve years, brought sea sand in a donkey’s creels from a
far corner of the field. They mixed the sand with the black clay. The fourth child, still
almost an infant, staggered about near his mother, plucking weeds slowly and offering
them to his mother as gifts.
母亲和大女儿在除垄上的草，把旁人甩在后面……二儿子十二岁，从老远的地头
把海滩上的沙子装进鱼篮，赶着毛驴驮了回来。他们把黑土掺上了沙子。老四还
是个小不点儿，在母亲身边遥遥晃晃转悠着，慢吞吞地拔起杂草，当礼物送给母
亲。
(10) Come if you like.高兴来就来。
(11) As it is late, let us go to bed.不早啦，睡吧！
(12) I framed the words in my mind: “Pardon me, but have I done something to
offend you?”
我心里在嘀咕：”对不起，我有什么举止行为冒犯你了吗？”
