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5.1 as用作介词

我们先来讨论as作为介词的用法。

5.1.1 动词+as

用作介词的as,常常与一些动词搭配使用,比如:define...as...(把……定义为……),view...as...(把……看作……),see...as...(把……看作……),regard...as...(把……当作……),think of...as...(把……看作……),refer to...as...(把……称作……),use...as...(把……用作……),classify...as...(把……归类为……)等。

真题再现:语法攻克考研“英译汉”——2006年第46题

3 I shall define him as an individual who has elected as his primary duty and pleasure in life the activity of thinking in a Socratic(苏格拉底的) way about moral problems.

妙语点睛 这个句子的关键部分就是两个as结构:define...as...和elected...as...。前一个as结构我们很容易理解,而后一个as结构则较难。既然我们知道elected...as...这样的结构,那么就应该能够判断出这里elected的宾语移位了,于是就可以跳过as短语往后找elected的宾语。显然这里as his primary duty and pleasure in life是一个完整的介词短语,构成一个意群,而其后的the activity of thinking in a Socratic way about moral problems这个名词短语才是动词elected的宾语,被后置了。从以上分析可以看到,熟练掌握as短语结构对于分析此句的结构是何等重要。前面那位读者问:“as...as之间的名词和一个定语从句,这里as...as应该理解为什么呢?”显然是没有看出as与动词define和elected的搭配关系,误以为这里的as...as是我们比较熟悉的比较状语从句结构,其实不是。

精品译文 我把他(知识分子)定义为这样的人:他以苏格拉底的方式思考道德问题,并以此作为自己人生的主要责任和乐趣。

真题再现:语法攻克考研“英译汉”——2003年第64题

4 Tylor defined culture as “...that complex whole which includes belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

妙语点睛 这里同样出现了define...as...结构。

精品译文 泰勒把文化定义为:“……一个复杂整体,包括人作为社会成员所应具备的信仰、艺术、道德、法律、风俗以及其他能力和习惯。”

我们再来看看历年考研真题中出现过的其他更多例句:

5 It is worrisome that society is medicalizing more and more behavioral problems, often defining as addictions what earlier, sterner generations explained as weakness of will. Pushed by science, or what claims to be science, society is reclassifying what once were considered character flaws or moral failings as personality disorders akin to physical disabilities. (2006年阅读“七选五”)

妙语点睛 这一句我们在第一章“定语从句”P11页1.5.1小节例句(33)中讨论过,主要分析的是what的用法。这里我们来分析as结构。本句中有三个as搭配:define...as...,explained...as...,reclassifying...as...。先来看看这三个动词相应的宾语及位置关系。动词define的宾语是what引导的从句what earlier, sterner generations explained as weakness of will,这个宾语被后置了;explained的宾语是what。所以,原本的结构是explained (what) as weakness of will,这个宾语被前置了;reclassifying的宾语也是一个由what引导的从句what once were considered character flaws or moral failings,这个宾语没有被后置。我们看到这三个动词的宾语位置关系都不一样。关于这个句子更详细的分析,读者可参见第一章“定语从句”P11页1.5.1小节。

精品译文 令人担忧的是:社会正在将越来越多的行为问题医学化,常常把过去人们坚持认为的意志力薄弱的问题定义为“上瘾”。在科学(或所谓的科学)的推动下,人们过去认为的性格缺陷或道德缺失现在被重新定义为类似于生理缺陷的人格障碍。

6 Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom. (2004年阅读第三篇)

妙语点睛 这里as结构是view...as...,view的宾语是关系代词which,它又指代前面的先行词stock-market swings,在翻译时,我们要把这个名词短语重复译出。

精品译文 许多消费者似乎已经受到了股市波动的影响,投资者将股市波动看作持续增长的一个必要条件。

7 Straitford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster’s dream. (2003年阅读第一篇)

妙语点睛 这里as结构是:sees...as...,意为“把……看作……”。

精品译文 Straitford公司总裁George Friedman说,他把网络世界视为情报收集和情报发布的互动增强型工具,这也是间谍首脑的梦想。

把动词变成被动结构:

这种“动词+as”的结构也常常用于被动结构中,请看下列真题例句:

8 Specialization can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of scientific knowledge.(2001年阅读第一篇)

9 Native American languages are indeed different, so much so in fact that Navajo could be used by the US military as a code during World War II to send secret messages.(2004年阅读“七选五”)

10 Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege.(2004年阅读第四篇)

11 The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.(2001年阅读第三篇)

12 Downshifting—also known in America as “voluntary simplicity”—has, ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anticonsumerism.(2001年阅读第五篇)

13 This definition excludes many individuals usually referred to as intellectuals—the average scientist for one.

把动词名词化:

14 The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. “By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.” Hence the description of America as a “graveyard” for languages.(2006年阅读第一篇)

妙语点睛 我们可以说:describe...as...,而这里是把动词describe名词化了,所以有:the description of America as...。

精品译文 移民的孩子们几乎都具有双语能力,并且精通英语。“到了第三代,他们母语在大多数移民家庭中消失了。”因此,人们把美国描述为语言的“坟墓”。

接形容词:

细心的读者也许会发现,以上例句中,as后边都是接名词或名词短语。其实,as后边也可以接形容词。例如:

15 But somewhere from the 19th century onward, more artists began seeing happiness as insipid , phony or, worst of all, boring as we went from Wordsworth’s daffodils to Baudelaire’s flowers of evil.(2006年阅读第四篇)

妙语点睛 这里as结构是seeing...as...,意为“把……看作……”。as后面接了insipid, phony, boring三个形容词,作宾语happiness的补足语。第二个as是连词,引导一个时间状语从句。

精品译文 但是,在19世纪的某个时期,更多的艺术家开始将快乐视为索然无味、华而不实或是糟糕至极的无聊东西,我们可以从华兹华斯的《水仙颂》到波德莱尔的《恶之花》中看出这一变化。

5.1.2 as单独使用

我们上面讨论的是,as的使用往往与句中某个动词形成搭配关系。此外,as也可以单独使用,意为“作为……,当作……”。

16 He must use this surplus in three ways: as seed for sowing, as an insurance against the unpredictable effects of bad weather and as a commodity which he must sell in order to replace old agricultural implements and obtain chemical fertilizers to feed the soil. (2000年完形填空)

妙语点睛 这里三个as用法相同,都是表示“作为……”。

精品译文 他以这样三种方式来利用这些剩余粮食:留作播种用;留作备天灾荒年之用;留作出售,以便更换农具和购买化肥以滋养土地。

更多真题例句:

17 The casino issued to him, as a good customer, a “Fun Card”, which when used in the casino earns points for meals and drinks, and enables the casino to track the user’s gambling activities. ...The Oct.28 issue of Newsweek reported that 2 million gamblers patronize 1,800 virtual cosines every week. With $3.5 billion being lost on Internet wagers this year, gambling has passed pornography as the web’s most profitable business. (2006年阅读“七选五”)

18 As a logical consequence of this development, separate journals have now appeared aimed mainly towards either professional or amateur readership.(2001年阅读第一篇)

19 As an industry, biotechnology stands to rival electronics in dollar volume and perhaps surpass it in social impact by 2020.(2001年语法)

5.1.3 as用作后置定语

as用在名词后面,作后置定语,在意义上相当于所修饰名词的同位语。

20 Three weeks later, he got his first notification of an opening. “I struck gold,” says Reedman, who E-mailed his resume to the employer and won a position as in-house counsel for a company.(2004年阅读第一篇)

妙语点睛 这里as引导的介词短语as in-house counsel for a company修饰position,具体说明这个职位的名称。

精品译文 三周后,他收到了第一份职位通知。“我找到金矿了,”雷德曼说。他用电子邮件把自己的简历发给了那位老板,由此得到了该公司内部顾问的职位。

21 In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal. ...As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States.(2000年阅读第五篇)

妙语点睛 这里as引导的介词短语“as an ideal”和“as a healthy impulse”是修饰ambition的。

精品译文 然而奇怪的是,正是这些受过教育的人们声称他们已经放弃将雄心壮志作为理想。……其结果是,雄心壮志作为一种健康的冲动,一种受人尊重并扎根于年轻人心中的品德,其支持度也许低于美国以往的任何时期。

真题再现:语法攻克考研“英译汉”——1994年第73题

22 Over the years, tools and technology themselves as a source of fundamental innovation have largely been ignored by historians and philosophers of science.

妙语点睛 这里as引导的介词短语as a source of fundamental innovation修饰tools and technology,以说明tools and technology的性质。

精品译文 多年以来,工具和技术本身作为根本性创新的源泉在很大程度上被历史学家和科学思想家们忽视了。 VV04a2sEf6caAuWAj3bs9YEfVHOafr2dQlGRjd7T1mPDv5B0HxpmOgaSiBdjer/7

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