請將下面這段話翻譯成英文:
漢字有成千上萬個,盡管其中的大多數(shù)差別很細微,且只在歷史文獻中出現(xiàn)過。研究表明,日常使用的漢字大概有三至四千個。大多數(shù)早期漢字是象形字(pictographs),用簡單的圖畫來代表字,但現(xiàn)代漢字中象形文字已經(jīng)很少了。許多現(xiàn)代漢字是兩個或兩個以上簡單文字的組合。漢字也可以因為其線條和點的排列組合方式被看成是一門抽象藝術(shù)(abstract art)。
參考翻譯:
There are tens of thousands of Chinese characters,though most of them are only slightly different from each other and only seen in historical documents.Studies show that normally three to four thousand characters are used on a daily basis.Most of earlier Chinese characters were pictographs-simple pictures used to mean words, but few modern Chinese characters are pictographs.Many modern Chinese characters are a combination of two or more simple characters.Chinese characters may also be considered to be an abstract art because of how the characters are made up of lines and points.
1.漢字有成千上萬個,盡管其中的大多數(shù)差別很細微,且只在歷史文獻中出現(xiàn)過:“成千上萬”可譯為tens of thousands of; “差別很細微”即“細微區(qū)別于”可譯為slightly different from;“出現(xiàn)過”的意思也就是“被人們看見”,因此可以譯為seen,用過去分詞形式表示被動。
2.許多現(xiàn)代漢字是兩個或兩個以上簡單文字的組合:“…的組合”可譯為combination of...。
3.漢字也可以因為其線條和點的排列組合方式被看成是一門抽象藝術(shù):該句中 “因為其線條和點的排列組合方式”可譯為由how引導的名詞性從句,即because of how the characters...;“被看成是”可譯為be considered to be, consider常構(gòu)成以下詞組:consider as(認為)、repeatedly consider(再三考慮)。