It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
4.At some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined.
在小說的某個戲劇性時刻,可怕的秘密泄漏出來,接著便是某人的聲譽掃地。
語言點:英語中的被動語態(tài)在譯成漢語時必須作出適當的調整,譯為主動語態(tài)更符合漢語的邏輯和表達習慣,a reputation is ruined不可直譯為“一個聲譽被毀了”,而是“聲譽掃地”。
5.The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
當讀者到小說最后幾頁了解到書中女主人公,那位一向待大家很好的可愛的老婦人年輕時一連毒死了她的 5個丈夫時,不禁會毛骨悚然。
語言點:句子結構分析:這是一個超長的復合句,主句為The reader's hair stands on end,when引導時間狀語從句,其中又有一個由that引導的賓語從句,賓語從句中含有由who引導的定語從句,修飾lady。此外,a dear old lady作heroine的同位語,in her youth是插入語。
6.It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction.
這種事發(fā)生在小說中是無可非議的。
語言點:句子結構分析:it充當形式主語,真正的主語是動詞不定式短語to occur in fiction。此句可以還原為:To occur in fiction is all very well for such things.但還原后的句子頭重腳輕,故使用it作形式主語,而將句子的真正主語移到后面。