前置法
当一个限定性定语从句结构和意义较为简单,或是较为简短时,我们把英语原文的定语从句翻译成带“的”的定语词组,放置于被修饰的词之前,将英语原文的复合句翻译成汉语的简单句。
Furthermore, humans have the ability to modify the environment in which they live, thus subjecting all other life forms to their own peculiar ideas and fancies.(2003)
本句中the environment后面又跟了一个定语从句。大家看下他是什么定语从句,是限定性还是非限定性定语从句。限定性吧!它有什么特点呢,只有三个词,意义和结构都较为简单,因此我们在翻译的时候就要把它放在他所修饰的先行词的前面。
译文:而且,人类还有能力改变自己的生存环境,从而使所有其它形态的生命服从人类自己独特的想法和想像。
But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.(1998,71)