例如:
1. In the late 14th century, Marco Polo famously made his way along trade routes from Italy to China.
十四世纪后半叶,马可•波罗从意大利沿贸易通道来到中国,因而一举成名。
2. Their commander wisely judged to be safer in their works than in the field.
他们的指挥官认为留在战场上不如呆在工事里更安全,这是很明智的。
在翻译副词修饰形容词或另一个副词的结构时,有时也不能一概译成“……地”结构,而需要将该副词抽出来加以增益,才能说明其含义,如:
3. Chimpanzees are the animals closest biologically to humans.
从生物学角度看,大猩猩与人的关系最亲近。
4. Tami said it was possible, just statistically unlikely.
泰米说有这样的可能,但是从统计的角度来看又不太可能。
5. The second child she dreamed of might now be medically impossible.
她本来还想要一个孩子,从医学角度来看,现在是不可能了。
6. Only 18 percent are officially unemployed.
据官方统计,只有百分之十八的人是失业者。
7. Real-estate prices in downtown Manhattan looked prohibitively expensive.
市中心曼哈顿的房地产价格贵得使人望而生畏。
8. She was remarkably silent when the others all talked and laughed.
别人有说有笑时她却沉默不语,显得很突出。
9. It was a vast and treacherous landscape, but breath-takingly beautiful.
这是一片广阔而变幻莫测的景致,但却美得令人惊讶。
10. A schoolmaster, finding such errors in a schoolboy’s essay, would be justly indignant.
小学老师在学生的作文里发现这样的错误一定会生气,而生气不是没有道理的。
11. Voters were understandably confused by the identical Caser names on the ballot, and the split vote sent the real candidate Caser down to defeat in the primary.
选举人被选票上一模一样卡瑟的名字弄糊涂,因而选票分散,导致真正的候选人在初选时就落选,这是可以理解的。
有时候,形容词做定语或表语时,也无法用一个词将其意思充分表达出来,翻译这个形容词时也需要进行增益,如:
12. The sleek turbines of the American windmills made economic and ecological sense.
美国造了许多风力磨坊,这从经济和生态角度看是有道理的。
13. Now we stay a respectful distance him.
当然不能将a respectful distance译为“尊敬的距离”,应将这一句译成“我们对他敬而远之”。
14. He had a sound feeling that idioms were the backbone of a language and he was all for the racy phrases.
他感到习语是语言的主要支柱,因此特别主张用生动的短语,他的想法是很有道理的。
15. The prisoners of war are allowed to write censored letter.
战俘们可以写信,但信件要受到检查。
16. We should be very cautious when buying expensive things and ask ourselves if we are making a wise purchase.
我们在买贵重的东西时一定要小心,问问自己买这样的东西是否明智。
又如:I wouldn’t have eaten it, only I’m too ladylike to take it out of my mouth. 这一句中的ladylike很难用一个中文词来表达,其意思是“像个有教养的女人那样”。这一句不妨译成:“我本来不想吃,只是觉得再从嘴里拿出来不太雅观。”