TED演讲:修饰语滥用对写作的危害(1)

 　　This just in: "Thief robs town with world's largest chocolate bunny." 最新消息：”窃贼洗劫了城镇（有/用）世界上最大的巧克力兔子。”

　　Wait, so are we talking about this, or this? 等等，我们是在讨论这个，还是这个？

　　That's a classic case of a misplaced modifier, a common grammatical mistake that can dramatically change the meaning of a sentence. 这是一个修饰语错置的经典案例，一种常见的语法错误，可以戏剧性地改变句意。

　　And lest you think this is a bit far-fetched, confusing headlines like this appear all the time. 恐怕你会有点儿不相信，但像这种引发歧义的标题总会出现。

　　Modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that add information about other parts of a sentence, which is usually helpful. 修饰语可以是词、短语和从句，它们为句子的其他部分增添信息，通常来说很有用。

　　But when modifiers aren't linked clearly enough to the words they're actually referring to, they can create unintentional ambiguity¹. 但如果修饰语与它真正修饰的词连接不清晰的话，就会造成无意歧义。

　　That happens because the modifying words, in this case, "with world's largest chocolate bunny," modify the wrong thing, the robber's actions instead of the town. 这种情况会发生是因为修饰语，在这个例子里，就是“（有/用）世界上最大的巧克力兔子”修饰的对象错了，是窃贼的行为而不是城镇。

　　To correct this particular sentence, we simply rephrase to make it clearer what the modifying phrase is talking about. 为了改正这句话，我们可以改变一下措辞来使修饰的短语更为清晰。

　　"Town with world's largest chocolate bunny robbed by thief." 改述为“有着世界上最大巧克力兔子的城镇被窃贼洗劫了。”

　　Now, at least it's clear that the thief wasn't armed with a giant chocolate animal. 现在这句话就明了多了，而不是说窃贼带着一只巨大的巧克力兔子。

　　Sometimes, modifying words, phrases, or clauses don't appear to be modifying anything at all. 有时候，修饰词、短语或从句好像并没有修饰任何东西。

　　That's called a dangling² modifier. 这叫做悬垂修饰语。

1 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

2 dangling   

悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口

参考例句：

• The tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. 结果，那颗牙就晃来晃去吊在床柱上了。
• The children sat on the high wall,their legs dangling. 孩子们坐在一堵高墙上，摇晃着他们的双腿。