TED演讲:修饰语滥用对写作的危害(2)

 　　"Having robbed the bank in record time, it was possible to make off with the town's chocolate rabbit as well." “在飞速洗劫了银行之后，还能偷走镇上的巧克力兔子。”

　　The modifying phrase in this sentence seems unrelated to anything else,  这句话中的修饰短语似乎并没有与任何东西相连，

　　and so we're clueless about who the chocolate-loving criminal could possibly be. 所以我们不知道这个喜爱巧克力的窃贼会是谁。

　　Giving the modifier something to modify will solve the problem. 给修饰语一个修饰对象就会解决这个问题。

　　Then there's another group called the squinting¹ modifiers because they're stuck between two things and could feasibly refer to either. 还有一种叫做岐形修饰语，因为它们被卡在两样东西之中，修饰哪一个都讲得通。

　　Often, these modifiers are adverbs, like the one in this sentence:  通常，这些修饰语是副词，就像这句里的：

　　"Robbers who steal chocolate bunnies rapidly attract the outrage² of onlookers³." “这个窃贼偷巧克力兔子很快引起了旁观者的愤怒。”

　　"Rapidly" is the modifier here, “很快”在这里是修饰语，

　　but what's not clear is whether it's referring to the speed of the chocolate thievery, or how quickly it alerts the furious onlookers. 但不清楚是指偷巧克力很快呢，还是说很快引起了愤慨的旁观者的愤怒。

　　To clarify, we can either put the modifier closer to its intended phrase, which works in some cases,  为了使之清晰，我们可以把修饰语放得离修饰对象近一点，有些情况这样是可行的，

　　or we can entirely⁴ reword the sentence so that the modifier no longer squints⁵, but clearly applies to only one part. 或者我们可以改述这句话，从而使修饰语不偏向双方，但还是明确地指代一个部分。

　　"Chocolate bunny-thieving robbers rapidly attract the outrage of onlookers." “偷巧克力兔子的窃贼很快激起了旁观者的愤怒。”

　　Justice will eventually come to the chocolate thief, but in the meantime, 正义最终会使巧克力窃贼受到惩罚，

　　our task is to avoid verbal ambiguity⁶ by making it clear which parts of the sentences modifiers belong to. 但同时我们的任务是通过使句中的修饰对象清晰，从而避免歧义。

　　That way, we can at least maintain grammatical law and order. 这样一来，我们至少能保持原有的语法规则和次序。

1 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。

2 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

3 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 squints   

斜视症( squint的名词复数 )； 瞥

参考例句：

• The new cashier squints, has a crooked nose and very large ears. 新来的出纳斜眼、鹰钩鼻子，还有两只大耳朵。
• They both have squints. 他俩都是斜视。

6 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。