2．4．5　Translation of English Multiple英语倍数的翻译

Multiple is frequently used in English，but it is quite different from Chinese in translation．When we translate English multiple，we should understand and translate it correctly and faithfully or we will make mistakes in translating and even result in great errors．

2．4．5．1　Some sentence constructions as to increase用于“增长”常见句型的翻译

1)“Multiple + as…as…”construction

The grain output of this year isabout three times as great as that of last year．

　今年的粮食产量大约是去年的三倍。

　(或:今年的粮食产量比去年多两倍左右。)

Asia is four times as larger as Europe．

　亚洲比欧洲大三倍。

　(或:亚洲是欧洲的四倍大。)

Were the earth＇s mass twice as great as it is，it would attract an object twice as strongly as it does．

　如果地球的质量是它现在的两倍那么大，那么地球就能以它现在两倍的引力来吸引物体。

Your room is three times as large as mine．

　你的房间比我的房间大两倍。

　(或:你的房间是我的房间的三倍。)

2)“Multiple + comparative + than…”construction

Mt．Qomolangma is 8，848 meters high，about two and half times higher than Mt．Fuji．

　珠穆朗玛峰高8，848米高，比富士山高一倍半左右。

　(或:珠穆朗玛峰高8，848米高，约是富士山的两倍半。)

Kuwait oil wells yield nearly 500times more than U．S．wells．

　科威特油井的产油量几乎是美国油田的500倍。

Iron is almost three times heavier than aluminum．

　铁的重量几乎是铝的三倍。(或:铁几乎比铝重两倍。)

Your room is four times larger than mine．

　你的房间是我房间的四倍。

　(或:你的房间比我的房间大三倍。)

The irrigated area in this prefecture is four times bigger than in 1998．

　这个地区的灌溉面积比1998年增加了三倍。

3)Some verbs + multiple

Verbs like increase，rise，exceed，grow，raise，expand，go up，etc．are commonly used to express multiple with the meanings of“increase” ．

The number of the students enrolled in evening classes has increased more than twofold．

　注册上晚间课的学生人数增加了一倍多。

The total volume of state purchase in the first quarter rose by 5．2percent，compared with the same period of last year．

　和去年同期相比，国家第一季度的总采购量增加了5．2个百分点。

The output of chemical fiber has been increased three times as against last year．

　化纤产量比去年增加了两倍。

During this period its territory increased ten-fold．

　这个时期它的领土扩大了9倍(为原来的10倍)。

4)“By a factor of + multiple”construction

This structure is coped with when we have to minus one from the number since the original is not included in Chinese language．

In case of electronic scanning the beam width is broader by a factor of two．

　电子扫描时，波束宽度增加一倍。

Today the speed of our car exceeds the ordinary speed by a factor of three．

　今天，我们的汽车速度超过了平常速度的两倍。

The population of this county has increased by a factor of five．

　这个县的人口已经增长了四倍。

5)Some words with multiple meaning

Such words with multiple meaning are double，treble，quadruple，etc．in English．

The output of diesel oil for farm has more than doubled．

　农用柴油产量增加了一倍多。

The baby girl doubled its weight in a year．

　这个女婴的体重一年中增加了一倍。

Henry trebled his money by buying a dog for $ 50 and selling it for $ 150．

　亨利花50美元买了一条狗，然后按150美元把狗卖出去，因而使他的钱增加了两倍。

Having the repeater spacing decreased by one half，we made it possible to quadruple the bandwidth．

　把中继器间距减少一半，就能使带宽增加三倍。

The output of color TV sets has been doubled in the past five years．

　彩色电视机的产量在过去五年中翻了一番。

The output of iron and steel is treble what it was．

　钢铁的产量是过去的三倍。

　(或:钢铁的产量比过去增加了两倍。)

The number of livestock has quadrupled this year．

　牲畜的数量今年增加了三倍。

Our population is now double what it was thirty-five years ago．

　我国目前的人口是35年前的两倍。

Comments In this part，the training focus is on some sentence constructions as to increase．But when we translate these constructions，we ought to pay special attention to the different expressions in Chinese versions．In other words，the same original has two Chinese versions．Therefore，we ought to clearly understand the two different versions of the same English expression．In addition，apart from some words，phrases and constructions，we can reach a conclusion that the following sentence structures have the same meanings:

①A is N times bigger than B．

②A is bigger than B by N times．

③A is N times as big as B．

The exact meaning of the three structures is: A = B × N

2．4．5．2　Some words，phrases and structures as to decrease用于“减少”常见词语和句型的翻译

1)Some words and phrases

The output of cars in Europe last year was 24percent less than in 1996．

　去年欧洲汽车产量比1996年下降了24%。

In this lathe，proper lubrication has diminished almost three fifths of the friction．

　把这台车床适当加油润滑，摩擦力几乎就能减少3/5。

Owing to natural calamities，the wheat output of every mu in our village has decreased from 500 kilograms to less than 350kilograms．

　由于受自然灾害的影响，我们村小麦的亩产量已从500公斤下降到不足350公斤。

The production cost of electronic organs was reduced by 30%．

　电子琴的生产成本降低了30%。

The depth of water in the first tube is less than half that in the other．

　第一支试管内水的深度还不到另一支试管的一半。

The leads of the new condenser are half as long as those of the old，yet the functions are the same．

　新式电容器的导线比旧式电容器短一半，但作用是相同的。

This new method has halved the loss of metal．

　这种新方法使金属损耗量减少了一半。

2)Some structures

The length of the designed size was reduced ten times．

　设计尺寸的长度缩短到1/10。

　(或:设计尺寸的长度缩短了9/10。)

This kind of film is twice thinner than ordinary paper，but its quality is quite good．

　尽管这种薄膜的厚度只是普通纸张的一半，可是质量却相当好。

Aluminum is almost more than three times as light as copper．

　铝几乎比铜轻2/3。

　(或:铝的重量几乎不到铜的1/3。)

We see that the price of the product is reduced by a factor of 5．

　可以看到此产品的价格下降了五分之四(4/5)。

Comments Besides some words and phrases，we can come to a conclusion that the following sentence structures have the same meanings．

①A is N times smaller than B．

②A is smaller than B by N times．

③A is N times as small as B．

That is to say，the meaning of the three structures is the same．But when we translate the multiple in decreasing，Chinese character translation is quite different from the multiple in increasing．This is because Chinese character倍is only used in increasing，not in decreasing although the word“times”is the same in both cases．