汉语行文注重时间因素，即先发生的先说，后发生的后说。

“This is a fortune for people like us,” he said, the equivalent of four months at the minimum wage earned by those fortunate enough to find work.

他说：“对于我们这样的人来说，这可是一笔大钱呀。”因为就算一个人运气好，能找到工作，按最低工资算，要四个月才能挣到这么些钱。

James Brindley started his self-made career in 1733 by working at mill wheels, at the age of seventeen, having been born poor in a vellage.

布林德雷出生于一个贫困的农村家庭；1733年，他十七岁，就着手改良磨坊的车轮，从而开始了他自我奋斗的生涯。

I am filled with wonderwhen I consider the immeasurable contrast between the two lives which it connects.

从这一天起，我的生活和以前迥然不同，一想到这一点，我就非常兴奋。

这是一个典型的英文句子，先说“filled with wonder",再说consider,最后才说contrast between the two lives,译成汉语则按照事情发生的顺序来叙述。根据英汉行文顺序相反的惯例，最后才说个人的感受。

It does this every year in Southern California; at least that’s what they told me last year when I marveled at the relentless determination of the rain.

加利福尼亚南部，年年如此。去年，雨无情地下个不停，我表示惊异，人们就是这样对我说的。

译文可把名词无灵名词译为分句，先说下雨，后说惊异，最后说人们的反应。英语靠when连接，汉语靠事情发生的顺序。

In the winter of 1879, James Lecky, exchequer clerk from Ireland, and privately interested in phonetics, keyboard temperament, and Gaelic, all of which subjects he imposed on me, dragged me to a meeting of a debating society called The Zetetica

1879年冬天，詹姆斯。莱基拉我去参加一个辩论会。莱基是爱尔兰人，在财政部门当职员，有空喜欢研究语音，练习弹琴，学习爱尔语，他还硬让我也学这些东西。这次他带我去参加的辩论会是一个名叫“探索学会”的团体举办的

汉语往往是先因后果，英语则可以先因后果，也可以先果后因（这种情况也属于“先发生的先说，后发生的后说”的范畴）

A long-standing reticence, perhaps born of national abhorrence of monarchies and kings, kept faces and portraits off United States coins as a regular practice until 1909, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

或许是出于国民长期一来对独裁和君主的憎恨，美国人一直不情愿在钱币上刻印肖像和人物。这一惯例一直保持到1909年，即亚伯拉罕。林肯诞生一百周年时，才被打破。

Solutions of the problems of old age have to be considered against a historical background of slow but substantial changes in Chinese family structure, caused by rising living standards and family planning.

由于人民生活水平的不断提高以及计划生育，中国家庭结构发生着缓慢却又具有实质性的变化，必须根据这一考虑老年问题。

本句是简单句，但介词“against”引导的部分较长，过去分词“cuased”说明原因。

按照汉语行文习惯，通常是因在前，果在后，以及先叙述事实后表明观点的习惯，汉译时需逆译。

I was blamed for everything my sister did.

事情都是我妹妹干的，我却要代人受过

It is just great to be recognized for what you love to do.

干你喜欢的事，又得到认可，那真叫棒。

He is eclipsed by his wife, who is much more clever and amusing than he is 。

她的妻子比他聪明而又生趣，显得他黯然失色 (他不免黯然失色)。（定语从句表示原因;汉语先因后果）

The manufacturers disclaim all responsibility for damage caused by misuse.

使用不当而造成的损坏，厂家不负任何责任。

元培翻译 2012-4-24