英汉翻译理论与技巧（之四十三）

43. Compound Interrogatives

The English compound interrogatives “whoever”, “whatever”, “whichever”, “whenever”, “wherever”, “however”, etc. are used in two ways: (1) to indicate emphasis and (2) to denote concession. In the first case, the translation should be done in accordance with the Chinese sentence pattern “谁……，谁就……”. In other words, the Chinese interrogatives are repeated in order to be correlative. If you say “谁做得多，他就得奖”, you violate the principle of correlation and spoil the sentence type. For the compound interrogative pronouns “whoever” and “whatever”, we may sometimes use “凡” (in the plural sense) in wenyan translation.

(1) Whoever is guilty of corruption will be subject to penalty. 谁贪污谁就要受处分。∕凡贪污者均将受处分。

(2) Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.-----Chesterfield 什么事情值得做，什么事情就值得做好。∕凡当为者宜善为之。-----切斯特菲尔德

(3) Whatsoever a man soweth that he also reapth. 种什么，收什么。（=种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。）

(4) Choose whichever you please. 爱什么，挑什么。

(5) Whenever our motherland needs me, I will respond to her call. 祖国什么时候（or哪一天）需要我，我就什么时候（or哪一天）响应号召。

(6) I shall go wherever my service is needed. 什么地方（or哪里）需要我服务，我就到什么地方（or哪里）去。

In the second case, where the interrogatives denote concession, they are generally translated into “不论是谁” or “任何人” or “凭他是谁”; “不论什么” or “任何东西”; “不论哪一个” or “任何一个”; “不论什么时候” or “任何时候”; “不论什么地方” or “任何地方”, etc.; as

(7) Whoever he may be, his position in siciety is determined solely by his personal work and his personal ability.-----V. Karpinsky 不论是谁（凭他是谁），他的社会地位完全取决于本人的工作和本人的能力。-----卡宾斯基

(8) Whatever you do, do with all your might.-----Proverb 做任何事（凭你做什么事），都要用力去做。-----谚语

(9) Whichever you may choose, you will be satisfied. 挑选任何一个（凭你挑选哪一个），包你满意。

(10) Whenever I may go, I find him at his book. 我无论什么时候去（不管我什么时候去）总看见他在用功。

(11) Wherever you may go, you cannot succeed without perseverence. 无论你到什么地方（凭你到哪里），没有恒心就不会成功。

(12) However busy you are (may be), you must learn national policy. 不论你怎么（多）忙（凭你怎么忙），都必须学习国家政策。