关于汉译英，我想谈三个要点：1.替代（substitution）；2.主谓（subject-predicate）；3.主从(subordination)。这三个要点用英语表述，第一个字母都是S，因此可以简称“三S要点”。译文质量不高，往往是因为这三个问题没有处理好。换言之，若这三个问题处理得较好，可以为译文增色不少。这一讲，就集中谈“替代”。

    英语不喜欢重复，如果在一句话里或相连的几句话里需要重复某个词语，则用代词来代替，或以其他手段来避免重复。汉语不怕重复，连续使用某个词语是常见的事。所以汉译英时要千方百计避免重复，多用代称；英译汉时则要少用代称，多用实词。

    说起“替代”，我们当然首先想到代词。

    代词的使用，在英语和汉语里有很大的不同。总的说来，英语代词用得多，汉语代词用得少。因此，英译汉时，有些代词可以不译。汉译英时则要在适当的地方增加代词，特别是物主代词。用代词以避免重复的例子，更是比比皆是。

    例1．一切都要从这个实际出发，根据这个实际来制订规划。

       In everything we do we must proceed from this reality, and all planning must be   consistent with it.

    例2．走社会主义道路,就是要逐步实现共同富裕。共同富裕的构想是这样提出的：一部分地区有条件先发展起来，一部分地区发展慢点，先发展起来的地区带动后发展的地区，最终达到共同富裕。……解决的办法之一，就是先富起来的地区多交点利税，支持贫困地区的发展。

        To take the road to socialism is to realize common prosperity step by step. Our plan is as follows: where conditions permit, some areas may develop faster than others; those that develop faster can help promote the progress of those that lag behind, until all become prosperous…. One way is for the areas that become prosperous first to support the poor ones by paying more taxes or turning in more profits to the state.

    例3．要提倡科学，靠科学才有希望。

        We must promote science, for that is where our hope lies.

    例4．目前我们国内正在进行改革。我是主张改革的，不改革就没有出路。

        China is now carrying out a reform. I am all in favor of that. There is no other solution for us.

    例5．最近，有的外国人议论，马克思主义是打不倒的。打不倒，并不是因为大本子多，而是因为马克思主义的真理颠扑不破。

        Recently, some foreigners said that Marxism cannot be defeated. That is so not because there are so many big books, but because Marxism is the irrefutable truth.

    以上五例都用了代词以避免重复。例1用it代替this reality，例2用others，those和ones代替areas，例3至例5都用that概括了前面的话。

    说起代词，还有两点值得注意。一是英语常用she（her）代替某个国家或某一条船。

    例6．The delta and the narrow Nile Valley to the south make up only 3 percent of Egypt’s land but are home to 96 percent of her population. (National Geographic)

    例7．Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? (Helen Keller, The Story of My Life)

    例8．现阶段中国已经实现了粮食基本自给，在未来的发展过程中，中国依靠自己的力量实现粮食基本自给，客观上具备诸多有利因素。

        China has basically achieved self-sufficiency in grain at the present stage, and there are many favorable objective factors for her to maintain such achievement by her own efforts in the course of future development.

    例9．社会主义中国应该用实践向世界表明，中国反对霸权主义、强权政治，永不称霸。

        Socialist China should show the world through its actions that it is opposed to hegemonism and power politics and will never seek hegemony.

    这种用she（her）指国家和船只的用法由来已久，现在指国家，倒是用it（its）的较为多见。Michael Swan所著《英语用法指南》（Practical English Usage）第227条对这一问题作了详细的说明。

    还有一种现象值得注意，那就是用they指单数。2004年出版的《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》（第6版）有这样的例句：

    例10．Everyone must accept their share of the blame. (见share条)

    例11．Should anyone call (= if anyone calls), please tell them I’m busy. (见should条)

    例12．Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. (见entitle条)

用they指单数就可避免he or she之类的累赘说法。上述《英语用法指南》第505条也对这一问题作了详细的说明。