新闻英语的语法特点

新闻英语的语法特点 新闻英语的语法特点 初读英语新闻的时候，我们会对新闻英语中的一些语法现象和习惯用法不理解或不习惯。了解和熟悉这些语法现象和习惯用法有助于我们更好地阅读英语新闻，也有助于对新闻内容的理解。 　　一、句子松散，口语化较强 　　英语新闻中的句子一般较长，通常一段就是一句话。这是因为记者在报道新闻时总是用尽量短的篇幅来提供尽量多的信息。另外，新闻报道有截稿时间的限制，记者在想到新的情况和背景材料时来不及对原稿进行改动就随即增添或补插。因此，英语新闻中的句子较长，结构较为松散，插入成分较多。我们用下面这则新闻来分析新闻英语的这一特点： 　　Microsoft Offers ＄1B to Schools 　　By ALLISONLINN 　　…… 　　The funding，to be disbursed over five years, would pay for teacher training，technicalsupport，refurbished computers and copies of Microsoft's Windows and Office，to about 14 spokesman Matt Pilla said． 　　…… 　　—Associated Press Nov．21, 2001 　　这段新闻只有一句话：微软公司决定向美国14％的学校提供资助。句中 “to be disbursed over five years”是动词不定式作定语修饰前面的“funding”：“such as Windows and Office”也是插入语，修饰前面的“popular software”，这都给新闻提供了背景材料。同时作者将said引导的宾语从句放在句首，来强调重要的信息。整个句子结构松散，明显是口语化的句子，读起来短促有力。 　　英语新闻中，记者经常利用状语、定语、同位语、介词短语、名词短语等为新闻提供背景材料或对新闻的内容做进一步的说明，这就是新闻英语的句子结构显得松散和插入成分较多的原因。 　　二、宾语从句中引导词的省略 　　新闻常常都要说明消息来源，也就是要说明信息或消息的出处。从语法上讲，在新闻英语中，主句常常是信息或消息的来源或出处，而它后面的宾语从句则是信息或消息的内容。比如：China Daily said that．．．《中国日报》报道，……；Officials said that…官方人士称，……等等。但是，在英语新闻的报道中，引导宾语从句的that常常省略，这是一个常见的情况。请看下面这段新闻： 　　Microsoft Offers ＄1B to Schools 　　By ALLISONLINN 　　…… 　　Furniss said the proposed deal does not provide enough money to sustain the school programs and therefore would have no real long-term benefits．He also said it provides no real punishment for Microsoft，which has cash reserves of some ＄32billion． 　　…… 　　—Associated Press Nov．212001 　　在上面的这段新闻中，两处的“said”之后都省略了“that”。有时引导宾语从句的 that也不省略，引导词是否省略与新闻媒体各自不同的风格有关。 　　三、直接引语标点符号的运用 　　在新闻英语中，直接引语用引号标明并在适当的地方加上消息来源“某某人、机构、书报说”。“某某说”放在直接引语之前、之后、或者放在引语中间。“某某说”之前或之后可用冒号，逗号和句号。请看下面的例子： 　　1．冒号之后接直接引语： 　　Cromer resigns as Seattle Weekly publisher 　　…… 　　Schneiderman said：“It really wasn't strategic；it was really style of leadership．We worked on it，we tried，but we just couldn't see eye to eye on what to do about it．” 　　…… 　　—Associated Press Dec．7，2001 　　在某某人说之后用冒号，后面的直接引语可能是一句话，也可能是几句话，但必须是完整的句子。引号内的引语第一个字母大写，句子结尾用句号。实际上，直接引语放在said之后，这种情况在消息报道中用得并不多。 　　2．直接引语放在said之前： 　　3 Americans Die in Afghanistan 　　By ROBERT BURNS 　　AP Military Writer 　　…… 　　“This is one of the potentially most hazardous type of missions that we use as a military tactic，”said Rear Adm．John Stufflebeem， deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff． 　　…… 　　—Associated Press Dec．05，2001 　　直接引语放在前面，提供消息内容的消息来源放在后面，这是新闻英语的一个习惯达方式。在新闻英语中，这种安排是很常见的，也表现出了新闻的特点，就是让读者最早读到最重要的新闻内容。在上面的两段中，引号内的原话虽然是一个完整的句子，但是，按照英语的习惯，在没有交代清楚是谁说的之前，它的句子仍不算完整。所以，引语的末尾仍然用逗号，消息来源某某说后面才使用句号。 　　3．直接引语中间插入 said： 　　New Law Lets U．S．Nab Foreign H ackers 　　By D．IAN HOPPER 　　…… 　　“We haven't done that yet，because it's an affront to the way the Internet works，”Rasch said．“But now we're criminalizing anything that happens over the Internet because traffic passes through the United States．” 　　…… 　　—Associated Press Nov．22，2001 　　我们从上面的例子看到，“他说”插入在两个完整的句子之间。第一个句子结尾用的是逗号，在“他说”之后用句号；这种情况与上面第二部分“直接引语放在said之前”的情况相同。“他说”后面接着的But now we're crim- inalizing anything…是另一个完整的句子，所以用大写字母开头。但是，必须注意这个句子仍然是前面“他”所说的内容。 　　四、根据内容灵活运用时态 　　新闻报道的绝大多数是刚刚发生或正在发生的事情，因此记者总是尽量使用一般现在时态和现在完成时态，以示“新”和“快”；为了把消息绘声绘色地传达给听众，进行时态使用的也比较普遍；当然，过去时态也常使用。 　　一般来说，新闻报道基本遵循时态和时态呼应的语法规则，但又不拘泥于这一原则，往往根据实际，灵活运用时态。例如： 　　NOVEMBER 21，18：55EST 　　Microsoft's Top Lawyer To Retire 　　William H．Neukom，executive vice presi- dent of law and corporate affairs，announced Wednesday that he will leave Microsoft to concentrate on philanthropy and to spend more time with his grown children．．．． 　　Neukom said he will continue living in Seattle，where he is chairman of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and active in other community organizations．．．． 　　在上面的这段新闻中，动词announced和 said后面的宾语从句中没有用过去将来时，而是用现在将来时“will leave Microsoft”，“will continue living in Seattle”，因为消息发出时，从句中所说的事情还没有发生。 　　［新闻训练］ 　　以上我们讲解了新闻英语的一些语法特点，由于篇幅限制，不能引用更多的实例。下面是美联社2001年11月25日发自瑞士苏黎世的新闻报道，仔细阅读该消息，相信同学们会对新闻英语中上述语法特点有更深的体会。 　　NOVEMBER 25，00：48EST 　　At Least 10 Die in Swiss Plane Crash 　　By ERNST E．ABEGG 　　Associated Press Writer 　　ZURICH，Switzerland（AP）-A Swiss airliner with 33 people on board crashed Saturday night as it was approaching Zurich Airport to land．At least 10people were killed and nine others walked away from the wreckage，officials said． 　　Local authorities issued an urgent appeal for local residents to join the search for survivors from the Crossair Jumbolino，which went down in a wooded area in the suburb of Birchwil，some two miles east of the airport． 　　“We have seen additional bodies but have not yet recov- ered them，”Zurich police chief Peter Grueter told a news conference．He refused to speculate about the final number of dead． 　　The cause of the crash— the second to strike Crossair in less than two years—was not immediately known． 　　However，two experts quoted on state-run Swiss television said the plane appeared to be flying too low． Weather conditions were alsopoor when Flight LX3597went down，just after 10 p．m．，with rain and some snow．Crossair chief Andre Dose said there were no indications that terrorism was to blame． 　　On board the Avro RJ-100 Jumbolino from Berlin to Zurich were 33people -28 passengers and five crew，said Manfred Winkler，spokesman for Crossair，a subsidiary of the financially troubled Swis- sair Group． 　　Hans Baltenberger，a local police official，told Swiss television that at least 10 peo- ple had been killed．The nine known survivors walked on their own to rescue workers， said Zurich airport's chief medical officer Remo Reich- lin．Three had serious burns while the other six had less severe ones． 　　Neither the dead nor those who survived were immediately identified．However，the five crew were all Swiss nationals． 　　The plane was approaching runway 28，a new night landing strip that just began operating a month ago following an agreement by the Swiss transport ministry to limit Germany． 　　A fire ball engulfed the crash，but the cockpit ands cathed，local police and air-unconfirmed reports that the covered． 　　Winkler said there had never been any known problems with the small， four-engine jetliner，which is manufactured by Britain's BAE Aircraft Services Group and seats 97 people． 　　The crash was sure to add to the woes of Swissair． 　　Crossair，a subsidiary of the ailing Swissair Group，flies routes between Swiss cities and to other destinations in Europe．It is taking over parts of the Swissair operations in a complicated，government-financed bailout that is meant to be completed next spring． 　　“It's come at a very difficult time，”said company chief Dose． 　　Once the proud national flag flyer，Swissair last month suffered the indignity of having its planes grounded because they could no longer meet fuel and landing fees．Although the government and industry has since stepped in，the airline is still struggling to recover customer confidence and to fill empty seats．