英语中词的省略现象很多。其目的是为了符合英语表达习惯和修辞特点。省略词语决不是可以随意增删词句，而是要必须遵循以下几条原则：
阅读时，必须根据上下文找出英语中省略的词语翻译时再根据汉语的习惯进行适当增补。
1. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn expect to the nearest cabin or settlement.
分析：在时间、地点、条件、让步、方式状语从句中，如果从句的主语与主句的主语相同（或为it），而从句的谓语又含有be(包括连系动词be和助动词be)，则可以省略“主语+be”
译文：独自旅行的人，要是饿了、受伤了或是生病了，除了最近的小木屋或居民点，常常无处求援。
2. Anything from cosmic rays to radiation to diet may activate a dormant oncogene, but how remains unknown.
分析：这是一个由but连接的并列句。其中第二个分句的主语是一个主语从句。由于该主语从句的主谓宾与第一个分句相同，所以被全部省略。只剩下疑问副词how。
译文：任何东西，从宇宙射线到辐射，以至日常饮食，都可能激活潜伏的致癌基因，但如何激活的，仍然不得而知。
3. Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of setting their disputes other than by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side, and then saying that that side which has killed most has won. And not only has won, but, because it has won, has been in the right.
分析：介词短语by seeing which side…前省略了setting their disputes。seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side与saying that that side which has killed most has won是介词by后的两个并列成分。
译文：打仗意味着残杀，。文明的民族应该能够找到某种解决争端的方法，而不是通过看哪一方能消灭另一方更多的人，然后说杀人最多的一方获胜来解决争端。胜者不仅胜了，而且还因为胜利而有理。
4. A few weeks with one firm, a few days with another, then out of a job, then on again for a month perhaps and so on.
分析：这是省略句，省略了句子的主语和谓语。这样使句子的结构更加紧凑。在文学作品中常有这种句子。翻译时要用恰当的连接词，把句子的紧凑性翻译出来。
译文：给这家公司干几周，又给那家干几天，然后失业没活儿干，接着又找到工作干上个把月，就这样一会儿有工作，一会儿失业。
5. So, tips will no doubt net much less during the summer and the company will be less interesting.
分析：这是并列句。由and连接。第一句中的谓语动词是will net, net在这里做动词，意为“挣得、赢得”。第二句的谓语动词是will be,因为两个句子在结构上是平行的，所以省略了will,又因为省略的是助动词，因此汉语中不必译出。
译文：整个夏天挣的小费必将很少很少，而且还得和乏味的人在一起干活。
6. Each and every story preaches from the same gospel: tomorrow will be different from today, violently different perhaps.
分析：该句的最后一部分省略了主语和谓语，因为前一句的主语和谓语与它是相同的。若不省略就会显得很罗嗦，翻译时也要省略。
译文：每篇小说都宣扬着同一条信念：明天与今天不一样，也许会非常不一样。
7. By taking thought, men can move mountains——and have.
分析：该句的最后一部分用表示完成式的助动词have代替了前面提到的动词。
8. You see, dear, I know that the stick-in- the- mud people are doing us a good turn and themselves a bad one by going back to secret trials and executions so soon, and I know that if you who are left stand together steadily and hit hard, you will see great things.
分析：这是并列复合句。主干结构是I know that…and I know that…。两个that 引起两个宾语从句。第一个宾语从句中省略了are doing themselves a bad turn。第二个宾语从句中有一个条件状语从句。
译文：你瞧，亲爱的，我知道那些陷入泥潭的家伙，如此迫不及待地重新使用起秘密审讯和秘密处决的手段，这实际上是在帮我们的忙，而害了他们自己；我还知道，如果你们留下来的人能够坚定地团结一致，给他们以狠狠的打击，你们就会取得伟大的成就。
9. When the media add interpretation and analysis, as they must to do their job fully, strong dislike of the messengers may become intense.
分析：as 引导的从句说明when从句的内容，可以说是从句的从句，翻译时最好放在主句之后，起补充说明作用。句中must 后省略了谓语add interpretation and analysis。
译文：媒体一旦增添了解释和分析，就会引起人们的强烈反感，然而，媒体又必须这样做才能充分发挥其作用。
10. To get a description of direction along the line, we shall call the line on one side of the origin positive, on the other side negative.
分析：“to get…”不定式短语表示目的。on the other side 前面省略了and we shall call the line,后面省略了of the origin。翻译时应把省略的部分补出来。
译文：为了描述这条直线的方向，我们把位于原点一侧的直线叫做正的，而把位于原点另一侧的直线叫做负的。
英语常用并列连词，如and, but, so, yet, for, nor, or, not only…but also, either…or或 neither…nor等连接两个或几个同等成分，这种结构称为并列结构。连接的同等成分可以是两个或几个动词的宾语、两个或几个名词的定语、两个或几个介词短语等。如果并列连词连接的是两个或几个简单句，则构成一个并列句，使用并列结构可以使文字简洁，结构紧凑，并避免重复。
1. But the individualist approach, by attacking gender roles, denying the significance of physiological difference, and condemning existing familial institutions as hopelessly patriarchal, has often simply treated as irrelevant the family roles important to many women.
分析：句中由by引导的三个并列平行结构表示原因。treated as…结构使用了倒装结构，因为the family roles后面有修饰成分，故将其置后。
译文：而个人主义的方法由于攻击性别角色，否定生理差别的重要性，攻击现存的家庭体制是不可救药的父权制，结果把对许多妇女来说非常重要的家庭角色完全视为无关紧要了。
2. There is no complete inventory of positions or people in federal service at this level. The lack may be explained by separate agency statutes and personnel systems, diffusion among so many special services, and the absence of any central point (short of President himself) with jurisdiction over all upper-level personnel of the government.
分析：介词by 后面的separate…personnel systems, diffusion…special services和the absence of…the government为三个并列成分。表示缺少详细记载的原因。句中一些词要转译。
译文：这个级别的联邦政府官员和职位没有完整的记载。对此（缺少详细记载）所做的解释可能是，各部门的条例和人事制度各不相同，分布的特殊服务部门太多并缺少一个中心机构（总统本人除外）来管理所有的政府高级官员。
3. He refuses to consider sufficiently the wants of the customer, who must buy, not the thing he desires but the thing the English gentleman wants to sell.
分析：动词consider 后面的宾语是the wants of the customer。 非限定性定语从句who must buy… 修饰the customer，not the thing …but the thing…是并列成分。
译文：他们不肯充分考虑顾客的需要，顾客必须买的不是他们所希望买的东西，而是英国绅士想要卖的东西。
4. Green, hilly, with abundant trees, it was a beautiful country, the Virginia-Kentucky border territory——or would have been, except for the mines.
分析：和it was a beautiful country 并列的分句(it) would have been是虚拟语气，后面省略了a beautiful country。Green, hilly, with abundant trees修饰a beautiful country，放在主句前是为了强调。
译文：一片翠绿，丘陵起伏，林木茂盛，弗吉尼亚州和肯塔基州接界的地区是一片美丽的山野——要不是有煤矿的话，理应如此。
5. The lack of insistence on personal honor, the surface informality, the disparaging responses to compliments, and willingness to admit mistakes are part of the egalitarian tradition, as are the Americans’ pride in what they have been able to achieve and their criticism of things that fall short of perfection.
分析：该句的主句由四个并列的名词短语做主语，即The lack of insistence…,the surface informality, the disparaging responses…和willingness to admit mistakes。另外，值得一提的是， as 引导的比较状语从句使用了倒装语序。这是为了保持句子平衡。
译文：美国人一方面对所取得的成就感到自豪，一方面又对未臻完美的事物进行批评，这是其平等主义传统的一部分；同样，他们不坚持个人的面子，不拘表面的礼节，对别人的称赞采取自贬的态度，以及愿意承认错误，也是其平等主义传统的一部分。
6. The standardized educational or psychological tests that are widely used to aid in selecting, classifying, assigning, or promoting students, employees, and military personnel have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress.
分析：该句中，to aid in 后面跟了四个并列的动名词，而四个并列的动名词后又跟了三个并列的宾语。
译文：广泛用来借以对学生、雇员和军事人员进行选拔、分类、分配任务或提拔的教育或心理方面的标准化测试，最近受到了书报杂志，甚至国会的抨击。
7. That is why women remain children their whole life long: never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, clinging to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first importance.
分析：该句中，四个现在分词短语构成并列结构，做状语。对前面的表语从句进行补充说明。
译文：那就是为什么妇女一生都不成熟：从来都只看见眼前的事情，都只抓住眼前的一刻，都把表面当本质，都倾心于琐事而放过至关重要的事。
8. But since the consequences of poverty are related to powerlessness, not to the absolute supply of money available to the poor, and since the amount of power purchasable with a given supply of money decreases as a society acquires a larger supply of goods and services, the solution of raising the incomes of the poor is likely, unless accompanied by other measures, to be ineffective in a wealthy society.
分析：该句有两个并列的由and 连接的原因状语从句，都是由since引导，available to the poor修饰money, purchasable with a given supply of money修饰the amount of power。主句中的从句unless accompanied by other measures分割了is likely和to be ineffective in a wealthy society。
译文：但是，既然贫穷与穷人可得到的货币绝对供应量无关，而是无权力所造成的，既然用一定量的货币所能购买的权力量随着一个社会获得的商品和服务量的增加而下降，那么提高穷人收入的解决办法在一个富裕社会很可能不会奏效，除非同时采取其他的措施。
9. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
分析：old story是句子的表语，后面有两个介词短语做定语。它们在结构上是相同的，在连词until后面都有状语从句。翻译时也要译成两个平行的句子。
译文：人们老是这一套：直到失去我们所拥有的东西，才知道遗憾；直到我们生病后，才意识到健康的重要。
10. If you take into account the despairing who no longer even look for work; the unfulfilled who can only get a few hours’s work a week but are desperate for more; the uninspired who stay in the tertiary studies because they can’t get a job; and the ashamed who won’t admit to joblessness, then Australia’s real unemployment rate is probably closer to 16%, or even higher.
分析：这是一个主从复合句。从句由if 引导，主句是then Australia’s…higher。该句之所以长，主要是长在从句上，take 后面有四个并列的宾语。它们都是在形容词前面加上定冠词the来表示一类人。
译文：如果算上连找工作都不再去想的绝望者，每周只能工作几个小时但又渴望多干点工作的不满足者，找不到工作而只好呆在高校读书的垂头丧气者和羞于承认自己失业的人，那么澳大利亚的实际失业率也许更接近16%，甚至更高些。
