Unaware of the Sword of Damocles hanging over her, she pursued her own way.

她没有觉察到达摩克利斯之剑悬在头上的危险，依然自行其道。

14.委婉(Euphemism)

人类在提及某些事件时，由于惧怕、厌恶，避免引起不快等原因设法找到另一词语去填补这个空缺，就创造了委婉语。如：sanitary engineer（清洁工）, footwear maintenance engineer（擦鞋工）, pipe engineer（管道工人）, beautician（理发师）, undertaker（殡仪员）。又如：

“ I used to think I was poor.” she wrote, “Then they told me I wasn’t poor; I was needy. Then they said it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, that I was culturally deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image, that I was underprivileged. Then they told me that underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantage. I still don’t have a dime--- but I have a great vocabulary. ”

“我过去总认为自己穷，”她写到：“后来他们告诉我说我不穷，我是匮乏的。然后他们说认为自己匮乏有些灭自己的威风，我是被剥夺了文化教育权利的。然后他们告诉我被剥夺了一词形象不佳，我是未享受权利的。然后他们又说未享受权利一词已经用烂了，我是处于弱势的。我还是一个子儿也没有，但我却有了一大堆词儿。”

确理解，二是恰如其分地表达。

理解阶段可分为四个步骤：1.扼要拟出全句的轮廓；2.根15. 反语（Irony）

反语即反话，用与本义相反的话语来表达本义，通常富于幽默感并用来嘲讽人。如：

——“Could you wait a few days for the money?” I haven’t any small change about me.”

——“Oh, you haven’t? Well , of course I know that gentlemen like you carry only large notes. ”

——“我过几天再付钱行吗？我没有零钱。”

——“啊，是吗？哦，当然啦，我知道像您这样的绅士身上是只带大票子的。”

长句的翻译

一般认为，在一个英语句子中，单词数量在20个以上者，可以视为英语长句或者较长难句。所谓的长难句，往往是句型结构错综复杂，词语组合枝杈繁多，修饰限定返转轮回，层层相关，环环紧扣，也就是说，除了句子的主干部分外，它还包含有各种修饰成分，而这些修饰成分有的本身就是一种难以掌握难以理解的语言现象。另外，加之时态，语态，语气等的综合应用，原作者的意图，论点及它们之间的逻辑关系，句子与句子之间的语法关系，各片语之间的修饰关系等，更使得这类句子难以理解，难以表达。所以英语长句是一种复杂语言现象的综合。例如：

The fierce struggle between aspiration to be an astronomer and aspiration to be a novelist constantly put him into annoyance of which he has got rid by bringing the mental conflict into unity that he may serve as a scientist by profession and an amateur in literature as did Nobel, a noted chemist and simultaneously a poet.

他一面想当天文学家，一面又想当小说家，这种矛盾曾经在他心中斗争很激烈，经常使他感到烦恼不安。但他现在却已摆脱了这种苦恼，思想上的矛盾达到了统一，即在当职业科学家的同时，还可以当业余的文学爱好者，像诺贝尔那样，既是化学家，又是诗人。

因此，英译汉长句翻译的关键在于两点：一是对原文的准据上下文和全句内容领会其要旨3.辨清该长句的主从结构；4.找出各句之间的从属关系。

表达阶段可分为三个步骤：