Chapter 3 定语从句
3.5 限制性与非限制性定语从句
3.5 限制性与非限制性定语从句
在前面各节讨论的定语从句中，细心的读者也许发现了，有的先行词与关系词之间有逗号分隔，有的没有逗号分隔，这其实涉及定语从句的限制性（defining relative clause）和非限制性（non-defining relative clause）之分。二者在形式上的区别是：在限制性定语从句中，先行词和关系词之间不用逗号隔开，而非限制性定语从句则需要逗号隔开。这种在形式上的有无逗号并不是随意的，换句话说，二者更重要的是在意义上有区别。根据意义上的差别，可以把定语从句分三种情况。最后，本节还将讨论非限制性定语从句的翻译特点。因此，本节内容安排如下：
3.5.1 限制性定语从句——不用逗号隔开
3.5.2 非限制性定语从句——用逗号隔开
3.5.3 用或不用逗号，句意有差别
3.5.4 非限制性定语从句的翻译
3.5.1 限制性定语从句——不用逗号隔开
限制性定语从句是用来对一个名词提供必要的信息（a defining relative clause defines or gives essential information about a noun），以说明定语从句所修饰的先行词的身份或性质，或用来限制先行词所指的范围。若去掉限制性定语从句，则主句部分的含义不明确，或意义不完整，所以不能用逗号来分隔先行词和定语从句。
比如“I don’t like people.”，这句话的意思不明确，句意不完整，因此其后面必须加一个限制性定语从句，才能使句意完整。比如加上限制性定语从句后这么说：
1 I don’t like people who are never on time . 我不喜欢不守时的人。
2 I don’t like people who never keep their word . 我不喜欢不守信用的人。
以上句子黑体部分的定语从句都用来说明people的性质，是必不可少的信息，因此不能加逗号将其变为非限制性定语从句。再来分析下列例句：
3 There are two factors which determine an individual’s intelligence .
妙语点睛 这里若只是说“There are two factors.”，则句意不够完整，现在有了限制性定语从句which determine an individual’s intelligence来限制、修饰名词factors，就使得句意更明确。
4 He is a man who is of value to the people .
妙语点睛 这里若只是说“He is a man.”，则句意不完整，现在有了限制性定语从句who is of value to the people来限制修饰名词man，就使得句意完整而明确。
3.5.2 非限制性定语从句——用逗号隔开
非限制性定语从句用来提供附加的而非必要的信息，只是对先行词做进一步的解释、补充或说明（a non-defining relative clause gives optional information about a noun）。若去掉此定语从句，整个主句的意义一样很明确，不会引起误解和歧义。一般来讲，下面这两种先行词，其后都宜用非限制性定语从句。
一、专有名词
如果定语从句修饰一个专有名词，一般要用逗号分隔先行词与定语从句，也就是说要使用非限制性定语从句。这是因为专有名词本身的意思已经很完整，不需要限制，用定语从句只是对它进行补充说明。请看例句：
1 My mother, who is 50 this year , lives with me now.
妙语点睛 这里的先行词my mother就是一个专有名词，其后的定语从句who is 50 this year只能是作为非限制性的定语从句来提供附加信息，不能使用限制性定语从句。若说“My mother who is 50 this year lives with me now.”，则言外之意为“我有好几个母亲，目前和我住在一起的是今年50岁的那位母亲”。然而实际上，我们只可能有一位母亲。
伊拉克首都巴格达的民众2008年1月11日早上醒来时惊见降雪。当地气象部门证实，这场雪是这座城市约100年来下的第一场雪。下面的例句就是40岁的巴格达居民法齐·卡里姆接受记者采访时说的：
2 I asked my mother, who is 80 , whether she’d ever seen snow in Iraq before, and her answer was no.
下面这个例句谈到奥巴马（Obama）在2008年竞选总统时的策略：
3 Obama is trying to broaden our collective notion of the mainstream. On the one hand, his campaign is running television commercials in Iowa featuring his late mother, who was white . On the other, he touts his biracial, multicultural background as an advantage when it comes to representing the U.S. abroad.
在以上例句中，先行词都是专有名词mother，都采用了非限制性定语从句。
请再看下面的例句：
4 Beijing, which is the capital of China , has developed into an international city. 北京，中国的首都，已经成为一个国际化都市。
5 Einstein, who was a great Jewish scientist , created the theory of relativity. 爱因斯坦这位伟大的犹太科学家创立了相对论。
6 Hawaii, which consists of eight principal islands , is a favorite vacation spot. 夏威夷包含八个主要岛屿，是一个度假胜地。
以上例句中的先行词Beijing，Einstein和Hawaii都是专有名词，因此，其后的定语从句都只能是非限制性的，以对其前面的先行词进行补充说明，向读者提供附加的信息，故均不能变为限制性定语从句。
二、类指名词
上面谈到，专有名词作为先行词，其后接的定语从句一般都是非限制性的。现在来讨论普通名词作为先行词的情况。普通名词若是用来表示类指，即表示的是一类事物，而非具体的某一个事物，此时，其后也宜用非限制性定语从句。请比较下列例句：
7 1） An elephant, which is the earth’s largest land mammal , has few natural enemies other than human beings.
2） One of the elephants which we saw at the zoo had only one tusk.
妙语点睛 这两句的先行词都是普通名词elephant，但例句1）用了非限制性定语从句which is the earth’s largest land mammal，而例句2）却用了限制性定语从句which we saw at the zoo，原因就是两句中的elephant的意义是不一样的。例句1）中的an elephant是类指或泛指，即表示“大象”这类动物，而不是指称具体的某一头大象。例句2）中的one of the elephants则不是类指概念，而是具体指代某一头大象，即“我们在动物园看到的那头大象”。
3.5.3 用或不用逗号，句意有差别
在英文中，还有一类句子，用限制性或非限制性定语从句都可以，但强调的意义不一样，即句意不同。请比较：
1 1） He has a daughter who works in a hospital .
2） He has a daughter, who works in a hospital .
妙语点睛 例句1）表示他有多个女儿，其中有一个在医院工作。例句2）强调他有一个女儿，不是儿子，“在医院工作”纯粹是补充信息。
2 1） The food which wasn’t in the fridge all went off.
2） The food, which wasn’t in the fridge , all went off.
妙语点睛 例句1）表示部分食物坏了，即没有放在冰箱里的那部分食物坏了。例句2）表示食物都坏了，因为没有放在冰箱里。此时定语从句补充说明了食物变质的原因，是因为没有放在冰箱里。
3 1） The cab drivers who knew about the traffic jam took another road.
2） The cab drivers, who knew about the traffic jam , took another road.
妙语点睛 例句1）的言外之意是“不知道的司机则没有换路线，只有部分司机换行驶路线了”。例句2）的言外之意是“全部司机都知道，都换了行驶路线”。
从以上非限制性定语从句的译文看出，非限制性定语从句的翻译非常灵活，不一定都译成定语“……的”结构。下面举例具体说明。
3.5.4 非限制性定语从句的翻译
最后，我们讨论一下上述两种定语从句在翻译上的差别。限制性定语从句一般翻译成定语的形式“……的”，而非限制性定语从句往往会译成各种状语形式。例如：
1 The food, which wasn’t in the fridge , all went off.
2 The Ambassador gave a dinner to the scientists, with whom he especially wished to talk .
3 The people were desperate for work, any work, which could support their family .
4 The millionaire had another house built, which he didn’t need at all .
5 They tried to stamp out the revolt, which spread all the more furiously throughout the country .
6 Both players, neither of whom reached the final, played well.
7 We know that a cat, whose eyes can take in many more rays of light than our eyes, can see clearly in the night.
思维总结
本节重点讨论了限制性和非限制性定语从句在结构上、意义上和翻译上的差异。读者需重点掌握二者在意义上的差异，灵活掌握非限制性定语从句的两类名词先行词。
思维训练3.5 Key
一、请判断下列各个句子是否该加逗号而变成非限制性定语从句。
1. Seoul which hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics is well known for its shopping.
2. Seoul is the city that hosted the summer Olympics in 1988.
3. There are many temples and shrines in Kyoto which used to be the capital of Japan.
4. Kyoto which was the country’s capital from 794 until 1868 has around 2,000 temples and shrines.
5. Brasilia which is the capital of Brazil is more than 50 years old.
6. Montreal is a city where both French and English are spoken.
7. Bangkok which is the capital of Thailand has many beautiful temples.
8. Mexico City which has a population of around 20,000,000 is the largest urban area in the Americas.
9. Salvador which lies in the northeast was the country’s busiest port from 1500 to 1815.
二、请分析下面句中所含定语从句分别属于本节所述3种情形中的哪一种，必要时请添加逗号。
10. I don’t like stories that have unhappy endings.
11. A dictionary is a book that gives you the meaning of words.
12. It seems that the earth is the only planet that can support life.
13. The teacher who comes from Canada teaches us English.
14. We are studying sentences which contain adjective clauses.
15. I saw him stand under the apple tree which was behind the house.
16. The teacher thanked the students who had given her some flowers.
17. He has a daughter who works in a hospital.
18. An elephant which is the earth’s largest land mammal has few natural enemies other than human beings.
19. One of the elephants which we saw at the zoo had only one tusk.
20. The rice which we had for dinner last night was very good.
21. Rice which is grown in many countries is a staple food throughout much of the world.
22. Jane was delighted when she opened the present which was from her ex-boyfriend.
23. A child whose parents are dead is called orphan.
24. Linda Watson who earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.7 was graduated with highest honors.
25. Students who earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.7 or more will be graduated with highest honors.