是用英语怎么说三种读音（“是”翻译成be，还能翻译成有什么呢？）

关于汉语的一词多义的翻译，翻吧君此前写了一两篇相关的文章。一篇是《英汉思维大不同之词语不对应》，另一篇是《怎么才能不将“有”直译成have?》。在中英互译时，往往是一些普遍出现的词，翻译的难度更大一些。

在此，翻吧君仍然想重复引用《英汉比较与翻译》一书里对于词义的对应性的表述：

词的使用频率越高，意思越多，也就越难在两种语言里找到完全对应的词汇。……语言是社会现象，两个语言社团生活环境和生活方式不同，词汇空缺在所难免。若考虑到词的指称意义、引申意义、联想意义、情感意义以及语词使用的语境，完全的词义对应在单一评语言内部也难以找到，在跨语言环境里就更难找。

在汉语里，除了”有“，还有一个高频词，就是"是“字。通常，”是“与英语动词be 是最直接的对应词，在许多情况下都可以用这样译，没有问题。不过，正是由于是是一个高频词，在一些语境下，也不一定非得译成be，还可能是考虑其他译法。

1、“是”字翻译成“be”，可以普遍这么译。不过，如果根据句子的意思，将“是”翻译成其他的，则更好。例如

中国是一个大市场，许多国家都想同我们搞点合作，做点买卖，我们要很好利用。

China provides a huge market, so many countries wish to develop cooperation or do business wiht us. We should seize this opportunity.

中国的对外政策，主要是两句话。一句话是反对霸权主义，维护世界和平，另一句话是中国永远属于第三世界。

China's foreign policy can be summed up in two sentences. First, to safeguard world peace we opose hegemoy. second, China will alwyas belong to the Thrid World.

当今世界，集现代流通和大流通于一体的流通业态， 主要是集中配送这和连锁经营。

In today's world, the form of distribution that integraed modern methods and high volumes findsconcrete expression in centralized distribution and chain store management.

近几年来，从中央到地方，到农村党支部，有越来越多的同志，懂得知识和人才的重要，懂得教育的重要。这是我们党的一大进步。

During recent years more and more comrades, from the central authorities down to lcoal authorities and rural party brances, have come to realize the importance of knowledge trained people and education. This showsthat our paryt has made great progress in this respect.

一年来取得的成绩，是以习近平同志为总书记的党中央统揽全局、科学决策的结果，是全党全军全国各族人民共同努力、不懈奋斗的结果。

We owethe achievements of the past year to the overall planning and sound policymaking ofthe Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary and tothe concerted and unremitting efforts of all members of the Party and the armedforces, and all of China's people.

这四个例子，译文都没用be，而是根据上下文选用了不用的词语。这样译，不直接画等号，听起来比较顺。最后一例，末尾加了in this respect, 值得注意。这样处理比较合科分寸。

2、“是”也还表示一种包含关系，因此，be就不一定能完全表示这种关系了。例如：

教育还是要两条腿部走路。就高等教育来说，大专院校是一条腿，各种半工半读的和业余的大学是一条腿，两条退走路。

Education still has to "walk on two legs". In higher education, colleges and unviersities constituteone leg, while work-study universities and spare time universitiesconstitutethe other.

我见胡萨克时谈到，马克思讲过科学技术是生产力，这是非常正确的，现在看来这是可能不够，恐怕是第一生产力。

when I met with Husak recently, I mentioned that Marx was quite right to saythat science anf technology are part of th eproductive forces, but now it seemshis statement was imcomplete. The complete statement should be that science and technology constitutea primary productive force.

这两个例子把“是”译作constitute，这个词的基本意思是构成，用在这里是合适的。

3、“是”还表示一种相关性，不是对等性。例如：

所谓教育观念更新的问题， 主要是怎样加强对沉重登岸素质的培养，减轻学生过重的课业负担，促进学生德、智、体、美全面发展。

Chaning the concept of reducation involvespromoting overall student development in morality, intellect, physical educaiton,aesthetics, and reducing excessive coursework.

高校后勤服务社会化不仅是后勤服务设施建设的社会化，也包括后勤服务的社会化。

The introduction of outsourceing involves both construction of facilities and supply of services.

第六， 关于觉问题。培养好的风气，最主要的是走群众路线和实事求是是这两条。特别是科学，它本身就是实事求是、老老实实的学问，是不允许弄虚作假的。

Six, the question of the style of study. Fostering a good atmosphere depends primarily on two thigns-- following the mass line and seeking truth from facts. Science, in particular, involvesthe conscientious quest for truth and permits of no deceit.

这三个例子都是用了involve一词，这也是翻译中常用的一个动词，其基本意思也是包含、涉及。用在这里的好处是不把话说得太死，言外之意是还可能饮食其他的内容。

4、“是”和“就是”常用来引用对一个概念所作的说明，在这种情况下，mean是一个很有用的动词。例如：

在社会主义国家，一个真正的马克思主义政党在执政以后，一定要致力于发展生产力，并在这个基础上逐步提高人民的生活水平。这就是建设物质文明。

In a socialist country, a genuinely Marxist ruling party must devote itself to developing the productive forces and, on the bassis, gradually raise the people's living standards. Thismeansbuilding a society with high marterial standards.

与此同时，还是要建设社会主义的精神文明，最根本的是要使广大人民有共产主义的理想，有道德、有文化，守纪律。国际主义、爱国主义都属于精神文明的范畴。

At the same time, we are building a socialist society with high cultural and ethical standards, which essentially meansthat our peole should have communist ideas, moral integritey, a good education adn a strong sense of discipline. Internaionalism and patriotism also belong to this realm.

什么叫领导？领导就是服务。几年前，我曾说过，愿意给教育、科技部门的同志当后勤部长。今天，我还是这个态度。

what is leadership? Leadership meansservice. i said a few years ago taht I would like to be director of support services for the comrades working in the department of education and science and tchnology. I still feel that way.

我们的经济改革，概括一点说，这就是对内搞活，对外开放。对内搞活，也是对内开放，通过开放调动全国人民的积极性。

In a nutshell, our economic reform meansinvigorating the domestic economy and oening to the outside world. Invigorating the domestic economy means opening domestically, so as to stimulate the initiative of the peole throughout the country.

共建，就是将部门与地方条块各自办学转变为共同办事。

"Joint construction" means that central government departments and localities should quit going ti alone an start running schools in cooperation.

西方民主那一套我们不能照搬，中国的事情要根据自己的实际情况办。中国的民主是社会主义民主，是同社会主义法制相辅相成的。中国正是根据自己的实际情况，建设有中国特色的社会主义。

We cannot mechanically copy Western-style deomocracy, taking it over wholesale; China's affairs have to be handle in light of conditions in China. Demcracy in China meanssocialist democracy, and our socialist democracy and socialist legal system complement each other. We are building a Chinese socialism.

我们执行对外开入政策，学习外国的技术，利用版次，是为了搞好社会主义建设，而不能离开社会主义道德，我们要发展寒舍生产力，发展社会主义仅有制、增加全民所得。我们允许一些地区、一些人先富士起来，是为了达到共同富裕，所以要防止两极分化。这就叫社会主义。

By carrying out the open npolicy, learning foreign technologies and utilizing foreign capital, we mean to promote socialist construction, not o deviate from the socialist road. We intend to devlop the productive forces, expand socialist public ownership and raise the people's income. The purpose of allowing some regions and some pepole to become prosperous before otehrs is to enable all of them to prosper eventually. We have to make sure that there is no polarization of society-- that's what socialism means.

要发展就要变，不变就不会发展。

Development meanschange; wihtout change, there canbe no devlopment.

5、“是”可以作为一个虚词，泛指所有。例如：

Every Chinese loves China.

是中国人都爱中国。

Every man is liable to error.; No human being can be free from mistakes.

是人总要犯错误。

When there's a tough job, he always rushes to do it.

是重活， 他都抢着干。

6、如果”是“带着一个解释性的成分的话，那就可以译成一个同位语，或修饰短语，就不用翻译了。例如：

……能耗强度下降 4.8%，是近年来最大降幅。

Energy intensity was cut by 4.8%, the biggest reduction made in recent years.

对于汉语高频词“是”的理解与翻译，确实是需要根据不同的语境，找到准确的内涵，并用相应的英文词来与之对应。这对于译者来说，是一个相对较高的要求，同时也是中英语言差异的最好例证。

注：以上例句来自于庄绎传编著的《译海一粟：汉英翻译九百例》和《英汉双向大词典》以及2015年《政府工作报告》。