Omission（省略法）
Omission of Words Peculiar to English（省略英语特有的词）
Omission of the Expletives It and There（省略语助词it和there）
Examples & Drills   Guided Translation
(1) Omit impersonal it, which denotes natural phenomena, time, distance, or state of things in general:
1. How is it with the sick man?
2. It is all over with him.
3. She feared it would go hard with Antonio.
(2)    Omit anticipatory it, which stands for an infinitive, a gerund, or a clause:
4. Lu Xun has it that “Read your own work at least twice after you have got through your wri
ting, trying to cut off all unnecessary words, sentences, and even paragraphs without any regret.”
5. It is with words as with sunbeams: the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.
(3)    Omit demonstrative it:
6. I don’t think it is he.
(4)    Omit idiomatic it:
7. You’ll be in for it if father finds out you’ve not been to school for three days.
要是爸爸发现你三天没去上学，你就要倒霉了。
8. He led a dog’s life of it.
他过着牛马不如的生活。
9. Lord Angelo dukes it well. (Shakespeare)
安哲罗勋爵很有爵爷的神气。
10. We are born to slave it for our lord. (Thackeray)
我们生来就是为君主效劳的。
11. I am used to roughing it.
我已习惯于栉风沐雨，过艰苦的生活了。
12. He lords it over his inferiors.
他对部下摆架子，逞威风。
13. If you are found out, you will catch it.
14. I am determined to fight it out.
15. She is starring it in the provinces.
16. We had to walk it in the rain.
17. Can’t you swim it?
18. Shall we walk it or bus it?
19. We will have a hard time of it.
(5) Omit expletive there in existential sentences:
1. Where there is a will, there is a way.
2. Where there is smoke, there is fire.
3. Where there is life, there is hope.
(6) Omit expletive there in idiomatic expressions (often found in idioms or proverbs):
4. There are always more round pegs than round holes.
5. There are friends and friends.
6. There is no free lunch.
7. There is no royal road to anything.
8. There is no telling when he will come.
9. There is no mistaking that fact.
10. There is no come and go with him.
11. There is no rule without an exception.
12. There is no fire without smoke.
13. There is nothing but is good for something.
14. There is no use crying over spilt milk.
Omission of English Articles（省略英语冠词）
Examples:
1. A parrot can talk like a man.
鹦鹉会像人一样说话。
2. The young actress is a new Marilyn Monroe!
这个年轻的女演员活像玛莉莲•梦露！
3. A Mrs. Smith wishes to see you.
有一位史密斯夫人想见你。
4. The Prime Minister spoke to an astonished Commons.
首相向惊愕不已的下议院致辞。
5. His dinner hour is an inevitable 6:
他总是下午6点半吃晚饭。
6. My father is a vigorous 86.
我父亲现年86岁，仍很健旺。
7. You can’t be the Charles Chaplin!
你可不是鼎鼎大名的查理•卓别林啊！
8. Men perish, but man shall endure; lives die but the life is not dead. (Algernon Sivinburne: Hymn of Man)
人要死亡而人类永存；寿命有限而生命不绝。
Drills
9. This is a complete Shakespeare.
10. The wish is father to the thought.
11. She was a Jones before she married Bill.
12. I can’t remember a Christmas when it snowed so much.
13. A stitch in time saves nine.
14. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
15. From that day to this, the islands discovered by Columbus have been called “the West Indies”.
16. We often dine with the Browns.
17. He likes the Picasso.
18. Do you know where the Kodak is made?
19. She had the bravest bravery of all, the bravery that is never afraid to speak the truth. (King Lear)
NOTES
Many years ago, flying to the moon was out of the question. (= impossible)
许多年前，飞往月球是不可能的words。
At present, flying to the moon is out of question. (= beyond question = cannot be doubted)
现在，飞往月球是毫无疑问的。
Translate the sixth and the last paragraph of the text, please.
请翻译课文的第六段和最后一段。
Translate the sixth and last paragraph of the text, please.
请翻译课文的第六段即最后一段。
Omission of Words Superfluous in Chinese（省略汉语多余的词）
1. I belong to you and you (belong) to me.
我属于你，你也属于我。
2. Reading makes a full man; conference (makes) a ready man; and writing (makes) an exact man. (Francis Bacon: Of Studies)
读书使人充实，讨论使人机智，笔记使人准确。
3. 你用直接法学习英语，（你）便做不好翻译工作。
You can’t do translation work well if you study English by the direct method.
4. 白求恩大夫一到前线（他）就立刻开始工作。
Dr. Bethune set to work as soon as he came to the front.
Omission of Pronouns（省略代词）
Examples & Drills   Guided Translation
(1) Omit pronouns used as subjects
1. Water passes from a liquid to a solid state when it freezes.
水结冰时就从液态变为固态。
2. When we want to move a body of great mass we must apply a great force.
要移动质量大的物体，就要用大力。
3. As you sow, so also shall you reap.