Soccer is a difficult sport.（1）A player must be able to run steadily without rest.（2）Sometimes a player must hit the ball with his or her head.（3）Players must be willing to bang into and be banged into by others.（4）They must put up with aching feet and sore muscles．
上面這則短文中，主題句（main idea sentence）也就是文章中心是第一句，（1）（2）（3）（4）句是用來(lái)說(shuō)明主題句。而在漢語(yǔ)中，我們習(xí)慣于先分后總，先說(shuō)原因后說(shuō)結(jié)果，即所謂“前因后果”，如果要表達(dá)相同意思，我們通常這樣說(shuō)：
July 6，2002 Dear Tom， I am sorry to inform you that I won't be able to go to dance with you this weekend. My mother is suddenly ill. In order not to disappoint you, I have asked Shi Dai to take my place. She is a better dancer, I think. My regrets. Joe
從便條中可以看出，英語(yǔ)表達(dá)先“果”—I won't be able to go to dance with you this weekend后“因”—my mother is suddenly ill，即所謂“先果后因”。
He had to stay at home yesterday because he was ill．因?yàn)樗×耍蛱焖坏貌淮粼诩依铩? Tragedies can be written in literature since there is tragedy in life．生活中既然有悲劇，文學(xué)作品就可以寫悲劇。
二、接下來(lái)，讓我們看一下英漢句子結(jié)構(gòu)特點(diǎn)。英語(yǔ)屬印歐語(yǔ)系，漢語(yǔ)屬漢藏語(yǔ)系，兩種語(yǔ)言相距甚遠(yuǎn)，英語(yǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)緊湊，漢語(yǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)松散。語(yǔ)言學(xué)家以“竹節(jié)句法”來(lái)比喻英語(yǔ)句子，即英語(yǔ)句子是由斷不可缺各種連接詞銜接而成，宛如節(jié)節(jié)相連竹子；而漢語(yǔ)句子則被比喻為“流水句法”，所謂流水指少用乃至不用連接詞仍行文流暢。所以說(shuō)，英語(yǔ)重形和，漢語(yǔ)重意和。英語(yǔ)句子中如果少了連接詞如or，but，if，so，because，when，although ， in order that，so that，所要表達(dá)意思就支離破碎了，而漢語(yǔ)如果沒(méi)有連接詞，只需從句子本身意思就可以把概念或關(guān)系表達(dá)清楚。
如：Conquer the desires，or they will conquer you．你如不能戰(zhàn)勝欲念，欲念將要戰(zhàn)勝你。 An Englishman who could not speak Chinese was once traveling in China．一個(gè)英國(guó)人，不會(huì)說(shuō)中國(guó)話，有一次在中國(guó)旅行。
It was on a Sunday evening，when he was lying in the orchard listening to a blackbird and composing a love poem，that he heard the gate swing to，and saw the girl coming running among the trees，with the red-cheeked，stolid Joe in swift pursuit．
這是個(gè)英語(yǔ)強(qiáng)調(diào)句，其重心是：he heard the gate swing to and saw the girl coming running am ong the trees．，而when he was lying in the orchard listening to a blackbird and composing a love poem是一個(gè)時(shí)間狀語(yǔ)從句，這兩個(gè)句子通過(guò)it was...that...這個(gè)強(qiáng)調(diào)句型巧妙地合為一個(gè)復(fù)合長(zhǎng)句，整個(gè)句子簡(jiǎn)單明了，結(jié)構(gòu)緊湊，若用漢語(yǔ)表達(dá)則須分成好幾個(gè)短句。
再如：
The president said at a conference dominated by questions on yesterday's election results that he could not explain why the Republicans had suffered such a widespread defeat，which in the end would deprive the Republican Party of long-held superiority in the House．
這個(gè)英語(yǔ)長(zhǎng)句是由一個(gè)帶有分詞短語(yǔ)主句，兩個(gè)賓語(yǔ)從句和一個(gè)非限制性定語(yǔ)從句組成，整個(gè)句子主干簡(jiǎn)單明了：The president said...that...，若用漢語(yǔ)來(lái)表達(dá)，須把此長(zhǎng)句拆開(kāi)分成三個(gè)單句來(lái)分別敘述。
又如：It has been noted that those who live，or have lived，in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do．人們已經(jīng)注意到大凡受到死亡威脅人或是死里逃生人對(duì)于他們所干任何事總是興趣盎然。
六、從詞匯方面講，英漢兩種語(yǔ)言也有很大差異。就詞組而言，英語(yǔ)中詞組或短語(yǔ)可謂林林總總，豐富多彩，有名詞短語(yǔ)、動(dòng)詞短語(yǔ)、形容詞短語(yǔ)、介詞短語(yǔ)、分詞短語(yǔ)、不定式短語(yǔ)與獨(dú)立結(jié)構(gòu)等，它們語(yǔ)法功能不一而足，可作主語(yǔ)、謂語(yǔ)、賓語(yǔ)、定語(yǔ)、狀語(yǔ)與表語(yǔ)等。如：Marriage may be compared to a cage：the birds outside despair to get in and those within despair to get out．婚姻好比鳥籠，外面鳥兒想進(jìn)進(jìn)不去，里面鳥兒想出出不來(lái)。（不定式短語(yǔ)to get in，to get out作狀語(yǔ)）
I am utterly in the dark about the matter．我對(duì)這件事完全不知道。（介詞詞組in the dark作表語(yǔ)）。Christmas is coming up．圣誕節(jié)就要到了。（動(dòng)詞短語(yǔ)come up作謂語(yǔ)）。相比之下，漢語(yǔ)更偏重以單音節(jié)或多音節(jié)單詞為其基本句法成分，而且其短語(yǔ)用法十分有限。
