根据国外科技论文摘要写作的动态，本文探讨写作科技论文英文摘要的基本原则，较为详细地分析写好科技论文英文摘要的写作要点及注意问题，就摘要的格式、基本结构要素的写作要点及国际科技论文摘要中出现的某些新变化进行分析讨论，希望对科技论文英文摘要的编辑加工有所帮助。
1 格式
就英文摘要的格式而言, 常见的有传统格式和结构式两种。因结构式摘要层次更加清楚。近年来, 越来越多的科技期刊采用这一格式。如下例:
从上述英文摘要可以看出，结构式摘要，除了题名、作者及工作单位名称之外，包含了研究的“目的”、“实验方法”、“结果”、“结论”4个基本要素。目前, 不同杂志结构式摘要(英文) 包含的要素不尽相同，如附表所示，在撰写英文摘要时应先了解杂志的具体要求，提高针对性。
2 题名
将题名翻译成英文时, 作者和杂志的编辑应注意以下情况，对提高英文摘要的质量有一定帮助。
2.1 选好并译好题名的中心词
如：题名“降钙素基因相关肽在前列腺素介导豚鼠心脏缺血预适应中的作用”中，中心词是“……在……中的作用”，可译为“Role of …in…”，整个题名可译为“Role of calcitonin gene-related peptide in prostaglandins-mediated ischemic preconditioning in guinea pig hearts”, 在“Role”前面可以不用定冠词“the”。
同样, “……影响”可译为“Effect (s) of …on…”、“Influence of …on…”;“……变化”可译为“Changes of …”、“Variation of…”;“……比较”可译为“Comparison of …with…”或“Comparison…between…and …”;“……相互作用”可译为“Interaction of…and …on…”;“……调节作用”可译为“Regulation of …by…”;
至于中文题名中常含有“……的实验研究”、“……的观察”等套语, 在翻译成英文时不必翻译, 以符合现代英语简洁明了的要求。
2.2 使用名词作定语, 使题名更加简练
在医学科研论文中, 使用名词作定语的情况十分常见。如：题名“Elevated glucose impairs cAMP-mediated dilation by reducing activity of Kv channel in small coronary smooth muscle cells in rats”, 可改为“Elevated glucose impairs cAMP-mediated dilation by reducing Kv channel activity in rat small coronary smooth muscle cells”。一种是名词或名词性词组直接作定语, 如“smooth muscle cells”,“Rat small coronary arteries”、“vascular smooth muscle function”、“cAMP production”“signal transduction mechanism”等, 用名词和形容词作定语修饰名词时, 要注意修饰词的先后顺序, 如“cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells”不能写成“rat aortic cultured smooth muscle cells”, 在翻译时要多查阅英文文献。另一种是名词-分词或形容词组成的复合词作定语, 如“Nitric oxide-induced inhibition of aortic smooth muscle cell motility”,“cAMP-mediated dilation”,“endotoxin-induced fever”,“IL-10-mediated protection”,“Endothelial nitric oxide synthase -transfected cells”,“tumor-bearing mice”,“Leukemia inhibitory factor relaxes arteries through endothelium-dependent mechanism”,“in a dose-dependent manner”等。编辑加工时应掌握这些表达方式。
3 作者姓名和工作单位
要与中文摘要一致。用汉语拼音拼写姓名, 汉语姓名按普通话拼写, 一般来说, 姓氏用大写字母, 名字的第一个字母都大写, 其余部分用小写, 中间用连字符连接, 如:“宋汉武”写成“SONG Han-Wu”、“皇甫小玉”写成“HUANGFU Xiao-Yu ”。工作单位名称的拼写, 主要是地名用汉语拼音拼写, 要注意少数地名, 如:“西安”应写成“Xi'an”, “陕西”应写成“Shanxi”。目前一些英文摘要中这部分错误较多, 编辑加工应注意这些细节, 这对国外读者与论文作者取得联系十分重要。
4 “目的”部分
不要简单地与题名重复, 有时还可以简单介绍一下研究的现状;时态多采用一般现在时、过去时或完成时。如:Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is responsible for the production of nitric oxide (NO) in blood vessels.NO has been shown to be involved in the inhibition of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation. In the present study, the eNOS gene was transferred into rat aortic smooth muscle cells by using an adenoviral vector, and the effect of endogenously produced NO on VSMC proliferation was investigated。过去认为科技论文中应避免用第一人称的主动态, 要以第三人称或研究客体作主语, 在语态上用被动语态。如:“The current study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-proliferative effect of RNH-6270, a novel angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonist, on exaggerated growth of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from spontaneously hypertensive rats.”, 这种观点有失偏颇, 近年来, 许多英文摘要使用第一人称的主动语态。如:①Hyperglycemia impairs endothelium-dependent vasodilation. In this study, we examined the effect of high glucose (HG) on vascular smooth muscle function。也有一些结构式摘要“目的”部分直接用动词不定式的主动语态。如:“OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cytokine-induced nitric oxide production is regulated by the TXA2/prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) receptor.”
5 “方法”和“结果”部分
一般应用过去时态, 方法的描述多用被动语态。如:Methods. Rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMC) were harvested and cultured for two to four passages. A migration assay was performed in a Boyden chamber with chemoattractant (platelet-derived growth factor) and varying concentrations of DEX. The number of migrated cells was counted under light microscopy. Zymography was performed on culture media to assess MMP activity, and Western blotting was performed to assay MMP and levels of tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs). Results. DEX progressively inhibited RASMC migration in a dose-dependent fashion. This effect was statistically significant for concentrations of 10-7 to 10-5 mol/L (P < 0.0005). Zymography showed that DEX inhibits MMP-2 activity in a dose-dependent manner. Western blots indicated that total MMP-2 secretion was inhibited and that TIMP-2 secretion was increased by DEX。近年来, 也有作者用第一人称的主动语态来描述实验方法。如:“METHODS AND RESULTS: We cultured rat thoracic aorta vascular smooth muscle cells and measured cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, cell cycle, transcription of TGF-beta1, and concentration of TGF-beta1 in supernatant medium.”。在用英文描述方法和结果时, 作者应该掌握一些常见的表达方式和句型, 如:“用……方法测定……”可译成“…was performed to determine…”、“随机分成……”可译成“randomly divided into”、“……以剂量依赖的方式增加……的表达”可译成“…resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the expression of…”或“…increased the expression of…in a dose-dependent manner (fashion) ”、“治疗组与非治疗组之间, ……没有显著差异”可译成“there were no significant differences in ( the activities of glucose-6-phosphatase ) in treated and untreated (diabetic rats) ”、“……与……呈正相关”可译成“There was a significant positive correlation between …and…”、“……的水平高于……”可译成“…levels (in old rats ) were significantly higher than those ( in young rats) ”、“以时间依赖的方式增加……的生成”可译成“(IL-1beta) increased (nitrite) formation in a time-dependent manner”等, 以便翻译时恰当应用。另外,在叙述结果和方法时, 句子的开头不要用阿拉伯数字。
6 “结论”部分
一般用一般现在时, 也有少数情况下使用过去时, 并且使用第一人称。如:“CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the expression of iNOS and the production of nitric oxide are regulated by the TXA2/ prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) receptor in IL-1beta-stimulated vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) .The endogenous production of TXA2 by the induction of COX-2 from IL-1beta-stimulated VSMCs probably down-regulated the production of nitric oxide in VSMCs.TXA2/ PGH2 receptor inhibitors may contribute to the reduction in formation of atherosclerosis in lesions with vascular injury by enhancing the production of nitric oxide by VSMCs.”;“CONCLUSIONS: We found that a high Lp (a) level was an independent predictor of the development of coronary heart disease in middle-aged men.”
“结论”部分常用的句型和词组有:“These results suggest that…”、“Our data demonstrate that…”、“These findings may explain why…”、“The findings indicate that…”、“Our data consider that…”、“The results support the hypothesis that…”、“be related to (与……有关) ”、“be associated with (与……有关) ”、“Altered smooth muscle function may also contribute to the reduced coronary vasodilation in diabetes.”、“Adenovirus-mediated transfer of the HO-1 gene may provide a novel therapeutic approach in treating occlusive vascular disease. (为……疾病的治疗提供一种新的治疗途径) ”、“be involved in (涉及) ”、“These data support the suggestion that BMK1 is important and necessary for mitogen-induced SMC proliferation.”、“be, at least in part, due to (至少部分是由于) ”、“have an inhibitory effect on ( 对……有抑制作用) ”、“play an important role in (在……中发挥重要作用) ”、“be useful (helpful) in (在……方面有用) ”、“have synergistic effects on…(对……有协同作用) ”等, 作者在阅读医学英文文献时, 注意这些常用词组的用法对英文摘要的写作有一定的帮助。
7 反复推敲英文摘要, 尽可能避免常见错误的发生
7.1 介词的错用
如“IL-10-mediated protection of LPS-induced septic shock in mice was significantly attenuated by cotreatment with the HO inhibitor.”中, protection of 应改为protection against;“慢性心力衰竭病人”应译成“patients with chronic heart failure”, 而不能译作“patients of chronic heart failure”。
7.2 形容词比较级中“that (those) ”的错用
如:“The nitrite concentration was 1.7 times greater in the presence of seratrodast than that without it.”中, “than”后必须加上“that”;“Plasma natriuretic peptide levels were higher in symptomatic patients than those in asymptomatic patients”中, “those”就必须删去, 因为此句比较的是状语, 而7.1 was 1.7 times greater in the presence of seratrodast than that without it.”中, “than”后必须加上“that”;“Plasma natriuretic peptide levels were higher in symptomatic patients than those in asymptomatic patients”中, “those”就必须删去, 因为此句比较的是状语, 而“that (those) ”指的是主语的成分。
7.3 连接词的错用
使用“neither…nor…, both…and…, not only…but also…”等时, 忽视结构的对称性。如“The results of this study suggest that the cardiodepressant effects of LPS are dependent on CD14 signaling and may be due to not only acute negative inotropic effects of TNF-alpha but also may be complicated by TNF-alpha-induced apoptotic cell death which effectively reduces the number of working myocardial cells.”中, “not only”应放在“may”的后面, 改为“may not only be due to”才能保持句子的对称性。
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