5. 使用各种类型的句子
不宜过多地使用简单句或短句。简单句、短句可使意义表达简洁有力，而长句、并列句、主从复合句、并列主从复合句恰可适应医学英语的层次清楚，主次分明、结构严谨、逻辑清晰的特点。例如：“患者，女，30岁，巳婚。劳累后心悸20年左右，因畏寒、发烧、呼吸困难和踝水肿半个月，于 1988年4月15日收人湖南医科大学第一附属医院”不可译作： The patient was a 30-year-old married female. She complained of palpitation, which was caused by hard work and had lasted some twenty years. She also complained of chills，fever, dyspnea and the edema of the ankle, which had continued for half a month. She was thus admitted to the First Teaching Hospital of Hunan Medical University on April 15，1988。这四个句子同等重要，破坏了意义的完整性(unity),且该突出的没有突出，不该强调的反而被强调，读者不禁茫然问道：到底在谈何事？主、从意义各在何处? 若用一句话译出，则主要意义独霸主、谓宝座，次要意义各就其位， 俯首称臣，主从关系一目了然:The patient, a 30-year-old married female, was admitted to the First Teaching Hospital of Hunan Medical University on April 15, 1988，because of palpitation, which, caused by hard work，had lasted some twenty years， and because of chills, fever, dyspnea and the edema of the ankle，which had continued for half a month.
6. 病历的时态
病历中的信息或由患者提供或由医生经检查手段获取，故均与过去时间有关，常用过去时。但实际翻译中人们常误认为应用现在时。译者若不过分拘泥于汉语，在患者提供的信息前加上The patient said之类的引叙动词（Reporting Verbs)，过去时间便一目了然（见本病历第二段）。
7. 许多同义词的差异
由于医学英语从拉丁语和希腊语大量吸取词素，产生了数目可观的同义词。其方式有：
(a) 复制形式（the duplicate form），即词根(the root)意义相同，但词源各异，例如：①dentist (dent ：词根，tooth，[L])，②odentologist (odent:词根，tooth, [GK])——牙科医生，③oralogy (oral:词根，mouth，[L])，④ stomatology (stomat；词根，mouth [GK])——口腔学。但例词①、④比②、③更常见。
上一篇：医学英语术语构词规则
下一篇：英译汉词性的转换（医学）
微信公众号搜索“译员”关注我们，每天为您推送翻译理论和技巧，外语学习及翻译招聘信息。