中式英语之鉴

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Reading Task: Chapter 7

Summary of the Content：
In Chapter 7 "The Plague of Nouns" of "A Guide to English Translation in China", the author focuses on a common problem in Chinese-English translation: the excessive use of nouns. They pointed out that in English translation, Chinese often tends to convert verbs or adjectives into nouns, which leads to wordy and unnatural English expression.
For example, people might wrongly use "make a decision" instead of "decide"; "Improvement" may be wrongly translated as "improvement effect". These unnecessary noun-based phrases not only add superfluous words, but also weaken the clarity and strength of the sentence. The author provides a large number of examples from official documents and common translations, and then shows how to rewrite them into more concise and idiomatic English by restoring the original verb forms or using more direct expressions.

Evaluation：
The writing style of this part is practical and inspiring. The author uses a large number of real-life examples to make the abstract concept of "noun plague" exist. This topic is highly relevant to the field of Chinese-English translation and targets a common and stubborn problem that Chinese learners and translators often encounter.
In terms of ideology, this chapter emphasizes the importance of the natural and effective use of language. It encourages readers to break away from the stereotyped translation mode influenced by Chinese grammar when translating and think more like native English speakers. By doing so, the quality of translation can be significantly improved and communication barriers caused by unnatural translation can be eliminated.

Reflection：
In my own life, especially when writing English articles or communicating in English, I often fall into the trap of the "noun plague". This chapter reminds me to pay more attention to my language habits. For example, in my previous writing, I might have written "give a demonstration" instead of "demonstration".
In a broader social context, accurate and natural language is of vital importance for international communication. In business, diplomacy and cultural exchanges, poor translations full of "noun plagues" may lead to misunderstandings. For instance, in international business contracts, the unclear translation caused by this issue may lead to disputes over the interpretation of the terms. Therefore, understanding and avoiding the "noun plague" is not only beneficial to an individual's language learning, but also very important for promoting the smooth progress of cross-cultural social communication.