上周知新共学翻译群的练习遇到这样的句子：
中国同意不让自己征收的平均关税超出10%的上限。该体系的创始成员巴西的这一上限是31. 4%，印度是48. 5%。
当时我们整理的一个思路是，把前后句隐藏的对比表达出来，并以此作为两句话之间的衔接，遂有了：
China agreed to put a 10% cap on its average tariffs. Contrast that withBrazil, a founding member of the system, with the ceiling at 31.4%, and India, at 48.5%.
表示A与B的对比，可以在第二句用contrast A with B的句型。从语法上看，这是一个祈使句，意思是把A与B做比较，B后面可以跟同位语或定语从句，详述B的情况。
比如经济学人之前的一个句子：
Contrast that with Infosys, an Indian technology firm, whose own retired founder succeeded in getting its boss to quit on August 18th. 不同于印度科技公司Infosys，该公司已经退休的创始人成功使现任老板于8月18日宣布辞职。
这里顺便总结一下其他表示对比的英文单词或词组，方便大家日后在翻译或写作中替换使用，不重样。部分例句选自往期经济学人文章。
最简单的比较，不突出优劣好坏之分：
in comparison with sth，when compared with sb./sth.（与…）相比较
When compared with navigation by white cane in one of MIT’s famously crowded hallways, it reduced blind students’ collisions with others by 86%.在麻省理工学院某条出了名拥挤的走廊里，和使用导盲杖相比，这套设备让盲人学生撞到其他人的次数减少了86%。
by comparison
By comparison, analysis published in 2016 found that trade with China between 1999 and 2011 may have left America with 2m fewer jobs than it would otherwise have had.相比之下，2016年公布的分析指出，1999年到2011年与中国的贸易可能让美国减少了200万个工作岗位。
by contrast (to/with)
Light coming from other directions, by contrast, is cancelled through destructive interference.相反，来自其他方向的光线则通过破坏性干涉被抵消。
In contrast (to/with)
In contrast, the IT of most Chinese companies is underdeveloped. “They can jump directly to the cloud,” says Ji Xinhua, the founder and chief executive of UCloud, a smaller but fast-growing cloud provider.而在中国，大部分公司的IT系统都不完善。“它们可以直接跃上云端。”规模较小但发展迅速的云服务提供商UCloud的创始人兼首席执行官季昕华说。
如果想要强调反差直达，可以用stark, marked, sharp等形容词，比如 (in) stark / marked / sharp etc contrast to sth. 表示与…形成鲜明对比：
The winter heatwave in California is a stark contrast to the below-freezing temperatures on the East Coast. 加州的冬季热浪与东海岸的零下气温形成了鲜明的对比。
如果想要体现出“比得上”、“比不上”，则还可以使用更加确切的词，比如：
dwarf vt. 使显得矮小；使相形见绌
The young men and women seem lost in their designer clothes, dwarfed and dehumanised by their possessions,as if ownership gone into reverse.这些年轻的男男女女似乎迷失在他们的名牌服装中，他们的财物使他们显得渺小、没有人情味，就好像这种所有权关系颠倒了一样。
outshine/overshadow vt. 优于，使黯然失色
Several new players outshone the veterans. 几名新选手使老将们黯然失色。
eclipse vt. 使黯然失色
In recent years Japan's economy has been eclipsed by that of China, which has overtaken its neighbor to take second place on the back of rampant growth. 近年来，中国发展迅猛，已取代邻国日本成为第二大经济体。
put sb./sth. to shame 使……相形见绌
When machines can put humans to shame in performing the routine job-specific tasks that Infosys once took offshore, it makes sense to think about the skills that computers find harder to learn. 既然在执行日常的、与特定工作相关的具体任务时，机器已经能让人类相形见绌，那么思考那些电脑较难掌握的技能便顺理成章。
pale beside/next to sth., pale in/by comparison (with/to sth.), pale into 相形见绌；显得逊色
Last year's riots pale in comparison with this latest outburst of violence. 去年的骚乱与最近这次暴乱相比，可说是小巫见大巫。
When someone you love has a life-threatening illness, everything else pales in comparison. 当你所爱的人得了致命的疾病时，其他的一切就都显得不重要了。
如果是能够比得上，二者相当，则可考虑以下表达：
be on a par (with sth.):（与某事物）水平（水准）相同
The remaining half-billion or so are on a par with the most destitute bits of Africa. 最后剩下的约五亿人处境与非洲部分最贫困的地区接近。
answer n. 足以媲美的人；堪称相当的事物
More than a decade ago the government declared that the Binhai New Area, a vast development in Tianjin, would be north China’s answer to Shenzhen and Pudong. 十几年前，政府声称，中国北方庞大的滨海新区可与深圳和浦东相媲美。
rival vt. 与…相匹敌；比得上
You will find scenery to rival anything you can see in the Alps. 你能看到的景色可与你在阿尔卑斯山所见的景色相媲美。
parallel vt. 与…媲美；比得上
a level of achievement that has never been paralleled 绝无仅有的最高成就
网友评论