英汉两种语言，由于表达方式不尽相同，翻译时时既可能要将词类加以转换，又可能要在词量上加以增减。增词法就是在翻译时按意义上（或修辞上）和句法上的需要增加一些词来更忠实通通顺地表达原文的思想内容。这当然不是无中生有地随意增增词，而是增加原文中虽无其词而有其意的的一些词。现分两节来介绍。

一、增加动词

根据意义上的需要，可以在名词前后增加动词。如如果把下面例1中的 after the banquets， the concerts and table tennis exhibition译为“在宴会、音乐会、乒乓球表演之后”，意思似乎不够明确。如果在名名词之前增加原文中虽无其词而有其意的动词，译为“在参加宴会、出席音乐会、观看乒乓球表演之后”，形成三个动宾词组，那就意思明确，读起来也较通顺自然，符合汉语习惯。

1.In the evening, after the banquets, the concerts and the table tennis exhibitions, he would work on the drafting of the final communique.

晚上在参加宴会、出席音乐会、观看乒乓球表演之后，他还得起草最后公报。

2.There were no speeches, no foreign diplomats, no "ordinary Chinese" with paper flags and bouquets of flowers.

没有发表讲话，没有各国外交官到场，也没有“中国老百姓”挥舞纸旗、花束的场面。

3.Rostow was about to become, for lack of anyone or anything better, a very influential intellectual - the wrong man at the wrong place with the wrong idea.

因为找不到比他更好的人，也没有更好的办法，于是，罗斯托就要成为一个很有影响的知识分子了，这真是在错误的地方任用错误的人去实行他的错误主张。

4.They had been through it all at his side -the bruising battles, the humiliations of the defeat... through empty mid-1960s—until at last, in 1968, they were able to savor the sweet taste of triumph.

他们始终站在他的一边，经历过残酷的厮杀，忍受过失败的耻辱，熬过了一事无成的二十世纪六十年代中期，好不容易挨到一九六入年，他们才尝到了胜利的甜头。

二、增加形容词

1.With what enthusiasm the Chinese people are building socialism!

中国人民正在以多么高的热情建设社会主义啊！

2.The plane twisted under me, trailing flame and smoke.

（敌人的）飞机在下面螺旋下降，拖着浓烟烈焰掉了下去

3.O, Tom Canty, born in rags and dirt and misery, what sight is this! (Mark Twain)

啊，汤姆·康第，生在破烂、航脏和苦难中，现在这番景象却是多么煊赫啊！

根据原著，汤姆·康第本是一贫儿，穿上王子服装以后，被人认为真是王子，就显得特别煊赫。原文虽无表示“煊赫”的字眼，但含有此意，所以翻译时应增加上去。以上三例表明，为了意义上或修辞上的需要，有些英语句子中的名词，译成汉语时，可以增加一些适当的形容词。

三、增加副词

根据原文的上下文，有些动词在一定场合可增加适当的副词，才能确切表达原意。

1.The crowds melted away.

人群渐渐散开了。

2.As he sat down and began talking, words poured out.

他一坐下来就讲开了，滔滔不绝地讲个没完。

3.Tremaine sank down with his face in his hands.

屈里曼两手蒙着脸，一屁股坐了下去。

4.In the films of those days, all too often it was the same one: boy tractor driver meets girl tractor driver; they fall in love and drive tractors together.

在那时候的电影里，总是老一套：男拖拉机手和女施拉机手始而相遇，继而相爱，终而并肩开拖拉机了。

5.He was fascinated by the political processes -the wheeling and dealing of presidential politics, the manipulating, releasing and leaking of news, the public and private talks.

一幕幕政治花招真使他看入迷了：总统竞选活动中的勾心斗角，尔虞我诈；对新闻消息的幕后操纵、公开发表和有意透露，以及公开和秘密的谈话。

四、增加名词

1.在不及物动词后面增加名词

英语中有些动词有时用作及物动词，有时用作不及物动词；当它作不及物动词用时，宾语实际上是隐含在动词后面的，译成汉语时往往需要把它表达出来。例如 To wash before meal是“饭前洗手”，如果不译出隐含的宾语“手”，译文“饭前洗一洗”的意思就不明确。同样，To wash after getting up和和 To wash before going to bed也应分别译成“起床后洗脸”和“睡前洗脚”了。

1)Mary washed for a living after her husband died of acute pneumonia.

玛丽在丈夫患急性肺炎去世后，就靠洗衣服维持生活。

2)Day after day he came to his work—sweeping, scrubbing, cleaning.

他每天来干活一一扫地，擦地板，收拾房间。

3)First you borrow, then you beg.

头一遭借钱，下一遭就讨饭。

4)Then Lieutenant Grub launched into the old recruiting routine, “See, save and serve! Hannigan, free tour to all the ports in the world. A fine ship for a home. Three meals a day without charge... You mustn't let such a golden opportunity slip by.”

于是，格拉布上尉开始说起招兵的老一套了：“见见世面，攒点钱，为国家出点力！汉尼根，免费周游世界上所有的港口。一艘上好的船为家，一天三餐不要钱。你千万不要错过这样大好的机会呀！”

2.在形容词前增加名词

1)This typewriter is indeed cheap and fine.

这部打字机真是价廉物美。

2)A new kind of aircraft—small, cheap, pilotless—is attracting increasing attention.

一种新型的飞机正越来越引起人们的注意它体积小，价格低，无人驾驶。

3)He is a complicated man—moody, mercurial, with a melancholy streak.

他是一个性格复杂的人一喜怒无常，反复多变，还有些郁郁寡欢

3.在抽象名词后增加名词

某些由动词或形容词派生来的抽象名词，翻译时可根椐上下文在其后面增添适当的名词，使译文更合乎规范。如：

to persuade 说服 persuasion 说服工作

to prepare 准备 preparation 准备工作

backward 落后 backwardness 落后状态

tense 紧张 tension 紧张局势

arrogant 自满 arrogance 自满情绪

mad 疯狂 madness 疯狂行为

antagonistic 敌对 antagonism 敌对态度

1)After all preparations were made, the planes were flown across the U. S. to San Francisco.

一切准备工作就绪以后，飞机就飞越美国去日金山。

2)In the summer of 1969, the Administration publicly urged an easing of tensions with China.

一九六九年夏天，政府公开主张缓和同中国的紧张关系。

3)Profanity was tacitly given up.

亵渎神灵的粗话全都心照不宣地不用了。

4.在具体名词后增加名词

当具体名词表达一种抽象概念时，译文中也常根据上下文增加一些适当的名词。

1)He felt the patriot rise within his breast.

他感到一种爱国热情在胸中激荡。

2)He allowed the father to be overruled by the judge, and declared his own son guilty.

他让法官的职责战胜父子的私情，而判决他儿子有罪。

3)Kissinger felt that Rogers was quibbling, but the lawyer in Nixon supported the quibble of a fellow lawyer.

基辛格感到罗杰斯是在挑刺儿。但是，律师出身的尼克松支持了他的同行的挑刺儿。

五、增加表示名词复数的词

汉语名词的复数没有词形变化，很多情况下不必表达出来。但要表达指多数人的名词时，可在该名词后面加“们”字，如“ the teachers”“教师们”，或在该名词前面加上“诸位”、“各（位）”，如“ ladies and gentlemen”“诸位（各位）女士和先生”。此外，英语名词复数，汉译时还可以根据情况，增加重叠词、数词或其他一些词来表达。这样做还可以提高修辞效果。

1.增加重叠词表示复数

1)Flowers bloom all over the yard.

朵朵鲜花开满了庭院。

2)Newsmen went flying off to Mexico.

记者纷纷飞到墨西哥去了。

3)There were rows of houses which he had never seen before.

一排排的房子，都是他从来没有见过的。

2.增加数词或其他词表示复数

1)The lion is the king of animals.

狮是百兽之王。

2)The very earth trembled as with the tramps of horses and murmur of angry men.

连大地都震动了，仿佛万马奔腾，千夫怒吼。

3)The mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valley.

群山已在山谷里开始投下蔚蓝色长影

4)Most were absorbed into the Russian empire through colonial expansion under the Tsars.

大部分是在历代沙皇统治下，通过殖民扩张而并入俄罗斯帝国的。

六、增加表达时态的词

英语动词的时态靠动词词形变化（如 write， wrote）或加助动词（如 will write，have written）来表达的。汉语动词没有词形变化，表达时态要靠增加汉语特有的时态助词或一般表示时间的词。因此，翻译完成时往往用“曾”、“已经”、“过”、“了”；翻译进行时往往用“在”、“正在”、“着”；翻译将来时往往用“将”、“就”、“要”、“会”、“便”等等。除此之外，为了强调时间概念或强调时间上的对比，往往需要加一些其他的词。

1.对某种时间概念作强调时，往往要加一些词。

1)I had known two great social systems.

那时以前，我就经历过两大社会制度。

这里除了用“过”字外，还增加了“那时以前”，强调过去完成的动作

2)The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.

原来是老头儿已教会了孩子捕鱼，所以孩子很爱他。

3)I had never thought Id be happy to find myself considered unimportant. But this time I was.

以往我从未想过，当我发觉人们认为我是无足轻重时，我会感到高兴。但这次情况确是如此。

4)Whereas Kissinger had once needed Nixon as a channel to power, Nixon now needed Kissinger to help him remain in power.

当年，基辛格曾需要尼克松的援引而获得权势；如今，尼克松需要基辛格帮他继续掌权。

2.强调时间上的对比时，往往需要加一些词。

1)The old man said, "They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are.”

老头儿说：“听人说，从前他爸爸是个打鱼的。他过去也许跟我们现在一样穷。”

2)I was, and remain, grateful for the part he played in my release.

我的获释是他成全的，对此我过去很感激，现在仍然很感激

3)The high-altitude plane was and still is a remarkable bird.

该高空飞机过去是现在仍然是一种了不起的飞机。

七、增加语气助词

汉语有许多语气助词，如“的”、“吧”、“呢”、“啊”、“呀”、“嘛”、“吗”、“啦”、“了”、“罢了”、“而已”等等。不同的语气助词可以发生不同的作用，英译汉时细心体会原文，增加一些汉语所特有的语气助助词，可以更好地表达原作的意义和修辞色彩。

1.Don’t take it seriously. I’m just making fun of you.

不要认真嘛！我不过开开玩笑罢了。

2.As for me, I didnt agree from the very beginning

我呢，从一开始就不赞成。

3.They (the eyes) were the same colour as the sea, cheerful and undefeated

那双眼啊，像海水一样的颜色，愉快，毫不沮丧。

4.He described it(Latvia)-its forests, its little villages, its peole, their fierce nationalism - with an eloquence that could arise only out of deep love for one's motherland

他描绘它（拉脱维亚）的风土人情一一森林啦、小村庄啦、人民啦、人民的强烈民族主义啦等等，只有深深热爱祖国的人才能说得如此娓娓动听，滔滔不绝。

5.It is entirely possible that things are being done for my release right now and that it takes time to do this

完全有可能眼下正在想办法使我获释，只不过需要时间而已。

八、增加量词

1.英语中数词（包括不定冠词a）与可数名词往往直接连用，它们之间没有量词，而汉语却往往要借助量词。因此翻译时应根据据汉语表达习惯恰当地增加表示其形状、特征或材料的名量词。如：

a bike 一辆自行车； a typewriter 一架打字机；

a tractor 一台拖拉机； a mouth 一张嘴；

a full moon 一轮满月； a bad dream 一场噩梦。

1)A red sun rose slowly from the calm sea.

一轮红日从风平浪静的海面冉冉升起。

2)Into the dim clouds was swimming a crescent moon.

一钩新月渐渐隐没在朦胧的云彩里去了。

3)A stream was winding its way through the valley into the river.

一弯溪水蜿蜒流过山谷，汇合到江里去了。

4)November 26: "...Started trying to read a Russian story. Constant use of dictionary and many questions.”

十一月二十六日：“……开始试读一篇俄国短篇小说。词典不离手，问题一大堆。”

2.英语中有些动词或动作名词，译成汉语动词时常需增加加一些表示行为、动作量的动量词。如 have a rest休息一下； make a stop停一下，等等。

1)Once, they had a quarrel.

有一次，他们争吵了一番。

2)Herb gave her a sly look.

赫伯狡猾地看了她一眼。

3)I was extremely worried about her, but this was neither the place nor the time for a lecture or an argument.

我真替她万分担忧，但此时此地，既不宜教训她一番，也不宜与她争论一通。

九、增加根据上下文需要及反映背景情况的词

1.In April, there was the "ping" heard around the world. In July the ping “ponged”.

四月里，全世界听到中国“乒”的一声把球打了出去；到了七月，美国“乓”的一声把球打了回来。

这句如只译为“四月里，全世界听到乒的一声；七月里，这乒声却乓了一下”，读来就不知所云。

2.Nixon learned that Ceausescu would welcome a presidential visit.

尼克松了解到，齐奥塞斯库欢迎美国总统访罗。

本句上文曾提到美国总统访问罗马尼亚。

3.Bundy was not considered to have signed on, and it was known that the President was wavering, that Ball was making his stand.

一般认为，邦迪并没有同意轰炸，总统还在犹豫不决，而鲍尔已明确反对轰炸。

本句上文中提到的是“轰炸”问题，翻译时根据上下文，补充了“轰炸”和“反对轰炸”，意思就比较清楚。

十、增加概括词

英语和汉语都有概括词。英语中的的 in short， and so on． etc．等等，翻译时可以分别译为“总之”、“等等”……·但有时英语句子中并没有概括词，而翻译时却往往可增加“两人”、“双方”、“等”、“等等”、“凡此种种”等等概括词，同时省略掉英语中的连接词。如

You and I

你我两人

Russia, the United States, Britain and France

俄、美、英、法四四国

militarily, politically and economical

军事、政治、经济等各方面

1.The Americans and the Japanese conducted a completely secret exchange of messages.

美日双方在完全保密的情况下互相交换了信件。

2.It is remarkably clear. It shows streets and factories and a winding river and docks and submarine pens.

它（照片）十分清晰，从中可以看出街道、工厂、一条蜿蜒的河流以及码头潜艇修坞等。

3.The thesis summed up the new achievements made in electronic computers, artificial satellites and rockets.

论文总结了电子计算机、人造造卫星和火箭三方面的新成就。

十一、增加承上启下的词

1.Yes, I like Chinese food. Lots of people do these days, sort of the fashion.

不错，我喜欢中国菜。现在很多人喜欢中国菜，这种情况算是有点赶时髦吧！

2.For mistakes had been made, bad ones.

因为已经犯了许多错误，而且还是很糟的错误。

3.Two, we heard later, were sent to college, at the government expense, while one, it was rumored, had attempted to blackmail the Agency. Unsuccessfully. (Francis Gary Powers)

我们后来听说，两人已由政府资助送进大学学习，并据传说，一个曾试图对中央情报局进行讹诈，结果并未得逞。