汉语和英语两种语言背后的思维模式有不少差异。比如汉语中更加倾向于人的主体性,作为这种理念的一个反映,我们会发现中文句子常常以人作为主语,而英语句子常常以实物或抽象概念等客体作为主语。这种差异导致我们在写英文时句式的选择经常会出现问题。举个例子,要表达“我突然间想到了一个好主意”,我们可能会写 I suddenly got a good idea. 英语母语人士可能会写 A good idea occurred to me. 由此可以看出两种句式的差异。新概念英语3里面有这样一个场景:主人公在搭错列车后忽然间意识到车子开得很慢。在这里作者并不是写 "I suddenly realized..." 而是说 "It suddenly dawned on me that this express was not roaring down the line at ninety miles an hour, but barely chugging along at thirty." 其中的句式 It dawned on me that... 就很好反映了英语表达的重点,即强调“发生了什么事”,而汉语表达的重点则是“谁做了什么”。除了主体和客体的区别之外,汉语和英语句式的区别还体现在句子之间的连接上。汉语注重意合,讲究形散而神不散,词语或语句间的连接主要凭借语义或语句间的逻辑关系来实现,不用或少用连接手段。英语注重形合,句子往往结构层次清晰,语法严谨。要表达复杂的思想时,通过借助介词、连词、关系代词、分词等语言形式手段,增加短语、分词、分句等附加成分将句子扩展并连接起来。下面这个例子就很好说明了英语句式的特点:At its core, finance does just two simple things. It can act as an economic time machine, helping savers transport today's surplus income into the future, or giving borrowers access to future earnings now. It can also act as a safety net, insuring against floods, fires or illness. By providing these two kinds of service, a well-tuned financial system smooths away life's sharpest ups and downs, making an uncertain world more predictable.