首先，我們要明確定語和狀語的概念。定語是修飾限定名詞的，即定語是跟名詞相關(guān)，翻譯的時(shí)候通常放到名詞前面;而狀語是修飾限定動(dòng)詞、形容詞以及以動(dòng)詞為核心的句子，即狀語大多數(shù)是跟動(dòng)詞相關(guān)，翻譯時(shí)通常放到動(dòng)詞前面，例如：

　　The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women in the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbingJapan’s rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.

　　這個(gè)句子劃線的三個(gè)部分sacrifices是名詞，后面involved過去分詞，放在名詞后面，即跟名詞有關(guān)系那么是定語，放在sacrifices前面翻譯為“涉及的，包含的”，而involved是動(dòng)詞，其后面in climbing...ladder介詞短語放在動(dòng)詞后面作狀語，翻譯時(shí)要放在所修飾詞的前面，即involved前，所以這三部分的語序?yàn)棰邰冖�，即“在爬日本�?yán)格的社會(huì)階梯中所包含的犧牲”。

　　當(dāng)然，也會(huì)出現(xiàn)名詞后面是狀語的情況。我們可以這樣判斷：如果這些成份前面不是名詞的話，就判定為是狀語，狀語翻譯時(shí)位置比較靈活，可以放在句子的任何位置，當(dāng)通常放到它修飾的動(dòng)詞或整個(gè)句子前面翻譯;如果這些成份前面是名詞的話，就優(yōu)先判斷為是定語，放在名詞前翻譯，若語義不通順，那么處理為狀語。例如

　　Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless.劃線部分前面沒有名詞，那么是狀語。

　　Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedomin his will.

　　名詞relatives后面有to do不定式狀語，名詞freedom后面in his will介詞短語，先處理為定語放在名詞前翻譯，這時(shí)會(huì)覺得語義不清楚，那這部分應(yīng)該是狀語：克服親戚強(qiáng)烈的反對(duì)在遺囑中給予奴隸自由。