中文學術論文的摘要多為說明性摘要，句式簡潔明了，其主語一般用“本研究/實驗”、“本文/文章”、“筆者/作者”等 為主語，這一點與英文學術論文摘要大體一致。不過，中文摘要卻很少采用人稱代詞為主語，這一點又與英語論文摘要不盡相同。以 《中國科技翻譯》2005年第4期為例，這一期的16篇文章絕大部分采用“本文”作主語，用“文章”、“論文”、“譯者”的各1處，無主句1處，沒有出現(xiàn)使用人稱代詞作主語的情況。比較2006年3月24日美國出版的Science第5768期，同樣也是16篇文章，其摘要以人稱代詞we，our作為主語的竟高達16次！具體使用情況如下：
1. Here, we describe how the abundance of six known ecotypes, ...
2.We show that thermodynamically stable dispersion of nanoparticles into a polymeric liquid is enhanced.
3. We used a global climate model to evaluate Northern Hemisphere high-latitude warming...
4. We report here that TLR activation of human macrophages...
5. We assessed the microheterogeneous distribution of 102 in irradiated solutions...
6……we determined mass variations of the Antarctic ice sheet during 2002-2005.
7. We found that the mass of the ice sheet decreased significantly，…
8. ...we have prepared ice XIII and ice XIY,...
9....and we analyzed their structures by powder neutron diffraction.
10. …, we integrated network analysis with information on enzyme evolution to infer...
11. We also observed that sera from African-American individuals,…
12. …we report here that this treatment cured 32% of NOD mice of established diabetes... 13. Here,we provide data indicating that the recovered islets were all of host origin，…
14. We combined an immune effector cell with an oncolytic viral therapy to achieve...
15. Our simulated climate matches paleoclimatic observations of past warming，...
16. Our analysis revealed the existence of four discrete groups of networks...
需要指出的是，即使署名作者只有一人，英文摘要中習慣上一般仍使用“we”而不使用主觀性過強的“I”，例如：
17. In this comment, we discuss the fact that the existing experimental data are not sufficient (H. T. Chu, Phys. Rev. B. 51，5332)
由此可見，將中文學術論文摘要翻譯成英語，不一定要完全保持中文的句法模式，在適當?shù)那闆r下可適當使用人稱代詞。這樣不但可以使文句連貫，符合英語習慣表達法，而且也賦予論文作者一種成 就感、責任感、自信感。
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