【问】 Hoover wanted men who could handle a teacup as well as a tommy-gun. (Reading labora-tory，3b，Book 1，P.75)
 [原译]胡佛需要既懂社交应酬又会使用手提机关枪的人。(教参)
 上面的译文是否译出了as well as的真正含义?
 【答】 大家知道，在not only A but also B这个结构里，语意侧重点在B项。但在A as well asB这个结构里，语意侧重点则常常在A项，因此as well as的词义在许多情况下并不简单地等同于and，而是相当于in addition to，not only，也就是说，作者往往把A看作是读者所未知的新信息，有意识地在语意上加以强调。因此，英译汉时要设法把作为句子语意重点的A项给强调出来，一般可以译作“不仅B，而且A”或“既B又A”、“A和B一样也……”、“除B之外，还A”。请看下面的例句及其译法：
 1. Notice that a force has direction as well as magnitude.(=... has not only magnitude butalso direction.)
 要注意，力不但有大小，而且有方向。
 2. Electric energy can be changed into light energy as well as into sound energy.
 电能既可以变为声能，又可以变为光能。
 3. After Galileo's work the feeling grew that there were universal laws governing the mo-tion of bodies and that these laws might apply to motion in the heavens as well as onearth.
 在伽利略的工作以后，这样的认识加强了，即认为存在着支配物体运动的普遍规律，这些规律不仅支配地球上的而且也支配天体上的各种物体的运动。
 4. The three gas laws are true of all gases as well as of air.
 气体三定律适用于空气，也适用于所有气体。
 5. The law of conservation and transformation of energy is the chief basis of physical，astro-nomical and chemical reasoning as well as of engineering practice.
 能量守恒和能量转换定律，不仅是工程实践的主要基础，而且也是物理、天文以及化学等方面推理的主要基础。
 6. It must be remembered that there are advantages as well as disadvantages of friction.
 必须记住，摩擦力有消极作用，也有积极作用。
 7. The Russians and the British，as well as the Americans，were concerned over Irans loosesecurity measures.
 俄国人和英国人，与美国人一样也对伊朗不够严密的安全措施表示担忧。
 我们的上述理解和翻译是符合R. Quirk等人的论述的：“当用like和as well as代替and
 来连接短语时，其结果通常使它们后面的短语降格，表示该短语已处于“已知信息”的地位。”(CGEL§19.60)
 但是，应当指出，在现代英语里，A as well as B这个结构并不是在任何情况下都是用来在语意上突出A的，有时候用来表示A和B同等重要。在这种情况下，as well as相当于and或and also.例如：
 1. You helped him as well as me. =You helped both him and me.
 你帮助了他和我。
 2. Electronic computers can add and subtract as well as multiply and divide.
 电子计算机能够加减，也能乘除。
 3. In recent years scientific and technological developments have changed human life on ourplanet，as well as our views both of ourselves as individuals in society and of the universeas a whole.
 近几年来，科学技术上的新成就，改变了人类在地球上的生活，也改变了我们对于社会中的个人以及整个宇宙的看法。
 由此可见，A as well as B这个结构究竟是在语意上强调A，还是表示A和B同等重要，这是需要对句意和上下文进行具体分析之后，才能确定的。正是根据这样的分析，我们认为，你所提问的句子中的A as well as B是强调A的，亦即强调“could handle a teacup”(懂社交应酬)。因为联邦调查局的特务会使用自动步枪是不言而喻的，但是要求他们懂社交应酬却是一种出人意料之外的新奇的想法。
 [试译]胡佛需要既会使用自动步枪又懂社交礼仪的人。