5. 使用各種類型的句子

不宜過多地使用簡單句或短句。簡單句、短句可使意義表達簡潔有力，而長句、并列句、主從復合句、并列主從復合句恰可適應醫(yī)學英語的層次清楚，主次分明、結(jié)構(gòu)嚴謹、邏輯清晰的特點。例如：“患者，女，30歲，巳婚。勞累后心悸20年左右，因畏寒、發(fā)燒、呼吸困難和踝水腫半個月，于 1988年4月15日收人湖南醫(yī)科大學第一附屬醫(yī)院”不可譯作： The patient was a 30-year-old married female. She complained of palpitation, which was caused by hard work and had lasted some twenty years. She also complained of chills，fever, dyspnea and the edema of the ankle, which had continued for half a month. She was thus admitted to the First Teaching Hospital of Hunan Medical University on April 15，1988。這四個句子同等重要，破壞了意義的完整性(unity),且該突出的沒有突出，不該強調(diào)的反而被強調(diào)，讀者不禁茫然問道：到底在談何事？主、從意義各在何處? 若用一句話譯出，則主要意義獨霸主、謂寶座，次要意義各就其位， 俯首稱臣，主從關(guān)系一目了然:The patient, a 30-year-old married female, was admitted to the First Teaching Hospital of Hunan Medical University on April 15, 1988，because of palpitation, which, caused by hard work，had lasted some twenty years， and because of chills, fever, dyspnea and the edema of the ankle，which had continued for half a month.

6. 病歷的時態(tài)

病歷中的信息或由患者提供或由醫(yī)生經(jīng)檢查手段獲取，故均與過去時間有關(guān)，常用過去時。但實際翻譯中人們常誤認為應用現(xiàn)在時。譯者若不過分拘泥于漢語，在患者提供的信息前加上The patient said之類的引敘動詞（Reporting Verbs)，過去時間便一目了然（見本病歷第二段）。

7. 許多同義詞的差異

由于醫(yī)學英語從拉丁語和希臘語大量吸取詞素，產(chǎn)生了數(shù)目可觀的同義詞。其方式有：

(a) 復制形式（the duplicate form），即詞根(the root)意義相同，但詞源各異，例如：①dentist (dent ：詞根，tooth，[L])，②odentologist (odent:詞根，tooth, [GK])——牙科醫(yī)生，③oralogy (oral:詞根，mouth，[L])，④ stomatology (stomat；詞根，mouth [GK])——口腔學。但例詞①、④比②、③更常見。