Перевод придаточных предложений, вводимых соединительным

местоимением “what”

1. В ряде случаев what в таких предложениях переводится «то, что»; «вот что».

 

The consortium is freed from the obligation to invest in developing oil fields in Iran – which was what it had been seeking.

Консорциум освобожден от обязательств вкладывать капитал в освоение месторождений нефти в Иране, а это именно то, чего он добивался.

The pressure from the other unions is what could be decisive.

Давление со стороны других профсоюзов – вот что могло бы иметь решающее значение.

2. При переводе вместо what ставится слово, которое подразумевается в данном контексте.

 

The month’s trade surplus will be well below what is needed to meet the goal of $8bn.

Активное сальдо торгового баланса за месяц будет намного ниже суммы, которая необходима для достижения намеченного показателя в 8 млрд. долларов.

X. says that the first blows have fallen in what German cigarettes makers fear could be a ruinous war in a declining market.

Х. Сообщает о первых ударах в конкурентной борьбе, которая, как опасаются производители сигарет в Германии, может превратиться в разорительную войну на сужающемся рынке.

3. Они могут переводиться словосочетанием «не что иное, как».

What the Japanese commercial banks did, in simple terms was to absorb the savings of individual wage earners and let the proceeds at a comfortable profit to private industry as funds for capital investment.

Попросту говоря, они не занимались ничем иным, как поглощением сбережений рабочих, которые они затем ссужали под значительный процент частным промышленникам, использовавшим их в качестве капиталовложений.

4. Или могут переводиться другими способами.

 

What became clear was that the Japanese authorities were in no position to control the yen’s sharp upward movement decisively.

Выяснилос ь, что власти Японии не в состоянии оказывать решающее влияние на резкое повышение курса йены.

What distinguishes Miami Computer is its sales, which has more than tripled in a year.

Что отличает компанию «Майами компьютер» от других, так это объем ее продаж, которые за год выросли в три раза.

В целом же сочетание «что…так это» следует употреблять как можно реже.

Exercise. Translate into Russian.

 

1. That required Americans to do what they hate to do: wait. 2. 85% of what Japan produces is sold to its huge and developing home market. 3. As the deterioration of the trade balance coincides with the rapid rise in overall trade deficit, there is growing concern about what used to be an important prop to export. 4. What is worrying the big corporations most, however, was the tenfold increase to 4.5 bn units last year, of sales of “no names” cigarettes. 5. What’s needed is the government policy that makes jobs, not outrageous giveaways to big business, the priority. 6. Each new boss needs to change the company into what he thinks his own style and form. 7. Much of what the Fed is proposing flies in the face of more than 50 years of fund practice. 8. What employees want to know is what to do when they face specific dilemmas. 9. Much of what you must know to succeed in business is not easily learned in a book or classroom. 10. The Dow never claims to be more than what it is, an average of the stock prices of the 30 very large companies. 11. The American government has periodically threatened sanctions against Japan in order to prise open what it sees as hermetically sealed markets. 12. Growth in auto sales has fallen from what in recent years often exceeded 50% annually to an estimated 4% for this year. 13. Hong Kong is intent on driving what it considers to be disruptive speculators from its markets. 14. The company has developed software to run what it hopes will be the next generation of Internet advertising. 15. But flexibility is what Taiwan business is all about. 16. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard at age 20 to found what became the most powerful software company in the world. 17. Higher inflation is precisely what the Fed and the Bank of Japan have been trying to achieve over the past year. 18. Dealing with what ails the firm will not be easy. 19. The country’s diplomats are scouring the globe for what one Chinese Foreign Ministry officials calls “strategic, stable and long-term relationships” with key oil suppliers. 20. Their vast global interests often create conflicts between what ’s good for companies and what ’s good for America.