Abstract:Translation is the most important way in communicating between different languages speaking nations in the world. Since the 1920s, China has witnessed generations of translators and versions, and the achievements in translation can be found everywhere. However, owing to its character of cross-language and culture, translation sets up many obstacles in practical handling, one of which is sentences, the basic units of translation and discourse. Wherefore, proper sentences translation may lay a good foundation for the translation of a text and is the essential qualification of a translator. Nowadays, almost all the course books on English-Chinese translation give some directions for long sentence translation, which include the translation process and methods as well as many other aspects. Besides this, more in-depth and comprehensive studies are demanded.

　　　This article tries to systemically conclude the former researches and primarily discuss the detailed problems of English long sentences translation. It exemplifies many English and Chinese sentences and their translated versions to prove the strategies to translate the English long sentences. It is important to analyze the characters of English long sentences and then master the basic skills in translation. Moreover, translator should find a suitable method to translate English long sentences with view to the different thought pattern between English and Chinese. Translation is a complicated task demanding attentions to many factors and there are more issues worth studying.

Key words:  translation; English long sentences; methods; thought pattern