With the rapid advancement and development of science and technology in China, the scientific and technical communication with other countries has become wider and broader, which enables the occurrence of English for science and technology (EST) translation. It is an undeniable fact that EST translation is important to the development of the science and technology of a country. As a specific register, EST is for a particular group of people who professionally participate in the study or application of science and technology. The technical writings must avoid personal opinions, feelings and expressions, which demands the EST writings be objective and formal. Since nominalization possesses the static quality and the use of it can meet the specific requirements of EST writings, it becomes a prominent function of EST.

    This paper consists of five parts. Part one introduces the whole paper in generally, in which the background of research and review of related studies on nominalization are introduced. In part two, some general features of EST are discussed, including the application of nominalization. Therefore, the classification and functions of nominalization are talked about in detail in part three. Nominalization includes both lexical nominalization and clausal nominalization. Conciseness, objectiveness and formality are the three basic functions of nominalization. Then, in part four, the process of translation of nominalization in EST has been discussed in lexical and clausal level with a large amount of examples. The part five is the conclusion of the whole paper, in which the deficiencies and limitations of the paper are talked about.

II. Features of EST

    Before exploring the phenomenon of nominalization in EST, it is necessary to have a general grasp of features of EST. As is known to all that the 21st century is an era of globalization—due to science and technology, our human beings live in a global village. The translation of scientific English, together with the science and technology, has influenced various fields, such as: energy sources, electricity, industry and agriculture. Moreover, understanding the features of EST helps people grasp the content of EST more easily.

    As a communicative tool, EST has formed its own writing style, vocabulary and linguistic rules in the light of General English. One of the vital functions of EST is passing information, and exchanging ideas among people in certain field, and objectivity, clarity, accuracy and formality are源Z自+751=文-论(文+网[www.751com.cn  required in EST. Here are some features of EST in lexis, syntax and grammar. 

2.1 Lexical Features of EST

    We may classify the specific vocabulary of EST into three categories generally: technical terms, semi-technical terms and non-technical words.

    EST is rich in technical terms. The terminologies of different disciplines are beyond those laymen, for example: tribology, metrology, photo-chemistry, abreaction and so on. And in some technical excerpt, so does it:  

    “Soaps are still included in smaller amounts in many detergent formulations but the bulk surfactants in use today are synthetic non-ionics and anionics, with alcohol ethoxylates, alkylaryl sulfonates, alkyl sulfates and alkyl ether sulfates being the most prominent.”