最近几天在翻译英国艺术装饰风格的书籍，发现里边有个词practice被赋予了非词典上的含义。想起曾经碰到过的operation、function，不免来了兴致，想举出几个例子来论证一番笔者发现的一个规律：词典上意义为职能功能的词可以转化成行使职能功能的主体的涵义。
且看例句——
先上最近捡到的菜：
In 1933 Connell set up a practice with his brother-in-law Basil Ward and Colin Lucas.
In 1930 the practice changed its name to Burnet,Tait and Lorne and became one of the leading architectural firms in the following decade.
这两个例句里的practice都是由“业务、生意”转化成了开展业务、做生意的主体——“建筑师事务所”。
再来看operation：
This can be a potential barrier in future for Cloud Service Providers who are looking to set up operations in Hong Kong as they require highly skilled manpower for their operations.
As can be seen from the table below, financial institutions have large manpower in the cities where their regional operations and data centres are located.
同上，这两个例句里的operation也是以职能功能指代主体，意思从“运营”变成了“运营中心（处）”。
接下来上的菜是有关function的：
Regional Data Centres Sited in the Same Location As Corporate Functions of Other Industries (e.g. Logistics & Transportation)
The top consideration and common factors for choosing a location for data centres and other IT corporate functions are: (1) the cost of setting up and operating the data centres, (2) presence of skilled IT manpower and, (3) the regulatory environment of the economy (data privacy laws, etc.).
这里的function，则可以从“职能”转译为“职能部门”。
曾经在一个翻译群里说起英语里以职能功能指代主体的这个现象，还被人取笑了一番。其实这种现象是极为常见的，比如control，按作用讲是“控制”，但也有“控制装置（器）”的意思；feed既是“进料”，也是“进料器”……
不过有些做翻译的人，都太过于奉词典为宝典，以为词典上没点到的，是别人在胡说八道，殊不知词典不可能穷尽每一个语境下的具体含义。实际上很多时候，稍微用点心，就能触类旁通，不至于在词典上找不到合适的词时就丈二和尚摸不着头脑。
我相信，职能功能指代主体的单词，你一定也碰到过。那么，经过这么一说，你能立即反应过来了吗？
