汉语没有英语自然流畅吗？

今日看到一知乎问题：汉语没有从句，所以不如英语自然流畅。窃以为这样的观点是站不住脚的。

自然流畅是思维的体现，而不是有没有从句。英语属于屈折语言，也就是说，它像积木一样，留了个口子，单词可以变化组合。语句也是可以由多个从句组成。如果说“流畅”是指想到哪写到哪，衔接无痕迹的话，英语确实比较方便。

汉字是象形+表意文字，没有词性，也没有所谓的时态，形态上更像是围棋，每一颗棋子都是独立的，要通过组词、句子、篇章、布局来体现，所以汉语要流畅，必须胸中有逻辑，有成文，然后排列好，呈现出气势的的流畅。此所谓英语结构严谨，固若金汤。汉语如行云流水，美轮美奂。

当然，汉语已经有古代汉语和现代汉语之分。二者词汇、语法已经有较大的演变与差异。但是好的文章都是一个道理的，就是清晰、简洁，有逻辑，有文采。试举两例：

第一例：严复《原强》（斯宾塞《社会学研究》翻译）

原文： Over his pipe in the village ale-house, the labourer says very positively what Parliament should do about the “foot and mouth disease.” At the farmer's market-table; his master makes the glasses jingle as, with his fist, he emphasizes the assertion that he did not get half enough compensation for his slaughtered beasts during the cattle-plague. These are not hesitating opinions. On a matter affecting the agricultural interest, statements are still as dogmatic as they were during the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, when, in every rural circle, you heard that the nation would be ruined if the lightly-taxed foreigner was allowed to compete in our markets with the heavily-taxed Englishman: a proposition held to be so self-evident that dissent from it implied either stupidity or knavery.

严复译文：

“每岁田功告隙。三五佃佣。衔烟斗。扬酒卮。箕坐山村酒肆间。盛气高谈。言牛疫盛行。议院毫无补救之术。农头揎拳抵几。杯盏铿然。骂今岁屠牛。利入曾无往时之半。皆当官不恤民依之所致也。更论农商利病。辄云某事当兴。某令当废。极口无所疑难。气象大似护商律初罢时当彼时乡民皆言。本国税重。使此令果除。将他国轻税之货。源源入市。与本国重赋者竞。事如此。有不知其妨民病国者。非妄则愚耳。”

虽然是以文言文写就，译文意思不完全是一一对应，但是行文一气呵成，毫无拖沓。可见严复汉语功底之深厚。如果用现代汉语来翻译，也需要下很大功夫，才能翻译神采来。

第二例：严复《天演论》（赫胥黎《进化与伦理》）

It may be safely assumed that, two thousand years ago, before Caesar set foot in southern Britain, the whole countryside visible from the windows of the room in which I write, was in what is called “the state of nature.” Except, it may be, by raising a few sepulchral mounds, such as those which still, here and there, break the flowing contours of the downs, man's hands had made no mark upon it; and the thin veil of vegetation which overspread the broad-backed heights and the shelving sides of the combs was unaffected by his industry. The native grasses and weeds, the scattered patches of gorse, contended with one another for the possessions of the scanty surface soil; they fought against the droughts of summer, the frosts of winter, and the furious gales which swept, with unbroken force, now from the Atlantic, and now from the North Sea, at all times of the year; They filled up, as they best might, the gaps made in their ranks by all sorts of underground and overground animal ravagers. One year with another, an average population, the floating balance of the unceasing struggle for existence among the indigenous plants, maintained itself. It is as little to be doubted, that an essentially similar state of nature prevailed, in this region, for many thousand years before the coming of Caesar; and there is no assignable reason for denying that it might continue to exist through an equally prolonged futurity, except for the intervention of man.

现代文翻译版本：

凯撒还未征服不列颠南部时，站在书房的窗前，可以看到整个乡野是一种所谓的“自然状态”。除了几处隆起的坟墓，就像如今散落在这里的几抔，破坏了丘陵流畅的线条，此外恐再无他物，这里还未被人类染指；薄如面纱的植被笼盖着广阔的高地和丘陵的斜坡，尚未受到人类文明的影响。藤蔓野草，一丛一丛的金雀花，为了争夺贫乏的方寸之土而潜滋漫长；夏与烈日斗，冬与严霜争，还要抗击一年四季从大西洋或北海不断吹来的狂风；这些植被为各种飞禽走兽、虫鼠蛇蚁破坏掉的部分又会重新生长出来，好像它们最好这样。年复一年，为了生存，与本土的植物种群相竞争，将自己的种群数量维持在一种平衡的状态。无可怀疑，凯撒到来之前的几千年，这一地区主要是类似的自然状态占优势；除非由于人的干预，否则也没有明确的理由能否定它未来仍能以这样一种状态存在数千年。

严复译文：

赫胥黎独处一室之中，在英伦之南，背山而面野。槛外诸境，历历如在几下。乃悬想二千年前，当罗马大将恺彻未到时，此间有何景物。计惟有天造草昧，人功未施，其借征人境者，不过几处荒坟，散见坡陀起伏间。而灌木丛林，蒙茸山麓，未经删治如今者，则无疑也。怒生之草，交加之藤，势如争长相雄，各据一抔壤土，夏与畏日争，冬与严霜争，四时之内，飘风怒吹，或西发西洋，或东起北海，旁午交扇，无时而息。上有鸟兽之践啄，下有蚁蝝之啮伤，憔悴孤虚，旋生旋灭，菀枯顷刻，莫可究详。是离离者亦各尽天能，以自存种族而已。数亩之内，战事炽然，强者后亡，弱者先绝，年年岁岁，偏有留遗，未知始自何年，更不知止于何代。苟人事不施于其间，则莽莽榛榛，长此互相吞并，混逐蔓延而已，而诘之者谁耶？

先撇开严复的译文是否忠实于原文，从文章结构，篇章，文采角度来说，严复的译文比我贴出的现代汉语译文，音律，气势，行文高下立见，各位自行评价。

李小龙在《猛龙过江》的一句台词：什么功夫练得不好都是软手软脚的。语言也一样，流不流畅，就看写的人的功底。英语长于长句，篇章，逻辑。汉语胜在精炼，音律，气势。运用之妙，在乎一心。