首先，我们要明确定语和状语的概念。定语是修饰限定名词的，即定语是跟名词相关，翻译的时候通常放到名词前面;而状语是修饰限定动词、形容词以及以动词为核心的句子，即状语大多数是跟动词相关，翻译时通常放到动词前面，例如：

　　The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women in the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbingJapan’s rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.

　　这个句子划线的三个部分sacrifices是名词，后面involved过去分词，放在名词后面，即跟名词有关系那么是定语，放在sacrifices前面翻译为“涉及的，包含的”，而involved是动词，其后面in climbing...ladder介词短语放在动词后面作状语，翻译时要放在所修饰词的前面，即involved前，所以这三部分的语序为③②①，即“在爬日本严格的社会阶梯中所包含的牺牲”。

　　当然，也会出现名词后面是状语的情况。我们可以这样判断：如果这些成份前面不是名词的话，就判定为是状语，状语翻译时位置比较灵活，可以放在句子的任何位置，当通常放到它修饰的动词或整个句子前面翻译;如果这些成份前面是名词的话，就优先判断为是定语，放在名词前翻译，若语义不通顺，那么处理为状语。例如

　　Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s useless.划线部分前面没有名词，那么是状语。

　　Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedomin his will.

　　名词relatives后面有to do不定式状语，名词freedom后面in his will介词短语，先处理为定语放在名词前翻译，这时会觉得语义不清楚，那这部分应该是状语：克服亲戚强烈的反对在遗嘱中给予奴隶自由。