句子：在现代社会，人们被大量信息淹没。

误译：In modern society, people are drowned by large amounts of information.

正译：

1) In modern society, people are inundated with large amounts of information.

2) In modern society, people are overwhelmed by torrents of information.

解释：

to drown 的字面意思是“将人淹死”。to be drowned的字面意思是“被淹死”。汉语的“淹没”有三层意思。第一，表示大量的、流动的事物(如洪水、流沙)漫过一个地区、建筑物或庄稼等。英语用 to flood, inundate, overwhelm和submerge等表达。例如：

每年夏天，河水淹没这个山谷。

Every summer, the river floods the valley.

大河决堤时，田野被洪水淹没。

When the big river burst its banks, the fields were inundated.

大水淹没了这个村庄。

A great mass of water inundated/overwhelmed the village.

这个茅屋被洪水淹没。

The hut was overwhelmed by a flood.

大雨淹没了庄稼。

Heavy rainfalls flooded/inundated the crops.

这个沉船被部分淹没了。

The wreck was partly submerged.

这面断墙被洪水淹没了。

The broken wall was submerged by flood water.

这个茅草屋被流沙淹没了。

The thatched cottage was submerged by drift sand.

第二，表示一个响亮的声音盖过了另一个声音。英语用to drown (out)表达。例如：

拉拉队的欢呼声淹没了一切。

The rooters’ cheers drowned out everything.

起哄叫声淹没了他的讲话。

The heckling drowned his speech.

他的讲话被掌声所淹没。

His speech was drowned by the applause.

第三，表示大量的、连续不断的信息使人应接不暇。英语用to inundate和 overwhelm表达。例如：

他被没完没了的电话淹没了。

He was inundated with/overwhelmed by endless telephone calls.

这位人力资源经理被无数的申请表淹没了。

This manager of human resources was inundated with/overwhelmed by numerous applications.