In my personal opinion, the translation of prep. is quite hard to master. Prep. can be translated into varied words depending on the context and its function in the sentences.
Here I summarize some usual practice for the translation on “About”.
1, it can be translated into “关于”,”有关”,”相关”,”涉及” etc.
For instance:
At the meeting, the team leader talked about the cause of the accident.
会上,队长谈论了关于事故的原因。
The supplier wants to know all about the new product.
供应商想了解新产品的一切。
The question is about what to do next.
问题涉及到下一步怎么办。
Read Also: The ways to translate “Negation”(I)
2,it can be translated into “在..附近”,”在…周围”,”在…身边”,”在…范围” etc.
For instance:
There is a museum about our workshop.
我们车间附近有个博物馆。
Have you any money about you?
你身上带钱了吗?
The bees about us had begun to fly away.
我们周围的蜜蜂开始飞走。
3, when it is talking about the size, amount and time, it can be translated into “大约”,”差不多”etc.
For instance:
There are about fifty students in the waiting room in the company reception room.
公司接待室大约有 50 名学生。
Now there are still about fifty switch cases in the warehouse.
现在库房里差不多还有 50 个开关箱。
4, the expression “be about to do something” means something which will happen soon. It can be translated into”将..”
For instance:
In this paper we are about to discuss the skills of translation at large.
我们将在本论文中详尽地讨论翻译的技巧。
The general overhaul is about to start.
大检修就要开始了。