英语专业本科论关文论围城中隐喻的翻译研究.doc

南京邮电大学毕 业 论 文 题 目：论围城中隐喻的翻译研究 专 业： 商务英语 学生姓名： 高丽娟 班级学号： B10130520 指导教师： 杨丽 指导单位： 英语系 日期： 2014年 3月 12日至 2014 年 6 月 15 日AcknowledgementsIn writing this thesis, I received much advice, support and encouragement from a number of people. I hereby present my sincere gratitude to those who have given me a hand on the writing of this thesis.My sincere gratitude first and foremost goes to all the teachers in the Foreign Languages Department, whose inspiring lectures gave me a holistic overview concerning linguistics and translation theories. Secondly, I would also like to extend my appreciation to my supervisor Yang Li for her guidance and instruction. Last but not least, I am very grateful to my beloved family and roommates who give me great help in various ways. It is with their support that I can accomplish this task.AbstractMetaphor is a kind of mixture of culture and thought. Qian Zhongshu uses many vivid and humorous metaphors in The Fortress Besieged, and the translators of its English version have tried their best to keep the original features of these metaphors. This paper analyzes the translation of metaphors in the English version of The Fortress Besieged with the adaption and selection theory of translation in the dimensions of language, culture, and communication, trying to find out an effective way of translation of metaphors to make Chinese culture more widespread. The translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged is a process of adaption and selection of not only the eco-environment of translation, but also of language, culture, and communication.Key Words: The Fortress Besieged; metaphor; Adaption and Selection Theory; translation 摘 要隐喻是文化与思维的混合物。钱钟书先生在其著作围城中运用了大量生动而幽默的隐喻，而其英译本也是尽可能保持了这些隐喻的原汁原味。本论文运用翻译适应选择论，从语言、文化、交流三个维度分析围城英译本中的隐喻翻译。通过这样的分析，阐明围城中的隐喻翻译既是对翻译生态环境的选择适应过程，也是语言、文化、交流维度的选择适应过程，本论文的写作目的是寻求一种有效的隐喻翻译方法使中国文化更广泛地传播。关键词：围城；隐喻； 适应选择论；翻译ContentsChapter 1 Introduction.11.1 Object of the study.11.2 Significance of the study.11.3 Structure of the thesis.2Chapter 2 Literature review.32.1 Definition and classification of metaphor.32.1.1 Definition of metaphor. .32.1.2 Classification of metaphor.42.2 Translation of metaphor.42.2.1 Relevant theories about the metaphor translation.42.2.2 The adaption and selection theory of translation.5Chapter 3 Translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged.63.1 Translation in the dimension of language.63.2 Translation in the dimension of culture.8 3.3 Translation in the dimension of communication.10 3.4 The integration of dimensions of language, culture, and communication.11Chapter 4 Conclusion.134.1 Major findings.134.2 Limitations and suggestions for future study.13Bibliography.14The translation of metaphors in The Fortress BesiegedChapter 1 Introduction1.1 Object of the StudyThe Fortress Besieged, written by Qian Zhongshu in 1947, is a fantastic satiric novel in the history of Chinese modern and contemporary literature. The novel is not only popular for its theme but also for its vivid and interesting language. Qian puts a large number of various figures of speech into use. Yang observes, “The statistics show that there are totally 635 metaphors in this novel, including plenty of common metaphors and some unique ones that come from writers own life experience” (2011: 2). These unique metaphors have two functions in the novel: ironic function and cognitive function. It is these metaphors that make the novel so special.The novel is translated into many languages. The most well-known English version is translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao. Since this English version was published, it has caught many scholars eyes. Many scholars regard it as a model to study metaphors and they apply different theories to the research on it. Some scholars study the classification of the metaphors in The Fortress Besieged (Hu Zhuanglin, 2004); some scholars focus on the effect of metaphor on revealing the theme (Su Dingfang, 2000), while this paper tries to analyze the translation of these metaphors to find an effective way of translating Chinese metaphors into English.1.2 Significance of the StudyBased on the standard of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance proposed by Yan Fu (1898), translators devote themselves to retaining the characteristics of source language as much as possible. As both a figure of speech and a cognitive way, metaphor possesses some special cultural features; thus, the translation of metaphors usually faces the dilemma: to keep the original taste or to give a new but similar translation. Different scholars have different views on the problem. This paper analyzes the translation of metaphor in Kelly and Mao's English version of The Fortress Besieged with the adaption and selection theory of translation in the dimensions of language, culture, and communication. Through such analysis, the researcher attempts to make the point that translation is an adaption process of not only the ecological environment, but also language, culture, and communication. The purpose of this paper is to seek an effective method for the translation of metaphor in The Fortress Besieged.1.3 Structure of the ThesisThis thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction to the object, and significance and outline of the study. Chapter Two is literature review, including definition and classification of metaphor and previous empirical studies on the translation of metaphor and The Fortress Besieged. Chapter Three focuses on the translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged. Chapter Four is a conclusion, including major findings, limitations of the present study and suggestions for future study. Chapter 2 Literature ReviewIn Chapter Two, the author will review the definition and classification of metaphor, and introduce previous empirical studies of translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged2.1 Definition and Classification of Metaphor2.1.1 Definition of metaphor “Metaphor originates from the Greek word metaphor, meaning a transfer ofmeaning” (Lv, 2003: 45). It is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another and it is the most important figure of speech, pointing out resemblance but with no acknowledging word（Websters New World Dictionary）. In 1980, Lakoff and Johnson first proposed the conceptual metaphor theory in their book Metaphors We Live By,Metaphor is a systematic reflection from the specific conceptual field to the abstract conceptual field. In conceptual metaphor theory, the metaphor is rather a matter of thought than a matter of language, and it is a way of thinking and a means of cognition (1980: 3).Translation is to turn a speech text into the meaning of another speech text in the specific social historical and cultural background. Different language systems and cultural background form different readers' horizon of expectation and translation, which influence translator's choice, including semantic translation criteria and translation selection. The selection of translation results slowly promote infiltration and blend the evolution of culture and language, making the language more accurate, rich and the culture more filling and full (Wang Jun, 2007). Thus, metaphors, part of language, usually have meaning in their own culture, which is the very trouble for translation of metaphors. 13南京邮电大学2010届本科生毕业设计（论文） 2.1.2 Classification of metaphorAs for the classification of metaphors, Peter Newmark (2001), a famous contemporary British translator, divides them into six parts: dead metaphors, trite metaphors, stock or standard metaphors, adapted metaphors, recent metaphors and original metaphors. According to Newmark (2001), there are mainly three important factors relevant to the understanding and translating of metaphors: cultural factors, extra-cultural factors and individual perception. A Chinese scholar, Su Dingfang (2000), thinks that individual perception actually belongs to extra-cultural factors. In my paper, I divide the metaphors in The Fortress Besieged into two parts: cultural metaphors and extra-cultural metaphors including universals and idiolects. 2.2 Theories for translation 2.2.1 The functional equivalence theory and the theory of relevanceFunctional Equivalence Theory emphasis that the functional equivalence of information instead of the direct formal equivalence in translation. The relationship between the target language receptor and they target text should generally be equivalent to that between the source language receptor and the source text. Relevance theory seeks to explain the second method of communication: one that takes into account implicit inferences. It argues that the hearer/reader/audience will search for meaning in any given communication situation and having found meaning that fits their expectation of relevance, will stop processing.As was mentioned above, the biggest problem of metaphor translation is how to deal with the cultural bound in metaphors.The Fortress Besieged has been famous for its large number of metaphors. The researches concerned include the Discussion of the Metaphor Translation in the English Version of Fortress Besieged by Yang Yan (2011) and English translation of "Fortress Besieged" metaphor from Relevance Theory by Shen Zheng (2006). Among all the relevant researches, the functional equivalence theory and the theory of relevance are used most frequently. This paper is going to analyze the translation of metaphors based on the adaption and selection theory of translation. 2.2.2 The adaption and selection theory of translationThe adaption and selection theory of translation is a macroscopic theory of translation, which is presented by Hu Gengshen (2008). Based on Darwins theory “survival of the fittest”, Hu thinks, The nature of translation is that the translator adapts to the selective activities in the eco-environment of translation, with the rule of multi-dimensional adaption and adaptive selection and the method of adaptive selection in dimensions of language, culture, and communication (Hu, 2008: 4-5).In brief, it means that translation is adaption and selection. Here, the eco-environment of translation refers to the environment including the original text, original language, and target language form, which is actually an entirety of the connection and influence among the language, communication, society, writer, reader, and consigner.According to this theory, the rule of translation is adaption in various dimension and adaptive selection; the way of translation is adaptive and selective transformation in the dimensions of language, culture, and communication. The evaluation standard of the version is the transferring degree of multiple dimensions, the feedback of readers and the translators quality; the best translation is the one that best integrates adaption and selection (Zhang Hanqun, 2010:86-87).Besides connecting translation to the eco-environment, there is another feature of the adaption and selection theory of translation, i.e., the translator is the center of translation activities, the adaption is translators selective adaption, and the selection is translators adaptive selection (Hu Gengshen，2004). This ensures the central position and the leading role of translators, improving their dominant role.As for the application of this theory, many scholars have studied some English versions or Chinese versions of world famous works. Wan Guanghui (2004) makes a comparison among the three Chinese versions of Uncle Toms Cabin in the visual angle of the adaption and selection theory of translation; Wang Xiaoyan (2004) analyzes the English Version of A Dream in Red Mansions from the perspective of translation as adaption and selection; Jiang Xia and Hou Chunju (2007) study the Blesing by Lu Xun with the adaption and selection theory of translation. Referring to these previous studies, this paper tries to analyze the translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged with this theory, to find out the translators adaption and selection.The above literature review shows that metaphor presents some special cultural features; thus, the translation of metaphors usually faces the dilemma: to keep the original taste or to give a new but similar translation. Different scholars have different opinions on the problem and this paper advocates the adaption and selection theory of translation.Chapter 3 Translation of metaphors in The Fortress Besieged In The Fortress Besieged, the use of metaphors is a shining point of this novel. The most well-known metaphor might be the title: The Fortress Besieged. “Marriage is like a siege. Outside the city people want to rush in, and the men of the city want to rush out, so not able to board” (Jeanne, 2003: 133). The title is a metaphor of marriage. Among all these humorous and vivid metaphors, there are some common ones which can easily be understood by foreigners, such as “天机”, but there are also others that are difficult to understand for foreigners, because they only exist in particular Chinese culture or can only be expressed by Chinese, such as “面子” “乌纱帽” “醋坛子” “眼红” and so on. Due to the important role that the metaphors play in the novel, these metaphors with Chinese style are indeed problematic for translators to deal with. Most of the metaphors in the novel are well translated, both