Cultural_Differences_in_the_Translation_of_English_and_Chine(4)

英文论文

trouble, we may employ a combination of literal translation and liberal translation. For example:

①Make hay while the sun shines.趁着晴天晒干草，莫失良机。

‘趁着晴天晒干草’，belonged to literal translation, successfully conveys the content and flavor of the proverb. However, the reader may not perceive the implication. Thus ‘莫失良机’,a kind of liberal translation, is added. The combination of these two methods increases the readability and retains the spirit of the original.

② Until all is over, ambition never dies.不到黄河心不死。

‘心不死’is literal translation, whereas ‘不到黄河’ is liberal translation.

③ To lift a rock only to have his own toes squashed.搬起石头砸自己的脚。 ④ 你要不要活？井水不犯河水，你敢再犯，明年今日是你周年。

Are you tired of living? ‘Well water and river water leave each other alone---stay out of things that do not concern you’. If you dare to interfere again, next year at this time will be the first anniversary of your death.

‘你要不要活’ is translated into ‘Are you tired of living’;‘井水不犯河水’is translated literally at first and liberally the latter. Literal translation is used to translation ‘你敢再犯，明年今日是你周年’。

‘Only when you keep the meaning and spirit of the original sentence structure and/or its figures of speech, can your translation be regarded as proper literal translation; otherwise it is merely ‘dead’ or mechanical translation. Similarly, only when you change the sentence structure and/or the figure of speech but make no addition to or omission of the proper free translation; otherwise, it is merely ‘random’ translation,’ said Liu Zhongde.

2.4 Rhetorical devices