李泽鹏

摘 要：本次翻译实践的文本取自《经济学人》杂志的两篇专栏文章。第一篇讲的是西方国家由于乔木的稳步扩张，政府开始鼓励森林的种植。第二篇讲的是苏丹的登机口，它被评为世界上最糟糕的登机口的原因。

本次翻译以汉斯·弗米尔的目的论为指导理论。作为德国语言学家和翻译学者，他指出有三个准则需要遵守：目的原则、连贯原则与忠实原则。本次实践在很大程度上以目的原则为主，其中翻译的目的是核心，因为基于翻译目的，才能确定所采取的具体策略。翻译过程中，译者尽量站在读者的角度来解析和呈现原文的内涵，保证较高的易读性和高接受度，增加受众读者范围。

在中英文字翻译过程中，难免会出现一些困难。主要涉及的方面有长难句的解析以及隐喻的解读。本文采取的翻译策略基于目的论，应用归化翻译方法处理各类难点，充分利用增译、转换、分译、直译、意译等常用策略来解决这些困难，最终产生了較为符合中文读者表达习惯和思维模式的译文。

关键词：目的论 翻译技巧 隐喻 长难句 《经济学人》

Abstract：The source texts of this translation practice are the two articles in The Economist. The first article talks about the expansion of tree-planting in the Western countries and the second illustrates Jubas airport and the reasons why it is considered the worst all over the world.

This translation practice is guided by Hans Vermeers Skopos Theory which highlights three rules： skopos rule， coherence rule， and fidelity rule. Due to differences between Chinese and English languages， some difficulties are encountered in the translation process， including the translation of metaphors and long complex sentences.

Guided by Skopos Theory， the translator adopts the domestication strategy and some relevant translation techniques to solve the problems， such as addition， combination， shift， division， literal and free translation. By using these strategy and techniques， the translator managed to make the target text consistent with the way of thinking and conventional expressions of Chinese readers.

Key Words： Skopos Theory； translation techniques； metaphor； long and complex sentences； The Economist

Introduction

Most of the articles in The Economist are interesting， showing the writers humor and unique thinking. It is an excellent magazine dealing with topics of all kinds in a serious but witty way. The magazine focuses on political and commercial news， but each issue also has one or two reports on technology and art， as well as some book reviews. In addition to regular news， The Economist reports on a specific area of the world every week.

The first article selected as the source text for this translation practice talks about the expansion of tree-plantation in the Western countries， and the Irish government encourages people to plant trees， but there are many people against it. The second article illustrates Jubas airport and why it is regarded as the worst all over the world.

The researcher chooses these two articles to translate because they are a good test of his ability to understand cultures of English-speaking countries and to translate an English text into a readable Chinese one.

1.Translation Task

The first article selected for this research talks about how the government of Ireland has encouraged people to plant trees， and reasons why many people seem not happy with this practice. The second article describes Jubas airport and explains why it is rated as the worlds worst.

The two articles are challenging enough for the translator due to the complex language style and the fact that the understanding of some of the contents requires a certain background knowledge. They serve as an excellent test for the translator to examine his ability to understand the culture of an English-speaking country and translate English texts into readable Chinese.

2. Translation Process

The source texts are translated under the guidance of Skopos Theory. The strategy of domestication and various techniques such as addition， division， combination， and shift of perspective are used.

2.1 Translation Theory

The term Skopos refer to the purpose of a translation. It is derived from the Greek term Skopos. In addition to Skopos， Vermeer also uses the terms “aim”， “purpose”， “intention”， and “function”. To avoid conceptual confusion， Nord proposes to make a basic distinction between intention and function： “intent” is defined from the senders point of view， while “function” refers to the textual function， which is the recipients expectations， needs， and existing knowledge.[1]

In Vermeers teleological framework， one of the most important factors in deciding the purpose of translation is the audience—the intended recipient of the translation. This is because they have their own cultural background knowledge， expectation of the translation， and needs for communication. Each translation points to a certain audience， so translation is a text produced for the purpose and target audience in the context of the target language. Vermeer believes that the original text is only a source of partial or complete information for the target audience.[2]

2.2 Translation Strategy

Venuti employs the concepts of domesticating and foreignizing to refer to translation strategies. Domestication refers to target-culture oriented translation in which unusual expression is exploited and turn into some familiar ones so as to make the translated text intelligible and easy for the target readers.

It should be admitted that no translation is the product of using only one strategy. However， in accordance with the three principles of Skopos Theory and the purpose of translation determined， domestication strategy is mainly employed to produce a TT that conforms to the way of thinking and communicative habits of Chinese readers.

2.3 Translation Techniques

As is mentioned above， translation methods or techniques employed should match the Skopos of translation. There are various techniques used flexibly by the translator to translate the chosen articles. The following paragraphs present examples and analysis of how the chosen translation strategy and techniques make the translation possible and readable.

2.3.1 Addition

In translation， addition is sometimes indispensably adopted so as to make the TT conform to conventional expressions of the target language and achieve coherence. It can help better express the meaning of the source text by adding some words， sentences or notes to the translation.[3]

Example 1：

ST： Some feel inadequate： European countries with scant forest cover sometimes lament how far behind the EU average they have fallen.

TT： 有些國家察觉到了自身森林面积的不足：森林覆盖率低的欧洲国家会哀叹自己落后于欧盟的平均水平。

In this example， the translator adds “自身森林面积的” before “不足”. Without the addition in Chinese， the sentence would be rigid and weird， inconsistent with the characteristics of Chinese sentence， and the readers could hardly understand the meaning of the word “inadequate” in this context.

Example 2：

ST：In Ireland， the criticisms are different.

TT：在爱尔兰，人们对外来树木种植的批评是不一样的。

In this translation， the translator adds “人们对外来树木种植的” before “批评”. English essays emphasize more on logic and readers are accustomed to understanding the text from the context， while in Chinese articles， further explanations and more connectives are needed to connect the preceding and the following. In this regard， addition is an efficient way to make the translation more acceptable for domestic readers as it provides the context the readers need.

2.3.2 Shift

Shift is the process of turning linguistic unit or structure of the source text into a language unit or structure of the target language with similar expressions.[4] There are many types of shift， such as lexical shift， level shift， semantic shift， syntactic shift.

Example 3：

ST： Spruce plantations are said to be devoid of life—vertical deserts of dark green. They are accused of wrecking rural communities and driving farmers off the land. And they are said to be out of place in a mostly pastoral setting.

TT： 人们批评云杉种植园，认为它的种植范围里没有生命，像个垂直的深绿色沙漠。人们还指控云杉破坏了农村社区，把农民赶出了这片土地。……