世上无难事

“世上无难事，只怕有心人。入门既不难，深造也办得到，只要有心，只要善于学习罢了。

——毛泽东

“Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it. To cross the threshhold is not difficult, and mastery, too, is possible provided one sets one’s mind to the task and is good at learning.”

Some Requirements:

1.Try to grasp the different features between English and Chinese and cultivate your sensibility towards the two languages, esp. English.

2. Copy + exercises

Copy: one or two good English sentences plus structural analysis per week.

3. Do more thinking in the course of learning.

4. Read the textbook and do or study the translation exercises in it.

5. Examination: 30%+ 70% （ 30% for homework, class attendance, and class performance + 70% for final examination）

Textbook: new edition

Chapter 1 Foundational Knowledge for Doing C-E Translation 汉译英的基础知识
1.1 More about the Criteria of Translation

Cheng Hongwei (2004:7)：

similarity in function and correspondence in meaning （功能相似，意义相符）
Functions of language (Peter Newmark, 2001:39-44):

Informative function(信息功能): the function of language to pass information, to state facts about the world, and to report ideas or theories, etc.

Expressive function (表情功能): the function of language to express the speaker’s feelings, minds, emotions, etc., e.g. “How lovely the scenery is!”

Vocative function(祈使功能/呼唤功能): the function of language to call upon the readership to react, oft. in the way intended by the text, e.g., “Close the door, please.”

Aesthetic function(美感功能): the function of language to please the senses, oft. through the beauty of language.

Interpersonal function : the function of language to establish and maintain interpersonal relations, etc., for example, 李校长；王二婶；你好吗？幸会！久仰! （It covers phatic function 酬应功能/寒暄功能)

Cognitive function （认知功能）: the function of language that people use to think, and express one’s ideas, for example, “This must be something I don’t know”.

Metalingual function （元语言功能），the function of language to explain itself, e.g. “语言是一种独特的符号系统”。

Meaning(意义)： denotation and connotation(指称意义和蕴涵意义）

Denotation: the direct relationship between a term and the object, idea, or action it designates；the strict and literal meaning.

Connotation: the emotive and associational aspects of a term；the implied or suggested meaning.

Criteria for learners(教学标准)：

Faithfulness and smoothness

Esp. Natural and idiomatic English

1.2 Requirements for C-E Translators(汉英翻译对译者素养的要求)
1.2.1 Good grounding in language （深厚的语言功底)

A good grounding in English means the ability to understand and correctly use the language. To acquire such an ability, one needs to cultivate a good sense of English.

A good sense of English includes：

sense of grammar（语法意识）、 sense of idiomaticness（惯用法意识）and sense of coherence（连贯意识）。

1.2.1.1 Sense of grammar (语法意识)

In doing C-E translation, having a good sense of grammar is crucial. In other words, one must have a good command of English grammatical rules to avoid any mistakes in tense, voice, concord, collocation, spelling, punctuation, etc.

e.g. 他发现前人研究地理的记载有许多不可靠的地方。

He found there were many unreliable points in the geography record which be searched by the people before. （correct collocation: keep records）

改：He found many unreliable points in the geographical records kept by the predecessors.

农民的生活水平不断提高，大部分农民已解决了温饱问题，不少农民已过上小康生活。

The living standard of farmers has been raised continuously. The majority of farmers have enough food and clothing and quite a few are leading a quite comfortable life.

金桂湖位于武汉的南部后花园——咸宁市咸安区南川水库。

Jingui Lake lies in the area of Nanchuan Reservoir, ……, which is reputed as the Back Garden……

1.2.1.2 Sense of idiomaticness（惯用法意识）

Having a good sense of idiomaticness means that translators must follow the natural use of English to avoid awkward translations.

E.g.“吉普赛”一词源埃及语，意指北非国家埃及的人。从前人们认为吉普赛是埃及人。虽然直到现在人们仍不能确定他们究竟来自何方，但人们普遍认为他们的祖籍是印度，而不是埃及。

The word Gypsy comes from Egyptian, meaning someone from the North Africa country of Egypt. Once people thought Gypsies originally came from this country. Though people do not know for certain today where they actually came from, people generally think Gypsies originated in India, not in Egypt.

改： …It was thought that… it is not known for certain… it is generally thought that

Many warm-hearted neighbors came, but they could do nothing for her. So they turned to him for help, yet met with his refusal.

一天，邻居王二婶不小心把钥匙锁在了家里，很多热心人都前来帮忙，但都无济于事。人们找到了他，但被他拒绝了。(a story about an ex-convict )

One day, Wang Er’s wife, one of his elderly neighbours, locked herself out through carelessness.

Many warm-hearted neighbours came, but they could do nothing for her. They turned to him for help, yet met with his refusal.

1911年， 在一个小县城里边，我生在一个小地主家里。

In the year of 1911， I … a petty landlord in a small county town.

改：…I was born into the family of …

母亲拧着纺车把他拉扯大，真是要星星不给月亮。

His mother brought him up by doing spinning and would give him whatever he wanted.

实践永无止境。Practice knows no bound.

1.2.1.3 Sense of coherence(连贯意识)

The translator should be fully aware of the hypotactic features of English and adjust the sentence structure accordingly or add necessary cohesive ties to make his translation coherent. In doing so, he has to pay particular attention to logic of the ST sentence, making use of proper means , say, prepositions, non-predicate, etc. to ensure the smoothness of the TT.

这意味着要投资发展中国家的农业，向小农户提供种子、工具、可持续务农办法和信贷，使他们能够生产更多的粮食，供应地方和区域市场。

This means that we must invest on the agriculture of the developing countries by providing small farmers with seeds, farming tools, methods and loans for sustainable farming to enable them to produce more grains to accommodate more local and regional areas.

而今适逢华中师范大学百年华诞，世纪庆典，共襄盛举，追忆往事，铭记在心，勒石流芳，以垂后世。

On this special occasion when Huazhong Normal University is marking its…anniversary, we recall the unforgettable past,…, engrave it on…so that it will be remembered by all the generations to come.

工业化国家政府必须跨越边界，伸出援手，立即对那些提高最穷困者生产能力的高效方案进行投资。

The industrialized countries must provide aids by investing on programs of high efficiency to improve the productivity of the poorest countries.

1.2.2 Adequate knowledge about SL and TL culture (omitted)

1.2.3 Conscientious attitude to translation work (omitted)

Homework: Improve the following translation by making it more coherent. (P.11 of your textbook, new edition):

蜗阳苔干,名优特产,驰名中外,声震古今,翠绿、鲜嫩、清脆、可口，有“天然海蛰”之称；清乾隆年间奉献皇宫，古又名“贡菜”。

Taigan(a kind of dry stemmed vegetable) is a famous special local product of Woyang, Anhui province. It is well known all over the world. It can be regarded as “jellyfish on land”. It’s green, tender, crisp and pleasant to taste. It was once an article of tribute in Qing Dynasty.

Translate the following sentences in your exercise book and read your translation next time:

1. 中国文化摄取外域的新成分，丰富了自己，又以自己的新成就输送给别人，贡献于世界。

2. 幼时家境贫寒，生活困难。不幸他三岁的时候，父亲去世了，母子无依无靠，处境更加艰难。怎么办呢？ (摘自“孟轲悔过”)

3. 唐长安城包括今西安城和近郊区，面积相当于现在的西安城的7倍半，城周有36.7公里，城内居住着约100万人口。

Read chapter one of your textbook.

Extracurricular reading:

匡衡凿壁偷光，王冕牛角挂书，车胤囊萤照诵，孙康映雪读书。难道我们还怕学习中的困难吗？世上无难事，只要肯登攀。

Kuang Heng read by light from a hole gouged through the wall; Wang Mian read with his books hung on its horn while grazing the cattle；Che Yin read by light of bagged fireflies and Sun Kang by the reflection of snow——can there be any difficulty in our study to be afraid of? No difficulty in the world is insurmountable, so long as one dares scale the highest peak possible.

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