On Translation Variation Of Soft News Translation From The Perspective Of Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory

News is an important way for information dissemination.As an important part of the news,soft news,with humorous style and features of being easily to be accepted and closely related to people’s lives,has become an indispensable access to information in people’s daily life.The development of information and communication technology has not only improved the speed and range of news dissemination,but also enriched the way people receive information,which has made people more inclined to receive concise and interesting information with more convenient and effective way.With the flourishing of market economy and the growth of international exchanges today,Chinese readers’ demand for foreign information is also growing.Through the introduction of English soft news by translation,Chinese readers can get access to foreign customs,science and technology as well as social dynamics,which has greatly enriched their life and made the translation of English soft news more important.Based on this,the author carries out the study in order to enrich the theoretical perspective and translation methods for soft news translation.The “culture turn” of translation studies has made scholars set translation studies in a macro social-cultural context,which is beyond traditional linguistic paradigm studies.The manipulation theory is an important theoretical achievement of the “culture turn” in translation studies,which holds that translation is not carried out in vacuum and translation is not a simple activity of language conversion.In fact,according to the manipulation theory,in the process of translation,the translator is mainly manipulated by ideology,poetics and patronage.While the translation variation theory advocates translators should give full play to their initiative and adopt adaption techniques and translation variation methods in order to absorb more and better foreign culture with fast speed and great efficiency,thus to meet the specific needs of specific readers.As far as the author is concerned,translation variation without limits and objectives will turn out to be careless and wrong translation.While on the one hand the three control factors of manipulation theory set the premise and limits on translators to conduct translation variation;on the other hand,the conduction of translation variation manipulated by ideology,poetics and patronage can make target texts meet readers’ specific demands for ideology,information,spirituality nurturing,poetics,aesthetic and other specific needs.Therefore,it is feasible to explore the translation variation of soft news translation under the guidance of manipulation theory.China Daily and Global Times are influential newspapers in China,and Language Tips and Huanqiu.com are branch organizations of them respectively.Therefore,to study the translation variation of relevant soft news materials from them can provide a certain reference value.The main findings of this paper can be concluded as the following: First,as to the three control factors,in translating soft news about culture,daily life and entertainment,translators are mainly manipulated by the factor of poetics to conduct translation variation;in translating soft news about sports,society and politics,translators are mainly influenced by factors of ideology and patronage to conduct translation variation.Secondly,translation methods in translation variation can be used in many aspects in the E-to-C translation of English soft news,including different news structure,such as news title,news lead and news content,and different discourse units,such as words,sentences and passages.Thirdly,through deep study,the author has found that seven kinds of main translation methods in translation variation can be applied to the translation of English soft news,including edited translation,translation plus rewriting,narrated translation,translation plus comment,translation plus writing,translation plus explanation,translation plus imitation.The edited translation,widely adopted,means the edition and translation,and by using it,the structure and logic of the text can be well improved;translation plus rewriting refers to the translation plus adaptions,and by using it,the style,form and content of the original text may be adapted to meet target readers’ reading preferences;narrated translation refers to the translation with restatement,and by using it,the translator can objectively restates the original text in order to facilitate understanding;translation plus comment refers to the translation combined with comments,which makes translators add some commentary information in the target text and translation plus writing refers to the translation with some information of background or conclusion added in the target text.The two translation methods here both increase the amount of information in the target text.Through translation plus comment,it can narrow the space between target readers and the target text,which can achieve good interaction with readers,and through the translation plus writing,it enables target readers better understand the background and other related information of the original text;translation plus explanation refers to the translation with necessary explanation added in the target text and through this method,some information hard to understand is interpreted by the translator to help target readers better understand the target text;translation plus imitation is to translate with the imitation of style and content of some well-known works in the target country.Through this method,translators can imitate the well-known chapter or sentence structure in the target country,which makes it easier for target readers to accept the target text.The author hopes that the research of this paper can provide some reference for researchers who are devoted to the study of E-to-C translation of English soft news.