A Cognitive Study Of The Translation Of Conceptual Metaphors In Essays Of E.B. White

Metaphor translation,traditionally studied from the perspective of rhetoric and stylistics,is treated as the transformation between two different language signs,and tends to be implemented by means of literal translation/foreignization/insufficient representation or free translation/domestication/excessive representation.However,cognitive perspective on metaphor translation is an interaction between languages and thoughts,a mapping from original text to target text,in the process of which the cognitive mental mechanism of translators is highlighted.It is a feature of essays that abundant metaphorical expressions are employed to describe life and express emotion,which in turn reflects the characteristics of the mapping of conceptual metaphors that it is rooted in the experience and knowledge gained from daily life.E.B.White was named as the greatest American essayist in the 20^th century.His Essays of E.B.White contains plenty of metaphorical expressions,which enrich the prose language and depict the simple life vividly.Therefore,a study on White’s essays’translation is both a study of language and a challenge of translation.Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory,this thesis chooses the original text and Jia Huifeng’s Chinese version as the data,explores the cognitive mechanism of conceptual metaphors in English and Chinese and their mutual transformations in translation,and concludes corresponding translation strategies of metaphors.First,under Lakoff’s classification,conceptual metaphors in Essays of E.B.White can be subdivided into:structural metaphors（time metaphors,emotion metaphors,event structural metaphors and some others）,orientational metaphors（up-down metaphors,deep-shallow metaphors,front-back metaphors）and ontologicalmetaphors（entity/substancemetaphors,containermetaphors,personification）,under those of which the existence of some more specific metaphors is illustrated.Second,there are three cases in the translated versions,namely same conceptual metaphors,different conceptual metaphors and non-conceptual metaphors compared with the original text.And the translatability and limitation of conceptual metaphor translation is explicated by the commonality and individuality of metaphorical cognition between English and Chinese.Finally,three translation strategies of conceptual metaphors are concluded as the equivalence of mapping,the non-equivalence of mapping and the deletion of mapping,each of which contains two detailed rules.The choice of these three strategies should embody a certain sense of institutionalized preference.In short,this study can help readers to get a better understanding of conceptual metaphors,obtain a sharper appreciation of refined English-metaphor language with deep implied meanings.Besides,it can help readers realize the commonality and individuality of metaphorical cognition between languages,and at the same time,it offers a new angle of viewpoint to instruct the translation practice of conceptual metaphors.