| Nature writing is a relatively modern literary genre of about two hundred years, though it has been a tradition both in Europe and ancient China. At present, nature writing is under polarization, thriving in America and recessing in Europe and China. As a unique combination of knowledge and entertainment, nature writing deserves more attention from the academia, and studies on it would be in demand for today’s Chinese readers who only have relatively inadequate chance to enjoy the outstanding nature writing works. This paper is a report on the present author’s experience of translating a selection of four nature writing articles written by significant nature writers, as well as her understanding of her task in the light of skopostheory.The report begins with a definition to the term "nature writing" which has always been a rather vague and broad concept, and identifies the necessary elements it involves, distinguishing the relationship between technicality and readability, which the present author sorts out as a pair of correlated stylistic features in nature writing.Task-oriented as the present author is inclined in composing her report, she resorts to skopostheory as a theoretical means to help deal with problems in the process of translating, for the detailed analysis of the translation task and material suggests that this theory should be more appropriate and effective than others in dealing with the scientific matters and some of the literary elements in nature writing translation. The rewriting strategy is also discussed in the analysis of the translating process.In the light of the skopostheory, this report closely traces the translation process, the thread of thoughts all along the project, the problems and their corresponding solutions in the translation of terms, rhetoric devices, and stylistic considerations. Further considerations and suggestions are put forward finally, hoping to generate some inspirations for all those who are interested in nature writing translation. |
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