A Report On The English-Chinese Translation Of The Future We Choose:Surviving The Climate Crisis(Excerpts)

This report is based on the translation of Introduction and the first three chapters of The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis,coauthored by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.The book depicts two totally different futures that humankind may shape,points out three mindsets people have in facing climate change and puts forward specific and effective measures to counter climate change.This translation project is of practical value and social significance.First,the translator has not only had a better understanding of vocative texts and mastered some useful translation methods,but also realized that she has a long way to go before she becomes a qualified translator.More importantly,readers of this translation are more likely to be persuaded into taking actions to cope with climate change,thus to create a better and more stable future for future generations as well as themselves.According to Peter Newmark’s text typology,the source text is a typical vocative one whose aim is to make readers realize the seriousness of climate change and take actions against climate change.Besides,the source text also performs expressive and informative functions.In order to achieve its vocative effect,the source text manifests the following features.Firstly,the words are very simple,but precise and carefully selected.Secondly,sentences with “you” and “we” as the subject are common and most of them are terse and easy to understand.Besides,there are many vivid expressions like idioms.Thirdly,like other texts,there is a close connection among neighboring sentences and paragraphs.These features should be preserved in the target text.To achieve this goal,the translator needs to figure out the contextual meaning of words and the connection between sentences and find the most accurate equivalents in the target language,to ensure the brevity and naturalness of sentences and avoid translationese.Under the guidance of Newmark’s theory of Semantic Translation and Communicative Translation,the translator uses many translation methods such as conversion to solve the problems she is confronted with in translating vocabulary,sentences,discourse as well as figures of speech.When translating content expressing the emotion and attitude of the author,the translator bears the original author in mind and figures out the contextual meaning of a word and retains the sentence structure of the source text;but in most cases,the translator keeps close to the readers and renders the text into Chinese naturally and fluently.Through this translation practice,the translator has realized that she needs to improve her language skills,to enrich her knowledge on English culture,and to study translation theory in a systematic manner,which will help to enhance her translation ability in the long run.