A Study On Deviation Of Wakefield’s English Translation In The Three-Inch Golden Lotus From Perspective Of Cognitive Construal

San Cun Jin Lian is a novel authored by Feng Jicai,a famous contemporary Chinese writer.The language of the novel is witty,humorous and exquisite,creating a new style of civic novels.David Wakefield’s English translation of the book was published in America and won the 1992-93 Eugene M.Kayden International Translation Award.Deviation is an important phenomenon in translation.The translator always deviates from the original text in the process of translation.Although deviation in translation has attracted attention in the academic field in recent years,the study of deviation in translation lacks depth and research on deviation from the perspective of cognition is also not enough.Therefore,this study attempts to analyze deviation of meaning in English version of San Cun Jin Lian from the four dimensions of cognitive construal theory.Translation is the embodiment of the translator’s cognitive process.All kinds of decisions made by the translator in the process of translation are the reflection of his cognitive process and results.Therefore,this paper,from the perspective of construal theory,studies reasons of deviation of meaning in Wakefield’s English translation by means of quantitative and qualitative research methods and text contrast analysis.Construal refers to people’s ability to observe and conceive the same situation and in alternate way.Construal theory includes four dimensions: scope and background,perspective,prominence and specificity.The choice of scope,the description of different degrees of specificity,and the change of perspective and prominence all reflect a translator’s cognitive process.Text contrast analysis shows that Wakefield’s translation of the book goes with remarkable deviations,among which those in meaning make a large part.Deviations in meaning are reflected in mistranslation,shift of vantage point,omission and addition.Based on the four dimensions of construal theory,this paper analyzes the deviations in meaning in The Three-Inch Golden Lotus.It finds that a lack of scope and background leads to mistranslation;Different perspectives are reflected in the shift of vantage point;Change of emphasis on the side can be regarded as the shift of vantage point;Different levels of specificity of onomatopoeia and sentences lead to addition or omission.Analysis show that the deviations in meaning in Wakefield’s translation are mainly caused by the following two reasons.First,translation strategies used by Wakefield lead to deviation of meaning.Wakefield deliberately adds,omits or rewrites information in order to reflect his cultural position and aesthetic value and stay fluency of the translation.Second,Wakefield lacks relevant cultural background knowledge and can not accurately convey the meaning that Feng wants to express,which results in deviation of meaning.This study aims to verify the explanatory power of construal theory to deviation in translation and hopes to provide a new perspective for the study of English version of San Cun Jin Lian.