A Report On The E-C Translation Of Restoration Ecology:The New Frontier(Excerpt)

Restoration Ecology:The New Frontier is a book on restoration ecology jointly edited by Jelte Van Andel and James Aronson,focusing on the description the ecological system and landscape of Europe.Some techniques and methods mentioned in this book have positive implications for the restoration of our ecological environment.The third chapter of this book introduces different kinds of ecological restoration in European history.The source text of this translation project is the eleventh section of Chapter three—Restoration of rivers and floodplains,which is devoted to describing the crises and restoration methods of rivers and floodplains in different historical stages of Europe.Translating this section will help Chinese readers who are concerned about the restoration of rivers and floodplains to have a general understanding of European ecological restoration methods.The source text is a typical ecological text.At the lexical level,compound words and professional terms are often used in the source text;at the syntactic level,the passive sentences,complex sentences,and adverbial clauses are also frequently seen;at the textual level,the linking words and substitute words are used in many places.According to Newmark’s text typology theory,the source text is an informative text.Considering the language features and main functions of the informative text,this report summarizes appropriate translation strategies and methods to translate the source text.At lexical level,the communicative and semantic translation theories are combined together to guide the translation practice and ensure the accuracy of the lexical meaning;at syntactic level,the methods of conversion,omission,keeping the passive voice,adjustment of word order,division and combination,linear and reversed translation are applied to make readers better understand the sentences;at textual level,the methods of omission,amplification and free translation are employed to deal with the translation of the various linking words and substitute words.The purpose of this report is to analyze how these strategies and methods are applied to translate the source text and to provide enlightenment and reference for the translation of similar texts.