Translation Methods Of Postpositive Attributives In Popular Science Works From The Perspective Of Communicative Translation Theory: A Case Study Of Spark: The Life Of Electricity And The Electricity Of Life (Excerpt)

The source text of this translation task is taken from Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life,which is a popular science book with 16 chapters published by the Princeton University Press in 2021.Its writer,Timothy J.Jorgensen,gradually expounds the powerful effect of electricity on lives from a biological perspective.The source text of this translation report is taken from Chapters 3 and 4 of this book with a total number of 16,755 words,focusing on scientists’ early knowledge of lightning and exploration in electrotherapy.With humorous language,the excerpt gradually deepens readers’ understanding of electricity in a manner of storytelling.Professor Jorgensen uses a large number of postpositive attributives to further elaborate the source text.There are 571 sentences in the excerpt,among which 482 sentences contain postpositive attributives,accounting for nearly three fourths of the source text.These postpositive attributives are complex in structure and rich in forms,among which prepositional phrases,non-predicate verbs and attributive clauses are the most common forms.Attributives in English and Chinese differ in both linguistic form and semantic function,which brings great difficulties to the translation of long and complex sentences in popular science works.The translation of postpositive attributives will directly affect target readers’ comprehension of the source text,therefore,this report mainly focuses on the translation methods of postpositive attributives in this translation task.Guided by communicative translation theory,the translator takes target readers of this translation task as the top priority,paying attention to their reading experiences and getting rid of the shackles of the source text structure.In this report,three kinds of postpositive attributives that are common in the source text are analyzed and five translation methods,including prepositioning,omission,division,conversion and combination,are applied in this translation task to ensure the readability and acceptability of the target text.The report consists of five chapters.In chapter one,the translator briefly introduces background and significance of this translation task,and the features and translation difficulties of the source text;Chapter two elaborates on the translation process,including pre-translation preparation,while-translation activities and post-translation conclusions;Chapter three expounds Newmark’ s communicative translation theory and the application of it.Chapter four focuses on the analysis of postpositive attributives in the source text under the guidance of communicative translation theory;and the last chapter reflects the findings and limitations of this translation task.