On Figures Of Speech In Translating Fortress Besieged

Among different text types, form-focused literary texts are accounted as difficult to translate.According to skopos theory of translational functionalism, the skopos of literary translation isto maintain the formal effect of source texts in target texts. To achieve this goal, translatorsare required not only to have an excellent command of both languages and the cultures thatexert great influence over the languages, but also to show their creativity in some cases. Theadoption of figures of speech is an important part composing the form of literary texts. Whilethere are certain features in common between English and Chinese figures of speech, theyhave their respective distinctive features as well. When translating, the principle is to keep thetarget text dynamically equivalent with the source text: on the one hand, priority should begiven to the reproduction of figures of speech;on the other hand, the reproduction of figuresof speech by no means should violate practices and grammatical rules of target language.Based on the Chinese and English versions of Fortress Besieged, this thesis categorizes sixcommonly used figures of speech and explains the mechanism composing them from thelinguistic perspective so that a theoretical basis concerning the translation of figures of speechis established. Moreover, typical Chinese and English examples are selected and analyzedcomparatively, revisions made where flaws are found. Finally, a general summary is madewith regard to specific strategies to be adopted.