| Language is an important means of communication as well as an essential part of culture. The Chinese language and English language are of different origins, and hence enjoy apparently different linguistic features and cultural connotations. Under the influence of different geographic environment, customs and culture, national methodology, religions and beliefs, historical development, and so on, different cultures vary in their colour terms. On the other hand, the same colour may arouse varied associations and symbolic meanings in different cultures.Colour terms have a high exposure in Hong Lou Meng, from the description of the characters' appearance, dresses to the arrangement of furniture and equipments in the residence, from the shift of seasonal scenery to the display of social activities and celebrations. Colour terms are also indispensable for describing the mental and psychological movements of the character. The artistic and skillful use of colour termsreveals the author Cao Xueqin's (曹雪芹) superb skill in maneuvering language, and at thesame time exposes the social and cultural features of his time. Because of the complicated information encoded in colour terms, the proper translation of them poses a great challenge to translators. Meanwhile, as translators come from different cultural backgrounds and have different purposes in mind when start translating, it is natural for them to take different translation strategies.This thesis is based on the data colleted from the first eighty chapters of the two complete English versions of Hong Lou Meng: one is《A Dream of Red Mansions》by Yang Xianyi(æ¨å®ªç›Š) and Gladys Yang (戴乃è¿) , the other《The Story of the Stone》by DavidHawkes. The role of colour terms in literature will be discussed first in this thesis; then an analysis of types of colour terms and their respective translation strategies will be followed; finally there is a discussion on the influence of culture and the translator's style on the translation strategies.
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