| Tao Yuanming (365-427) has long been acclaimed as the greatest poet among those born after Qu Yuan and before Li Bai and Du Fu. He enjoys great fame in the poetry arena at home and abroad. His poems, more natural and fresh than ever before, wipe off all the luxury and show great sincerity of the poet. Thus, many translators are attracted to introduce them to the western readers. Though simple and rustic, his poems reveal, between the lines, the poet's love for nature and the spirit to be content with a life of poverty. Subsequently, how to interpret them correctly becomes the key factor in translation."Understanding" is the premise of interpretation. Translation, whatever kind it may be, all relates to understanding and interpretation about the source text. Understanding is the reception of the source text, while interpretation is the explanation of it. Naturally, hermeneutics, as a science about understanding and interpretation, has an indissoluble bond with translation studies. In literary translation, hermeneutics, as a method of textual analysis, is also an artful form of understanding and a process of exposing hidden meanings. Hans-Georg Gadamer, a representative of hermeneutics, believes that interpretation of any text should be categorized into the time system, thus there is no absolutely objective understanding of a text. And the meaning intended by the author of the original text is not important, what is important is how we interpret this meaning that concerns us. Understanding is a process in which personal horizon fuses with the historical horizon. And literary translation means mutual communication and a dialogue between translation subjects—the interpreter and the author through the media of text.By taking Gadamer's hermeneutic theories as the theoretical basis with special reference to such concepts as "historicity of understanding" and "fusion of horizons", this thesis makes a comparative study on the two translations of Tao's poems, with Wang Rongpei and William Acker as Chinese and English translators respectively. By combining theoretical exposition with the analysis of the two translations and weaving macro- and micro-illustrations, this thesis aims at probing into the fusion of horizons between the translator and the poet/original in the two versions.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction, which briefs the research background, significance of the study, and the structure of the thesis. Chapter Two expounds the relationship between translation and hermeneutics, including a retrospect of hermeneutics and an introduction to some hermeneutic doctrines, in which a special concern is given to Gadamer's concepts of "historicity of understanding" and "fusion of horizons" which will be adopted as the theoretical basis of the thesis. Chapter Three gives a brief account of Tao Yuanming the poet, the themes and characteristics of his poems as well as the English translations of Tao's poems. Chapter Four, the body of the thesis, makes a comparative study of the two translated versions in the light of hermeneutic theories from the angles of "fusion of horizons" and "historicity of understanding". And the fusion of horizons in the two versions are discussed from the following five aspects: the handling of words, the reconstruction of sentences, the translation of images, reproduction of artistic conception, and rebuilding of poetic form. Chapter Five, the concluding part, makes a summary of the thesis, in which the author proposes that a translator has to correct illegitimate prejudices and broaden his horizon continuously by constant learning; translation is a process of dialogue and hermeneutic circulation; a literary work is an open system of symbols that requires to be interpreted, and fusion of horizons can be achieved among the translator, the author and the readers.
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