The C-E Translation Of Scenic-spot Introduction In Xi'an From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

According to statistics from WTO (World Tourism Organization), China was in the fifth position among the most visited countries in2007. It was also estimated that China would become the world's largest tourism destination and the fourth major tourist resources by2020. Xi'an as a capital of13dynasties in Chinese history, plays an indispensable role in China's tourism. As a part of tourism resources, the translation of scenic-spot introduction has a great effect on attracting foreign tourists and transmitting Chinese distinctive culture. Therefore, the quality of translation should not be neglected.Based on the former studies on translation of tourist materials, this paper studies the C-E translation of scenic-spot introduction from the perspective of Reception Theory. Reception Theory, a reader-oriented one, stresses the active role of readers in the reading of a text, including the key concepts of horizon of expectation and fusion of horizon. The former in fact is the "preunderstanding" of the reader, namely the aesthetic experience, and assumptions of an individual or the whole socio-cultural world of a community. The latter is the key to realize the value of a text. Thus, realizing the value of a scenic-spot introduction is to fulfill "fusion of horizon" between tourists and target text. As for scenic-spot introduction, it is a kind of tourist materials, which is tourist-centered and accordant with the feature of Reception Theory.In this paper, first of all is the brief introduction to the significance, purpose as well as the structure of this study. Then a contrastive study is conducted between the Chinese and English scenic-spot introduction from the levels of information, form and style. And the focus of the paper is the enlightenment of Reception Theory on C-E translation of scenic-spot introduction. According to Reception Theory, to realize the function of the scenic-spot introduction and satisfy the curiosity need of the tourists, two points should be taken into account while translating. One is shortening the aesthetic distance between the translated text and target readers by way of taking foreign tourists'cognitive constraints, linguistic habits, and aesthetic preference into consideration; the other is broadening the target readers'existing horizon of expectation by means of preserving the special form features and cultural implications of source text in translation for the purpose of meeting foreign tourists exotic and curiosity need. And the feedback from the face-to-face investigations of foreign tourists conducted by the writer further ensures the feasibility and efficiency of the above two points. As for the translation techniques under the guidance of Reception Theory, adaptation and omission can be used to shorten the aesthetic distance; Transliteration, transliteration plus literal translation, transliteration plus explanation and application can be applied to widen the expectation of the target readers.