A Study Of The English Translation Of Shi Ji In1950s From The Perspective Of Eco-translatology

Under the influence of global ecological thought, the newly-formedeco-translatology with an ecological approach to penetrate into translation studies hasattracted an extensive attention of scholars both at home and abroad, most of whichhas focused on its microscopic theoretical basis---translation as adaptation andselection. As a special interpretation of translation study, eco-translatology plays astrong guiding role in the application research of translated versions. And on this basisthis thesis systematically interprets the translation phenomena like translation process,translation strategy, translation methodology, translators’ status and purpose, and theevaluation of translated rendition. It can be said that eco-translatology not onlymanifests its particular explanatory power in the detailed study of translationphenomena, but also embodies its strong application feasibility in the practicaltranslation studies.Shi Ji (《史记》）as the ifrst annual and biography general history in China,topping the Twenty-four Histoires, records a grand history with a great deal ofhistorical documents for three thousand years of Chinese civilization. However, theoverall translation and transmission status of Shi Ji in the English-speaking world isdismal with only subtle influence before1950s since atfer that Yang Hsien-yi andGladys，rendition and Burton Wat7son translated version have radically changed thedepressed situation.In mainland China so far the researches on Shi Ji’s English translation havedevoted much effort on combing its translation history, and describing thecharacteirstics of the discourses and partial words while a systematiceco-translatological study on Yang Hsien-yi and Burton Watson’s renditions stillneeds to be strengthened. This thesis is going to study the two translated versions ofShi Ji aiming at making an explanation and descirption of the essence, process,strategy and methods of the translations, and so as to hope to shed some light ontranslators’ optimum adaptation and selection in the translational eco-environment. Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis still contains four parts. Theintroduction part offers a brief account of the background, aim, signiifcance,methodology，and layout of the whole study. Chapter Two is literature review inwhich the oirginal version of Shi Ji and its wirter, its overall English translation status,the main translation versions, and the status in quo of the researches on Shi JVsEnglish translation are introduced. Chapter Three is the theoretical rfamework inwhich the oirgin, development, and the basic concepts and viewpoints ofeco-translatology will be presented. Chapter Four is about the speciifc’eco-translatological analysis of Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys version and BurtonWatson’s rendition. Chapter Five gives an evaluation of the two versions anddiscusses the survival factors of translation. The last part is the conclusion part inwhich the thesis states the findings and introspects the limitations and suggestions forfurther researches.