| Nida’s functional equivalence theory is the basic theory in this study, and the main corpus comes from O.Henry’s short stories and its Chinese version translated by Mr. Wang Yongnian. This study will be conducted by comparing Chinese version with the English version of O.Henry’s short stories to figure out how to apply functional equivalence theory to the translation of rhetorical devices in O.Henry’s short stories by maintaining the equivalence degree with the extent of the minimum equivalence, so as to ensure that it will be understandable to the target readers. After this study, the author have drawn the following conclusions:1) The reader-response is the core factor in the application of functional equivalence theory, that is, the translator should ensure that the target readers would be able to understand the translation version in a similar way with the original readers’ understanding of the original text;2) For the translation of the rhetorical devices, it is not so easy to create an absolute equivalent translation because of cultural differences, however, we could maintain the equivalence within the extent of maximum equivalence and minimal equivalence according to Nida’s functional equivalence theory;3) For the translation of four kinds of rhetorical devices cited in this paper, we have found that it is easier to reach maximum equivalence for the translation of personification and simile while the translation of metonymy and metaphor is on a lower equivalent level, but it can be kept within the minimum equivalent. The significance of this study is to demonstrate the operability of functional equivalence theory in guiding the translation of rhetorical devices, which will lay a theoretical foundation for further studies on translation of rhetorical devices of English novels and strengthen the translation researchers’ understanding of this theory, as well as improve their appreciation of rhetoric devices. |
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