On The Translation Of Rhetorical Devices In The Source Text

As one of the three ancient arts of discourse, rhetoric is an indispensable part of writing, which aims to improve the capability of writers or speakers to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. From Wikipedia, its best known definition comes from Aristotle, who considers it a counterpart of both logic and politics, and calls it “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” Rhetoric plays a very important role in English speech, acting as a key element for the success of a speech. The function of rhetoric is to make language more vivid and vigorous, to make abstract ideas concrete and to give people more space to imagine.The Vacationers, written by Emma Straub, is one of the favorite books in summer reading. This is an irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca. Kirkus, an author of Starred Review said, “This is a novel that is both a lot of fun to read and has plenty of insight into the marital bond and the human condition.”The translator is the creator of life, who is required to keep an eye on the story and rhetoric of the original to gain deeper understanding and produce better translation. To make the text more inspiring and convincing, the author frequently adopts many well-organized sentences, using rhetorical devices such as metaphor, simile, and so on. Since the translator thought that rhetorical devices are supposed to add color into the expression of the text, she would discuss these aspects, attaching highly importance in metaphor, simile, metonymy and synecdoche--- all these are related to the Chinese rhetoric: Biyu.