Application Analysis Of Four-character Structures In Vanity Fair Translated By Yang Bi From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

With strong expressiveness, flexible structure and strong ethnic culture, four-character structure is the unique advantage of Chinese. In the process of the formation and heritage of Chinese language and culture, four-character structure has been playing an important role. Because of the beauty in sound, form and artistic conception, writers, scholars and translators prefer to use four-character structure in their works. Meanwhile, four-character structure is prevailing expression for Chinese readers as well. Proper use of four-character structure is able to make both original and translated literary works more acceptable. Vanity Fair translated by Yang Bi is a typical text of the successful use of four-character structure.Vanity Fair translated by Yang Bi, since the advent, has been appreciated by Chinese readers and been spoken highly by other translators. One of the reasons is that Yang Bi took adequate consideration into idiomatic usage of Chinese language while striving to convey the original spirit. The application of four-character structure in Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair made creative use of the advantages of Chinese language, and ingeniously reproduced the artistic beauty of the Source Language. Reception Aesthetics emphasizes translators should always pay attention to their “potential readers”; both in the selection of themes and the use of translation strategies, they ought to give due consideration to the “horizon of expectation” of “potential readers”. The majority of potential readers of Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair are Chinese readers who are familiar with and love four-character structure. With the skillful use of four-character structure, Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair has met the aesthetic expectations of Chinese readers successfully.The author selected chapter 12, 32, 37 in Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair as the source material and cited a large quantity of examples about the use of four-character structure in Yang Bi’s Vanity Fair. Through these examples, the writer wanted to show readers the role of four-character structures and to explore effective and innovative strategies for application of four-character structures in literary translation. The author hopes this paper can provide the translators with constructive proposals for enhancing the artistic attraction, improving the reader acceptance and realizing the value of the translation.