A Report On The Translation Of Arctic Dreams(chapter Six)

Arctic area has always been a mysterious and sacred place in people’s mind. Nevertheless, few people are as adventurous as Barry Lopez, who has been absorbed in the Arctic area for five years doing research, recording what he has seen and thought about based on his own experience. The material is selected from Chapter Six of Barry Lopez’s Arctic Dreams, whose name is Ice and light. This chapter describes arctic ice and aurora, covers basic knowledge of Western painting and astronomy. Therefore, the translation of the text calls for, more or less, a combination of arctic and astronomical knowledge. Moreover, many culture-loaded words involved in the text also are worth translator’s notice.The report consists of four parts, namely the translation task description, translation process description, case analysis and conclusion. The first part of the report, i.e., translation task description, covers the source and introduction of translation material. The second part is a summary of translation process, including the preparation for translation, difficultiesin the first draft and revision of the translation. Then comes to the most important part, that is the third part. The translator analyzes specific cases relating to western painting and astronomy knowledge, as well as difficult words and sentences. The last part is a conclusion of the translation practice. The translator realizes her disadvantages in the whole translation process and knows that a good mastery of both English and Chinese language is the key to being a qualified translator.