A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of The Three-Character Classic From The Perspective Of Three Beauties

As one of the most important primer for elementary education in China,the Three-Character Classic covers a wide range of knowledge,including education,ethics,history and so on.It can be seen as an encyclopedia for children.Meanwhile,the Three-Character Classic has been translated into many kinds of versions and it has been classed as the moral education of the world's children series by the UNESCO.As a precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation,the Three-Character Classic has a unique value and cultural charm.The Three-Character Classic is suitable for children's cognitive level,but within it,one can find rich knowledge.The Three-Character Classic is highly informative and teaches the principle of behavior.The Three-Character Classic is highly philosophical.There are many Chinese literary quotations in this book and the function of education is powerful.There are deep cultural details and the unique temporal spirit in this book.The Three-Character Classic is similar to ancient Chinese poetry and it is beautiful in meaning,sound and form.Xu Yuanchong's theory of three beauties is one of the most representative translation theories.This thesis adopts the method of textual analysis,illustration and inductive research to analyze the characteristics of the two chosen English versions of the Three-Character Classic under the guidance of Xu Yuanchong's theory of three beauties.This thesis tries to analyze whether the two English versions are faithful to the original text in meaning,sound and form.The two English versions of the Three-Character Classic were quoted from Elementary Chinese: San Tzu Ching translated by Herbert Allen Giles(1900);The Three Word Primer translated by Zhao Yanchun(2014).The author hopes to prove that the Chinese can better translate their own text.The thesis falls into five parts.Introduction makes a summation about the background of the Three-Character Classic,which includes the author,Chinese versions,English versions,the introduction of the translators.A brief introduction of Xu Yuanchong's theory of three beauties comes after.Then literature reviews of previous studies of the Three-Character Classic and the English versions of the Three-Character Classic offered by researchers in China is given.Chapter One examines whether the two English versions are in accordance with the beauty in meaning by analyzing the diction and the translation of allusions.Chapter Two discusses whether the two English versions embody the beauty in sound by analyzing the rhythm and rhyme.Chapter Three studies the translation of line arrangement,line length and punctuation marks to see whether the two English versions embody the beauty in form of the source text.The author of this thesis thinks that the two translators have different purposes,so the two English versions have their own features.The thesis comes to the conclusion that in the real poetry translation practice,the three parts of three beauties should be combined together and the translator should select the proper principle and translation strategies to adjust different translation requests.