A Report On The E-C Translation Of New China And Old:Personal Recollections And Observations Of Thirty Years(Excerpts)

This report is a review on the translation of Chapter ? and Chapter ? of New China and Old:Personal Recollections and Observations of Thirty Years,written by Ven.Arthur E.Moule,published in 1891.New China and Old mainly records what Ven.Arthur E.Moule saw and heard during his 30 years in China and makes detailed account of China's history,geography,religious beliefs,culture,customs,etc.,which is a precious historical material for studying old China in 19th century.A memoir possesses unique stylistic characteristics,and the description of the source text is represented in plain narration interspersed with personal commentary,which reveals comparatively strong literary nature of the text.In view of its content and language features,the translation of New China and Old can be considered as a back-translation course to a certain degree,so the translation of the book needs to be done in precise and idiomatic Chinese.The Reception Aesthetics Theory attaches importance to readers'role in literary translation practice.It aims at connecting the writer,the text and readers through a dynamic,historical and multiple explanation and reception process.Therefore,the author of the current report takes the Reception Aesthetics Theory as the guiding principle for this translation practice,focusing chiefly on the readers'active involvement while pursuing the equivalence between the source text and target text through the flexibility in the use of such applicable translation techniques and skills as combined translation,split translation,omission,additional translation,literal translation and free translation.As an old saying goes,"once a humble voice is given,the great ideas may be heard",it is hoped that this translation and report are helpful for future translation and studies on such old books in foreign languages.