English-Chinese Translation Of The Last Wolf And Its Analysis From The Perspective Of Aesthetic Of Reception

The Last Wolf was written and published in 2002 by Michael Morpurgo,a famous contemporary British best-selling children's author and Children's Laureate.The story is about an orphan,who,after experiencing hunger,poverty,war and a short period of family warmth,encountered a wolf cub and sailed with him to America for freedom and prosperity.With the subject of growth,the story upholds love,peace,responsibility and respect for life.The translation of this story is guided by the "Aesthetic of Reception" theory,which was developed in the 1960s by Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser.Focusing on reader's reception,it claims that the value of literary texts lies in the fusion between the text and the reader's horizon of expectation.The target readers of this novel are children;therefore,the English-Chinese translation should take children's aesthetic characteristics into consideration.From a child-centered angel,the translation should be understandable,appreciable and illuminating for children at three levels,concerning accuracy,readability and children literariness.Accuracy requires translating linguistic meaning and illocutionary meaning accurately,like proper nouns translation,style correspondence and mistranslation avoidance;readability requires that the language should be easy to read with beautiful pronunciation,smooth rhythm and lively tones;children literariness requires that language should be carefully selected to be precise and beautiful,and sometimes that special skills like rhetorical devices should be used to build literature atmosphere and fun and interest.The above levels are so closely connected that not a single one can be omitted.From accuracy to readability and to children literariness,the requirements are getting higher and higher,and it is getting more and more difficult to put into practice.Accuracy is an integral requirement of translation;readability is a higher requirement;and children literariness is the finest stage.The three qualities,if realized altogether,can inject lives into a literature text,making it more popular among its readers.