A Tentative Design Of "Four-in-one" Translation Works By Yan Fu

As an eminent enlightenment thinker,translator and educator in moderm Chinese history,Yan Fu received unanimous recognition for his academic and social contributions.His eight great translations have exerted profound and far-reaching influence on the academia.Most outstanding among them is his Tian Yan Lun,the Chinese version of Evolution and Ethics written by British biologist Thomas Huxley.However,there have been only two forms of this translation,Chinese version bound in traditional font and bilingual comparison of his classic Chinese and original work in English.For translation studies at home and abroad,the basic presentation is a "three-in-one" model of"English-Chinese-Comments" intended for appreciation of translations in classic Chinese and the undercurrent behind the translations.As Yan Fu's translation in classic Chinese may appear all Greek to ordinary readers,its historic and practical significance is known only to those“advanced readers" who are much trained in reading classic Chinese,it is highly necessary now to provide a new "four-in-one" format of his eight great translations for young readers who are badly in need of the rich ideas in these translations and much improved competence to appreciate classic Chinese.The theoretical significance of this design may be detailed as follows:1)to help young readers better appreciate the historic and practical significance of the eight works;2)to add to“advanced minority”a great army of young researchers;3)to improve young researchers'ability to appreciate classic Chinese for inheritance of fine Chinese cultural tradition.It is no doubt a huge systematic project to design such "four-in-one" comparative and analytic works.Therefore,the present study takes upon itself to offer a tentative design of Tfan Yan Lun for the puqpose of extending its experiment to a future complete publication of all the eight works in "four-in-one" format.The major findings of this tentative design include:1)works in the form of“English-Classic Chinese-Modern Chinese-Comments" will contribute to the proficiency of English and classic Chinese;2)comments on the translations from various perspectives will help readers to critically evaluate translation works from different angles;3)a dialectical and historical analysis of the translation will help readers to more thoroughly understand the brilliant philosophical wisdom of Yan Fu,thus enabling young readers in this new age to apply our fine tradition for contemporary reconstruction of our ethics.