An E-C Translation Report On History Analogs For The Stimulation Of Space Commerce(Excerpts)

As American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong landed on the moon in July,1969,human beings entered the era of space exploration.People find rich resources in the space,which brings the emergence of space commerce.However,China has done less research on space commerce than some European and American countries.Translating related foreign research reports and books into Chinese can provide more information and knowledge to Chinese people and help China to hold an advantageous position in future competition of space commerce.The translator chooses History Analogs for the Stimulation of Space Commerce,a book published on official website of NASA,as source text of this translation practice.Purposes of translating this book are to introduce space commerce to Chinese and to research on the translation principles,strategies and skills of informative texts,especially scientific texts.This source text is an informative text,and it is close to the branch of informative text-scientific text,as its theme and characteristics are similar to those of scientific text.This report is composed to analyze characteristics,translation methods and principles of informative texts,especially scientific texts.Informative text is used to convey information accurately and objectively.According to the characteristics of informative text,translation theorist Peter Newmark suggests translators adopt the communicative translation method to help the target readers get the same reading experience as that gained by readers speaking the source language.Scientific text is a branch of informative text.It shares same characteristics and similar translation methods with informative text.However,scientific text has its uniquefeatures,such as objectivity of theme,specialization of content,simplicity and rationality of structure and rationality of the text.Translation of this type of text should conform to three principles: accuracy,faithfulness and normativity.The third chapter of this paper analyzes translation of words,sentences and the text in detail under the guidance of the three principles.In terms of text translation,translators sometimes have limited knowledge of a specific science or technology industry,making it necessary to search for background information and read parallel texts in order to provide an accurate translation.Moreover,for some difficult professional terms,the translators should add notes to give a clear explanation and help the readers to well understand the text.