A Report On The English-Chinese Translation Of Ratner's Star(Chapter 1-2)

The translation of science fiction in China has been going on more than one hundred years,in the process of translation,the characteristics of this literary genre should be adequately take into account: First,strict logicality,science fiction is dominated by narration and its contents are interlocked;Second,rigorous scientificity,the contents of science fiction not only integrate the current cutting-edge science and technology,but also outlines a blueprint for future scientific and technological development;And then,the fantasy of science fiction makes it full of imagination.Furthermore,science fiction also features in interestingness,suspense and thrill.Therefore,in the course of translation,these characteristics should be manifested so as to arouse readers' interest in reading science fictions.In this translation report,the translator selected the American postmodernist writer,Don De Lillo's science fiction —— Ratner's Star(Chapter 1 and Chapter 2),which told a science fiction story of a research team centered on multiple Nobel Prize winners trying to clarifying a signal group.However,in translation,the translator found several features in source text: First,there were numerous long difficult sentences,mainly focused on the description of professional details;Second,there were a large quantity of terms in mathematics and science;Third,some words coined by Don De Lillo were difficult to comprehend;Fourth,there were a number of unfamiliar words,and their meanings were hard to consult.As a result,these features in source text give rise to some difficulties for the author's translation.In line accordance with above features in source text,based on the Skopos Theory of German functional school,the translator summarized the translation strategies suitable for this type of work by combining a great many of translation examples and employing varioustranslation methods and techniques.For the translation of long sentences in source text,on the basis of concise understanding,the translator applied different translation strategies into the translation,such as splitting and recasting.Meanwhile,there were many technical terms in science fiction to be consulted and understood,hence the translator translated them in the light of context,and employed some translation techniques of lexical amplification and conversion as necessary.In order to facilitate the readers to better comprehend the translation,making the content of the translation more substantial,the author took advantage of annotation to enhance the readability of the translation.