The Translation Of Zou Dao Ren Sheng Bianshang (Reaching The Brink Of Life) Under The Guidance Of Functional Equivalence Theory

This report is about the translation of Zou Dao Ren Sheng Bian Shang(Reaching the Brink of Life),which was written by Yang Jiang,a prestigious Chinese writer.In the book,there is a collection of philosophical short essays covering a wide range of topics on life,death,fate,soul,ghosts and spirits,etc.This book has distinct characteristics of classical Chinese literature,which are reflected in cultural-loaded words,Chinese idioms and Wu dialects.The sentences in Yang Jiang's book are loosely structured and plain,with few rhetorical flourishes.However,her writing style is really humorous and succinct and the book is full of exquisite emotion,which makes it delicate and thought-provoking.How to convey the original meaning of the source language and keep the style of the original text at the same time are what the translator should take into consideration and pay attention to in the process of translation.In the translation of the book,the author employs the Functional Equivalence Theory as a theoretical perspective.According to Functional Equivalence Theory,there are five principles which translators should observe:(1)conveying the message;(2)conveying the author's spirit and style;(3)using fluent language;(4)fully complying with the target language customs;(5)achieving the equivalence between the target readers' response to the translation and the original readers' response to the original.Under the guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory,the author adopts literal translation,free translation,translation plus annotation,omission,conversion of word class to make the translation more authentic so that the readers' response to the translation is the same as the original readers' response to the original.The author hopes this study sheds some light on the English translation of Chinese essays.