A Report On Chinese Translation Of English Discourse In Science And Technology In The Perspective Of Translation Shift

The thesis is mainly about the application of Catford's translation shift on Chinese translation of English science and technology discourse based on the translation of UNESCO Science Report into Chinese.Theoretically,Catfords' translation shift consists of two major kinds: level shift as well as category shift which can be separated into four shifts in further: structure shift,class shift,unit shift and intra-system shift.The shift features in detailed classifications and the analysis of the sentence level,thus having the strong sense of operation.The objectivity in English sci-tech discourse without any subjective factors as well as the accuracy and complexity of the sentences require translators' thoroughly and carefully choosing the words constantly,aiming to achieve the accuracy of the translated text.Therefore,it is fit for the translation of sentences or the levels below such as phrases or words in sci-tech English discourse according to the thesis with a number of translation cases based on the sentence level as the evidence of the opinions above.In the first chapter,the beginning part of the thesis,the author gave a general introduction of the English discourse “UNESCO Science Report”.In the second chapter,the following part,the author described the whole translating process in details including the background information and technology terms searching before the translation,the translating process of the technology terms and complex sentences during the translation,and the revise after the translation.Next,in the third chapter,the author listed major theories of translation shift from home and abroad and focus on the detailed introduction and critic comments of Catford's translation shift.In the fourth chapter,the author made deepen and thorough analysis of the application of each translation shifts by choosing some representative sentences from “UNESCO Science Report”.In level shift,the author analyzed the shifts of numbers,tenses and aspects;in structure shift,the author analyzed the shifts of active sentences and passive sentences,the shift of affirmative sentences and negative sentences,the shift of subject prominent sentences and topic prominent sentences,the shift of animate subject sentences and inanimate subject sentences and the shift of “SPO” sentences and “PSO” sentences;in class shift,the author analyzed the shift of nouns and verbs,the shift of prepositions and verbs,the shift of adjectives and adverbs;in unit shift,the author analyzed the shift of clauses and sentences,the shift of groups and sentences;at last,the author also analyzed the intra-system shift.In the fifth chapter,I concluded the whole translation process,learned valuable lessons from the translation process and acquired a considerable amount of experience for future translation purposes.