A Contrastive Study Of The Two Chinese Versions Of Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin is a famous anti-slavery novel written by Mrs.Stowe.With profound thoughts and lofty literary values,it ranks among the world's best books.Up to now,it has been translated into more than thirty languages and widely spread all over the world.In China,Uncle Tom's Cabin has dozens of Chinese translated versions.The best wellknown ones are versions translated by Huang Jizhong and Wang Jiaxiang.For translation style,the two versions are quite different and have their own features.Most words and sentences are familiar to Chinese readers in Huang Jizhong's version,while the diction style of the original can be seen in Wang Jiaxiang's version.“Functional Equivalence Theory”,which was proposed by the American linguist Eugene A.Nida,has exerted great influence on Chinese translators.It holds that “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message,first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style”(Nida and Taber,2004:12).As one of the most influential contemporary western translation theories,“Functional Equivalence Theory” is of great significance to Chinese translators and has been studied by many scholars.Based on a study of two Chinese versions of Uncle Tom's Cabin translated by Huang Jizhong and Wang Jiaxiang,the thesis makes a contrastive analysis of the two versions in diction,syntax and style perspectives from the perspective of readers,and then describes and evaluates their features and principles guided by “functional equivalence” theory.