A Translation Report On The Prose Life Is A Valley(Excerpts) Under The Guidance Of Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory

China boasts a long history and a brilliant civilization.Chinese culture is not only the spiritual wealth of the Chinese people,but also the valuable asset of the whole world,with its far-reaching influence on the progress of human beings and the development of the world culture.With the continuous advancement of China's economy and the improvement of China's national image,a growing number of people in the world are taking interest in Chinese culture,and many excellent Chinese literary works are being catapulted onto the global literary stage.Many foreign scholars are eager to plumb the depths of Chinese culture,particularly the intricacies of Chinese prose.However Chinese prose is so rich in cultural connotation that foreign readers may find it difficult to understand.At present,theoretical studies on the translation of Chinese prose are so lacking that it necessitates the study of appropriate translation methods.Therefore,it is of great significance to analyze and discuss the translation of Chinese prose.Functional equivalence theory was proposed by American linguist Eugene A.Nida,whose core perspective is functional equivalence.Functional equivalence posits that the translation does not require rigid correspondence of superficial meaning,but rather realizes the equivalence of functional equivalence between the two languages.This report selects typical examples from Li Guowen's famous prose book Life Is a Valley to explore the challenges in translation and various strategies according to functional equivalence theory.The analysis illustrates the translation of lexical level,culture-loaded expressions,and long and complex sentences.In order to achieve lexical equivalence,the translator adopted methods of amplification and omission.In addition,the translator employed literal translation,free translation,and transliteration with explanation in the attempt to further analyze the culture-loaded expressions separately.In dealing with long and complex sentences,the translator took into full account the original writing styles and cultural background so as to ensure the retention of the original and essence of the sentence by adopting the methodologies of sequencing and splitting.This report analyzes Life Is a Valley under the guiding principles of functional equivalence theory,hoping to make contributions to the theoretical studies on translation of Chinese prose.