Biblical Allusion Translation From A Cultural Perspective

The source text of this report is from Chapter Twenty-one and Chapter Twentytwo of The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life written by American political and cultural commentator David Brooks,currently a columnist for The New York Times.It is a complex book that is partly about philosophy,partly about personal disclosure,and partly about research.It serves as an excellent source to challenge the reader's thinking about a variety of subjects including religion,marriage,social responsibility and personal growth and explores how we live a meaningful life.The Bible,as a cultural and religious classic in the West,has exerted a profound influence on both western society and literature,and it has always been widely quoted in various areas in the western world.Considering the abundant cultural connotations carried by biblical allusions,correctly transferring the culturally-loaded information of these allusions is of great importance in the process of translation.As lots of religious terms,religious doctrines,biblical allusions and prayers have been quoted,The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life embodies great religious thoughts and strong religious features.The author pays special attention to the translation of biblical allusions.Every time a biblical allusion is quoted with a brand new meaning in a different situation.And some biblical allusions appear in the same form,but their usages change along with time.It requires the translator to judge the implied meaning of the biblical allusion according to the context.Meanwhile,it is necessary for the translator to acquire the new meaning of the biblical allusion.In this report,these biblical allusions are divided into four categories: biblical translations related to human names,biblical translations related to names of places,biblical translations related to animals and biblical translations related to events.This report will exemplify translation methods adopted to these four kinds of biblical allusion translation,concluding that it is feasible to adopt interpretative translation,interlinear notes,literal translation and footnotes to the biblical allusion translation.Through this translation practice,the author holds that the study of biblical allusion translation can help Chinese readers to understand the biblical phenomenon in western literary works,to gain a better understanding of western culture and ideology appeared in western literary works.Meanwhile,the author hopes to improve her translation competence and accumulate experience for future translation practice.