An E-C Translation Report Of Rhetorical Devices In The Sociologist’s Eye:Reflections On Social Life(Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence Theory

With the accelerating pace of globalization,the subject of sociology which focuses on the relationship among humanity,nature and culture is exemplifying a heated discussion,prompting people’s introspection on the world.Extracted from The Sociologist’s Eye: Reflections on Social Life,the source text of the translation practice task contains 20,000 English words in total.The abundant cases of rhetorical devices filled in it resonate the readers with a choice and angle to understand the typical social phenomena furthermore.In order to minimize the understanding distance from the receptors of the target language to the readers of the source language,facilitate cross-cultural communication and actively guide the target readers to reflect on the relevant sociological issues,the task adopts Nida’s functional equivalence theory to guide the translation of the rhetorical devices of the source text.Eugene A.Nida’s functional equivalence theory pursues a closest natural equivalence between the receptor’s language and the source language,emphasizing at priority the meaning rather than the style.The principle of the theory puts the receptors of target language at the first place,presenting the translation in a manner appropriate for their language and cultural backgrounds.And the translator believes that the concrete translation techniques represented by extension,substitution,amplification and combination under the guidance of the functional equivalence theory perform a positive and comprehensive role in improving the acceptability and readability of the translation of rhetorical devices employed in the source text.This thesis contains five chapters.Chapter One is a general introduction,including the introduction to the source text,task significance as well as the structure of the thesis.Chapter Two describes the translation processes: pre-translation,while-translation and post-translation.Chapter Three focuses on the theoretical basis of the functional equivalence as well as its feasible analysis to the translation of the rhetorical devices.Chapter Four is a case analysis procedure,centering on the translation of the four frequently-used rhetorical devices,i.e.,metaphor,personification,hyperbole and euphemism in the source text under the guidance of functional equivalence theory.Chapter Five concludes that the translation of rhetorical sentences is a tough task but can be overcome through the help of certain translation theories.