A Report On The Chinese Translation Of The Every-Day Life Of Abraham Lincoln(Chapters Ⅸ To Ⅹ)

This source text is selected from the last literary work of American author Francis Fisher Browne,The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln,with excerpts from chapterⅨ to chapter Ⅹ,approximately 9,800 English words.It is biography with 29 chapters in total,and is not yet available in Chinese translation.The Chinese translation is approximately 17,000 words.As the original work is a biography,the author presented the character,ideas and political propositions of Abraham Lincoln mainly from the perspective of bystanders,hence the numerous quotations and third-person perspectives were seen frequently.The authenticity and literary character of biographical literature dictate that the translator should respect the real historical background of the translated work while attaching importance to its literary character.Therefore,when translating biographies,the author should try to grasp the documentary nature of biographies and achieve a faithful and fluent translation.The translator hopes that by translating this kind of material,she can help people understand how the man became a great historical figure and provide a useful reference for the analysis of translations of similar works.Based on Professor Li Changshuan’s ‘Comprehension,Expression and Adaptation’(CEA)analytical framework and guided by Liu Miqing’s Theory of Strategic Means,this report explores the problems encountered in translating the biography and the corresponding solutions.According to the different language expressions between English and Chinese,in order to convey the ideas of the original text as much as possible while achieving a fluent translation,the translator used some translation methods such as omission,condensation,voice conversion,and structural transformation.Through this project,the translator realized that a good translation of a biography needs to pay attention to the following points: attention should be paid to the translation of some special lexical expressions,to the conventions of the time and to the historical facts;the translation of the phrase should fit the context of the original text and the literary qualities should be well conveyed;and the sentiment revealed by the phrase should be appreciated and reflected in the target translation.