A Report On E-C Translation Of The History Of British Civilization(Sections 1-3,ChapterⅠ,Book Three)

This translation report is based on the translation of the first three sections of ChapterⅠof Book Three of The History of British Civilization,an academic monograph published by Routledge in 1945 and written by Esme Wingfield-Stratford,a researcher at Cambridge University.The main content of the text chosen by the translator is “The background,formation and final results of the British oligarchy during the Restoration of the House of Stuart.”The translation practice aims to provide comprehensive information for Chinese scholars who are interested in the history of Britain during the Restoration of the House of Stuart and help them quickly understand the achievements of native British people.At the same time,this translation practice can also test the utility of the“functional equivalence” theory in the translation of historical texts,that is to say,while accurately conveying the content of the original text,the translator should also take the target readers’ understanding and response into account.In addition,since the research on the English-Chinese translation of British scholars’ historical monographs in China is rather limited at present,this translation report may,to a certain extent,provide other translators with ideas and methods for translating historical texts,thus further enriching the breadth and depth of the English-Chinese translation studies of historical texts.This translation report consists of four parts.The first part describes the background,purpose and significance of the translation project,as well as the structure of the translation report.The second part introduces the whole translation process,which includes pre-translation preparation that contains textual analysis,theoretical framework and the reasons for adopting “functional equivalence” theory;translation process that comprises the adopted steps and strategies and the quality control after the translation.The third part discusses how the translator adopted the method of combining “functional equivalence” theory with concrete examples with the lexical,syntactical and discourse levels to resolve such difficulties as the accuracy of translating proper nouns and long and difficult sentences.To be specific,under the guidance of “functional equivalence” theory,through the in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the source language text,adopting the translation strategy of domestication,the translator has adopted such translation methods as literal translation plus annotation,free translation plus annotation,and such translation techniques as conversion and amplification to solve the difficulties encountered,so as to serve the purpose of conveying the source text accurately,and also help the target readers to better understand the development of British civilization during the Restoration of the House of Stuart period.The last part summarizes the translator’s gains in this translation practice,and also reflects on the main difficulties that have not yet been solved,and puts forward some preliminary ideas for further improvement.