A Report On The Translation Of The Moral Metaphor System:A Conceptual Metaphor Approach(Chapter 1)

In this translation report,the source text is selected from The Moral Metaphor System: A Conceptual Metaphor Approach,a 2022-published linguistic monograph written by Ning Yu,a linguistic professor from The Pennsylvania State University.Metaphors have long been a heated topic and research priority in the applied linguistic research for its pervasiveness,unconsciousness and the relevance to the embodiment and culture.Nevertheless,recent research into moral metaphors has been surprisingly scarce.However,morality is closely related to mankind’s well-being.Therefore,the purpose of this translation project is to provide faithful,smooth and accurate translation.This report demonstrates the translation of the first chapter under the framework of relevance-theoretic translation theory,according to which,translation is an ostensive-inferential interpretation process,in which the communication effects can be enhanced via the manifestness between the communicator and audience as well as the optimal relevance so as to reduce processing efforts.The source text is an academic text with an abundance of abstract concepts and obscure expressions,and the frequently use of nominalization improves the register and widens the distance with the target readers.Due to the academic nature,there are considerable long and complicated sentences to ensure that the style is rigorous and logical.Consequently,the translator tried to find the optimal relevance,adopting such techniques as conversion and restructuring to retain the functional resemblance between source texts and target texts with accuracy and readability,hoping to give target readers the same experience.