论英语新闻标题的特点及翻译_英语论文

On Features and Translation of English News Headline

摘要

在国际新闻报道中，标题起着至关重要的作用。在英语新闻中，标题常被视作“新闻报道的眼睛”，它以简练的文字浓缩新闻的基本内容，提炼新闻事实精华来吸引读者。读者阅读新闻，都是习惯先看标题，这正是体现了标题的价值。人们常用“题好一半文”、“看报先看题”来说明标题的重要性。为了吸引读者的注意力，编辑者善于运用各种修辞手段，努力使新闻标题更具吸引力。本文结合英语新闻标题翻译的实例，分析了英语新闻标题的词汇、语法、修辞特征和翻译技巧，探讨英语新闻标题的翻译标准，以帮助翻译者能够更加准确地将原英语新闻标题的形、神、韵，用汉语原汁原味地呈现在中国读者面前。

关键词：英语新闻标题；标题特点；翻译技巧

Abstract

In international news reports, headlines play a crucial part in news comprehension. In English news, headlines are often regarded as the "eyes of the news reports". It condenses the basic contents of the news with concise words and also extracts the essence of news facts to attract readers. When reading news, readers are accustomed to reading the headline first, which is the embodiment of the value of the headline. People often use "a good beginning is half the battle", "looking at the topic first before reading the newspaper" to illustrate the importance of the news headlines. In order to attract readers' attention, editors tend to use a variety of rhetorical devices, and strive to make the news headlines more attractive. This paper aims to probe into translation skills of English news headlines based on their features in lexical, grammar and rhetoric aspects by analyzing examples, and endeavor to present the features of real English news headlines to Chinese readers.

Key words: English news headline; features of headline; translation skills

Contents

Introduction 1

1. Theoretical background and literature review 2

1.1 The definition of English news headline 2

1.2 The functions of English news headline 3

1.2.1 Summarizing the news 3

1.2.2 Attracting readers' attention 3

1.2.3 Beautifying the appearance of news 3

2. Features of English news headline 4

2.1 Lexical features of English news headline 4

2.1.1 Preferences for short or midget words 4

2.1.2 Wide use of new and vogue words 5

2.1.3 Popular use of abbreviations and acronyms 5

2.2 Grammatical features of English news headline 6

2.2.1 Omission 6

2.2.2 Tense 7

2.2.3 Voice 8

2.3 Rhetorical features of English news headline 8

2.3.1 Metaphor 8

2.3.2 Rhyme 9

2.3.3 Pun 9

2.3.4 Vulgar and humorous words 9

2.3.5 Repetition 10

3. Translation skills of English news headline 10

3.1 Literal translation 10

3.2 Liberal translation 11

3.3 Balanced translation 11

3.3.1 Adding words 11

3.3.2 Omitting words 12

3.3.3 Reflecting the original rhetorical characteristics 12

Conclusion 13

References 14