《红楼梦》两个英译本中基本色翻译策略比较研究_英语论文

A Comparative Study on Translation Strategies in Dealing with Fundamental Color in the Two English Versions of Hongloumeng 

摘要

《红楼梦》是中国古典式的小说，被认为是中国文化的百科全书,由于极高的文学和美学价值而受到世界各地人们的高度评价。颜色词在《红楼梦》中被广泛的应用在刻画人物面貌、面目表情、内心世界，以及在家具摆设，四季更替以及诗词和成语俗语方面都扮演着重要的角色。众所周知，基本色是颜色词的重要组成部分，并且汉英两种文化赋予了它们迥异的文化内涵，因此基本色在本文中扮演者更加重要的角色。因而在《红楼梦》中对基本色的研究和翻译具有重要的意义。由于文化的多样性，使译者在翻译基本色时将面对一项重大的挑战。由于不同的文化立场，译者使用不同的翻译策略是可行的，也是必需的。因此，该论文就不同的英译本（杨宪益夫妇与霍克斯的英文版本）中对基本色的翻译做出比较研究,探讨其采用不同的翻译策略，旨在探究他们翻译的异同点的原因并为文化传递提供一些指导。

关键词：《红楼梦》；基本色；翻译策略

Abstract

The Chinese classic novel Hongloumeng is considered as an encyclopedia of Chinese culture. Its high literature and aesthetic value is highly appraised at home and abroad. Fundamental color are commonly used in the Hongloumeng and play an important role in the description of the characters’ appearance, the psychological and facial movements of the characters, furniture and equipment in the residence, and seasonal sceneries in poems, couplets, and idioms. It is well accepted that the words for basic colors are an inseparable part of color words and are bearing quite different cultural connotations. Therefore, it is of great significance to study and translate the fundamental color properly while introducing it to the world. However, how to translate fundamental color is a big challenge to the translators because of the abundant cultural factors. Meanwhile, due to the different cultural stands, it is necessary and feasible for the translators to employ different translation strategies. This thesis conducts a comparative study on the translation of fundamental color in the two English versions of Hongloumeng: A Dream of Red Mansions by the couple of Yang Xianyi and The Story of Stone by David Hawkes. An attempt is made to explore the different translation strategies in dealing with culture-loaded fundamental color in hope of probing into the reasons for different strategies and providing some guidance to cultural transmission. 

Keywords: Hongloumeng; fundamental color; translation strategies

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Previous studies on foreignization and domestication 1

2.2 Previous studies on the translation of color words in Hongloumeng 2

3. A Comparative Study on the Translation of Fundamental Color in Hongloumeng 3

3.1 Translation of words for color red in two English versions of Hongloumeng 4

3.2 Translation of words for color green in two English versions of Hongloumeng5

3.3 Translation of words for color blue in two English versions of Homgloumeng 7

4. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 11