Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the rhetorical function and its translation strategies to have a better understanding of understatement. This study summarizes understatement in terms of definition, rhetoric effect, methods of constructing understatement and its translation. By means of the exemplified arguments, it points out that understatement achieves an emphasizing effect on the descriptive account.

Key words: understatement; rhetoric effect; translation

摘要：本文通过研究低调陈述的修辞功能及其汉译，旨在分析低调陈述的修辞功能及其翻译策略，加深对低调陈述的了解，以便更好地运用低调陈述的修辞手法，为今后英语的学习带来方便。本文从定义、修辞效果、表现方法及其汉译四方面对低调陈述修辞手段进行了归纳总结。通过举例论证，就其运用方式和特点，分析了其在英语篇章中的修辞功能，指出低调陈述对事物描述具有强调的修辞效果。

关键词：低调陈述; 修辞效果; 汉译

1. Introduction
The origin of understatement is closely related to the typical English way of life. In many parts of the world, it is very normal to frankly show enthusiasm and emotions with gestures or body language. However, as we know, English often tend to be shy, quiet and reserved, which can be reflected in the use of language. For instance, when depicting a nice-looking girl, the emotional person will say, “Wow, she just looks like a priceless jewel;” or “she is divine.” In contrast, English just have a plain evaluation like “Um, she’s all right.” Another example is that，when enjoying the fantastic scenery, the extroverted person will say “fantastic”, while English just express their opinions in such way, “nice, yes, very nice.” Even when they have seen a wonderful film, the American will praise it very bluntly like “wonderful, excellent.” The English ,however, will recommend that “it’s not bad, you know.” For those English learners, they are always misled by the very common and blank sentences, not realizing the plain words actually mean the highest degree. This is just the phenomenon of understatement.
The general view of understatement as a typical English pattern of behavior evokes my interest of studying English understatement and its Chinese translation in the first place. My study begins with the exploration of the notion of understatement.