Abstract and Key Words

Abstract：This thesis first gives a brief introduction to Hermeneutics, as the theoretical basis of this thesis. Then the thesis introduces Tao Te Ching and its translations. As an excellent Chinese classic, Tao Te Ching was translated and published successively, which makes it the most widely translated text except the Bible. The understanding of its true meaning is of great significance for carrying on and spreading Chinese traditional culture. It has many translated versions in the world, the quality of which varies a lot. This thesis, by applying the notions of Hans-George Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, has made a comparative study on English translations, which can represent the lapse of time as well as regional diversity.Instead of evaluating the relative gains and losses in the versions. It concludes that Tao Te Ching, like an abundant mineral resource, can not be fully excavated by a single interpretation. Furthermore, one version of Tao Te Ching can not satisfy the need of every reader in every period. Only through reading many versions of it, can we gradually get closer and closer to the original meaning of the work.

Key words： hermeneutics; Tao Te Ching; translation; comparative study

摘要：文章首先介绍了本文的理论基础——阐释学。然后介绍了《道德经》及其不同英译本。《道德经》作为中华民族文化的经典之作，已大量翻译和出版，成为除《圣经》外翻译版本最多的著作。掌握《道德经》的真实含义对于继承和传播中华传统文化具有十分重要的意义。《道德经》有多个英文译本，翻译质量各有千秋。本文以伽达默尔的哲学阐释学为理论基础，对《道德经》的不同时期、不同地域的英文译本进行了比较分析。文章认为，《道德经》像一个丰富无比的矿藏，并非通过一次性的阐释就能穷尽对它的发掘。而且， 一个译本不可能同时满足不同历史阶段不同读者的需求。只有通过多个译本多次的发掘，我们才能不断接近完成对它的认识。

关键词：阐释学；《道德经》；翻译；比较研究

1. Introduction
1.1 An Overview of Previous Translation Studies
The traditional translation studies, both China’s conventional translation studies of a philological approach and western structural linguistics, are conducted around the comparison between the source text and the translated text, concentrating on common properties of the text, while paying little attention to other factors beyond languages.
From Yan Fu’s “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” to the three principles set by Alexander F.Tytler, from Fu Lei’s “spiritual similarity ”to Eugene A.Nida’s “the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message”, from Qian Zhongshu’s “perfection” to Wolfram Wilss’s“ as close an equivalent as possible and presupposes an understanding of the content and style of the original”, they all focus on the comparison between the original and translated texts and set standards for the translated version to be equivalent to the original text in terms of form, content and artistic flavor.