Abstract

There are so many color words in Hong Lou Meng, not only from the description of the characters’ appearance and dresses, but also to the arrangement of furniture and equipments in the residence, from the shift of seasonal scenery to the display of social activities and celebrations. This thesis, which is based on the functional equivalence theory, aims to comparatively analyze the two complete English versions of Hong Lou Meng: one is A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, the other is The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes. The cultural information of color terms will be discussed first in this thesis; then the cultural differences will be followed. Finally, there will be a discussion on their respective translation strategies of color terms. The text is divided into five chapters. The first chapter states the background and significance of this thesis. The second chapter introduces the translation theory --Nida's functional equivalence theory. The third chapter elaborates contrastive translation strategies of “color words” of the two versions. Furthermore, the last chapter summarizes the findings and the limitations of this thesis, and puts forward the suggestions for further research.

Key words: Hong Lou Meng  English versions  color terms  functional equivalence theory

摘要

颜色词在《红楼梦》中出现的频率较高，从人物的容貌，服饰，居家的摆设，园中景物的描写，四季的更替变化到俗语成语，甚至人物心理活动、表情变化等方面都离不开颜色词的应用。本论文以功能对等理论为依据，通过对比分析杨宪益、戴乃迭的译本和David Hawkes 的译本,重点探讨颜色词所蕴涵的文化信息以及文化差异和颜色词的翻译策略。本文正文部分共分为五个章节。第一章主要陈述了本文的研究背景和意义。同时，介绍了我国《红楼梦》翻译的早期以及当前的研究成果，并简述了本文的结构。第二章介绍了《红楼梦》翻译的理论支持——奈达的功能对等理论。第三章详细阐述了《红楼梦》两译本中颜色词的对比翻译策略。最后一章，总结本文的发现和局限性，并针对此提出进一步研究的建议。

关键词: 《红楼梦》; 英译本; 颜色词; 功能对等论

1.1 A Brief Introduction to  Hong Lou Meng
Hong Lou Meng is a highly ideological and highly artistic work, which represents the highest achievements of the classical art of the novel. And it is also one of the four famous classics of ancient China. Meanwhile, Hong Lou Meng is viewed as “the encyclopedia of Chinese culture in ancient China”. Hong Lou Meng is worthwhile for radiologists to learn and study. Hong Lou Meng contains enormous Chinese cultures and culture values. So if people want to know the history and culture of China, the best way is to study Hong Lou Meng. Cao Xueqin, the people who wrote Hong Lou Meng , is not only an excellent writer, but also a good painter who can apply these color words easily to this novel. In this novel, many color words, like red, blue, green and so on, are used excellently to describe the scene or to express feelings. Cao Xueqin uses these color words and color imagines to show the readers lots of colorful pictures, which let the readers seem to take part in the process of a feudatory family.