Abstract

    The majority of our ordinary conceptual systems in nature is metaphorical. Metaphors are pervasive throughout everyday languages, which influence not only the way we talk, but also the way we think and act. Lakoff and Johnson argue that metaphor is a basic way of thinking or cognitive process and it is essential to human language and cognition.
This paper is a study of translation of metaphors in English economic discourses from the perspective of conceptual metaphor. First, the thesis goes over the relevant studies on conceptual metaphor and then explores the cognitive process of metaphor translation in economic discourses from the perspective of conceptual metaphor theory. Finally, the author attempts to propose methods of translating metaphors in economic discourses from English to Chinese corresponding to the three cognitive processes. They are employing metaphorical expressions projected by the same conceptual metaphors, employing metaphorical expressions projected by the similar conceptual metaphors or non-metaphorical expressions. The paper hopes to offer English learners with an in-depth and comprehensive insight into the translation of economic metaphors. The examples collected are from some Chinese and English financial newspapers and magazines including China Daily, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal. 

Key words:  E-C translation methods  conceptual metaphor  cognitive process  economic discourses

摘要 
   
人类的大多数概念机制的本质都是隐喻的。隐喻广泛存在于日常用语中，它不仅影响人们的谈话方式，同时也影响着人们的思维和行为模式。莱考夫和约翰逊认为隐喻是人类一种基本的思维方式和认知过程，其对语言和认知都至关重要。
本文尝试从概念隐喻的角度出发，探讨经济文本中隐喻的英汉翻译。首先，文章回顾了概念隐喻的前期研究，继而从概念隐喻的视角，探讨在经济文本中隐喻的英汉翻译过程中，存在三种不同的认知过程。并基于对三种不同的认知过程的分析，尝试提出相应的翻译方法：相同概念隐喻映射的隐喻表达；相似概念映射的隐喻表达；非隐喻表达。希望能为英语学习者提供一个有深度的经济英语隐喻翻译研究视角。本文的例子选自《中国日报》、《华尔街日报》和《经济学家》。

关键词: 英汉翻译方法；概念隐喻；认知过程；经济文本

Chapter One Introduction
1. 1 Research Backgrounds
    The expression “Time is money.” is very common in both Chinese and English that we may not be aware that it is a metaphor. Economics is an independent subject which aims to summarize and abstract economic phenomena. People seek to expound these abstract economic phenomena and theories with more familiar and experiential concepts. As a matter of fact, whenever we talk about abstract topics we resort to metaphors. Metaphors could make the intangibles and complexities more concrete and easier to grasp by placing them in a context that we are more familiar with. As a branch of metaphors in common, economic metaphors certainly share the features of them．