目的论视角下《三体》英译本的翻译策略研究_英语论文

A Study on English Translation Strategies of The Three-Body Problem from the Perspective of Skopos Theory 

摘要

《三体》是一部由刘慈欣写作、由刘宇昆翻译成英文并推向世界的中文科幻小说。要将具有中国特色的科幻小说译为英语，以此展现独特的中国文化，对译者而言是一个极大的挑战。

众多的前辈学者们已经从多个方面，不同角度《三体》英译本进行了研究，并且取得了显著的成绩。但许多研究仍然集中于向中国介绍理论，没有触及研究核心如译文与目的论结合的讨论。

鉴于此，本文在翻译目的论指导下进行《三体》英译本的翻译研究，通过对中外文献的研究，并在借鉴中外专家学者的研究成果的基础上，以《三体》英译本为研究对象，深入剖析其翻译策略。《三体》本身及其翻译非常成功。本文以目的论作为研究翻译的工具。这个翻译理论是在七十年代由德国功能主义学派提出的，并且经过四个阶段的发展。研究旨在分析《三体》译文，以借鉴灵感来指导其他中国科幻作品的翻译，从而将中华文化推向世界。

通过对《三体》译文的研究，可以发现目的论在科幻翻译中是行之有效的、目的论可以应用于翻译科幻小说。研究结论是，《三体》的翻译与目的论一致，可以为其他小说翻译提供参考。

关键词：目的论；《三体》；翻译策略

Abstract

The Three-Body Problem, one of the Chinese popular science fictions, was written by Liu Cixin and translated into English by Ken Liu. To translate the famous works into English with showing long-standing Chinese culture to the West is absolutely a great challenge to translators.

Many of the scholars have made great contribution to the study of the translation of The Three-Body Problem from different perspectives, and achieved remarkable results. While many studies still focus on introducing theory to China, without touching the research core, such as the combination of translation and Skopos Theory.

The study foucuses on English translation strategies emoloyed by Ken Liu from the viewpoint of Skopos theory, which is aimed at finding out whether The Three-Body Problem embodies Skopos theory and how to apply it to the translation of science fiction works.

Through the analysis of three basic rules of Skopos theory, and on the basis of the research results of Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, combined with the English translation of The Three-Body Problem, it can be concluded that The Three-Body Problem itself and its translation are very successful. This translation theory emerged in Germany in the 1970s, which then expereinced four theoretical stages. Having analyzed the translation, we can learn from the inspiration to guide the translation of other Chinese works, so as to promote the cause of Chinese culture to the world.

The study can be concluded that Skopos theory is useful and applicable in the exploration of the translation strategies of science fictions, which is beneficial to the translation of other types of novels.

Key Words: The Skopos theory; The Three-Body Problem; Translation Strategies

Contents

Abstract i

摘要 ii

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background and Significance of the Study 1

1.2 Structure of the Thesis 1

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 Previous Studies on Translation of The Three-Body Problem 3

2.2 Limitations of Current Studies 4

3. Theoretical Framework: Skopos Theory 5

3.1 Development of Skopos Theory 5

3.2 Three Basic Rules of Skopos Theory 6

3.2.1 Skopos Rule 6

3.2.2 Coherence Rule 7

3.2.3 Fidelity Rule 7

4. Analysis on Translation Strategies of The Three-Body Problem 9

4.1 Introduction to the Translator—Ken Liu 9

4.2 Translation Strategies Based on Skopos Theory 9

4.2.1 Translation Strategies Abiding by the Skopos Rule 9

4.2.2 Translation Strategies Abiding by the Coherence Rule 11

4.2.3 Translation Strategies Abiding by the Fidelity Rule 11

5. Conclusion 14

5.1 Findings of the Study 14

5.2 Limitations of the Study 14

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgments 16