文学翻译中方式状语的使用-The way to the use of adverbial in literary translation
07-19, 2014
1 Introduction引言
在文学翻译中方式状语的使用是一个很常见的现象,在中文和英文中扮演着不可或缺的角色。因此,对等翻译的方式状语揭示了它的重要性。钱钟书的独特的方式状语,幽默和讽刺,完全呈现出作者对社会的独特感受。在《围城》中经常使用这样的各种常用的状语创建一个美丽的景色。然而,精致的状语在很大程度上挑战翻译人员的能力,同时为读者提供一种快感。所谓《围城》的翻译就来自法国谚语——Le mariage est une forteresse assiégée, ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer, ceux qui sont dedans veulent en sortir————意味着婚姻是围城,外面的人希望参与进去,而里面的人渴望自由。在这部小说中由这句话担任主题,简洁地总结了民间对生活的态度。
The use of manner adverbials is a very common phenomenon in literature, playing an indispensable role in both Chinese and English. Thus, the equivalence translation of manner adverbials reveals its importance. Qian Zhongshu’s inimitable manner adverbials, both humorous and ironic, fully present the author’s unique feelings to the society. In Fortress Besieged, such a great variety of frequently-used adverbials create a beautiful scene. Yet the exquisite adverbials challenge the translator to a great extent while providing a pleasant sensation for the readers.
1.1 The Classic Fortress Besieged
So-called Fortress Besieged comes from a French proverb——Le mariage est une forteresse assiégée, ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer, ceux qui sont dedans veulent en sortir——means that marriage is a fortress besieged, for the people outside hope for engagement while the inside ones yearn for freedom. Served as the theme in this novel, this sentence concisely summarizes lay folk’s attitude toward life.
The leading character Fang Hung-chien originally did not know the story of “Fortress Besieged”, yet he couldn’t agree more after hearing this and experiencing the later frustrations. The term is a vivid summary of life situations, as well as a clever catch of mental state. This novel depicts an eternal cycle of human idealism and disillusionment. Since time immemorial, so many people started to believe that they would be blessed by god but ended up admitting that they were only fooled by destiny. This fact can be manifested by the stories arising now and then and the statements made here and there.
Mr Qian looks on the floating life and points out the world situation through his deep thinking, making the readers know something profound about life. With a humorous style and wonderful analogies, this novel can really enable us to appreciate the beauty of Chinese text.
1.2 Chinese Manner Adverbial
As a development out of that of Ming and Qing dynasty, there results the contemporary Chinese manner adverbial. Yet the richness of the components, the diversity of the semantics and the flexibility of the transferring etc. are just nonesuch to those of the Ming and Qing Dynasty. #p#分页标题#e#
The manner adverbials composed by the Subject-Predication structure have many distinguishing features in regard of form, grammatical attribute, semantic relationship, cognition，and information characteristics and so on(Guo 94).
The manner adverbial and the predicate are entwined in a close relationship: some verbs show a state of verb or preposition in the process of grammaticalization; some structures show a state of predicate or adverbial; the adverbial mark “地” makes the transformation between the adverbial and predicate. But the transformation between manner adverbial and predicate is restricted by the structure and semantics. The essential factor of the structure being restricted is the restriction of the semantic aspect, when transformed to be a predicate, the manner adverbial differs in the syntactic function, syntactic semantics, information features and cognitive schema.
Some of the manner adverbials are closely related to complement, attribute, and referential object. Some manner adverbials can be transformed to complement and attribute; and the referential manner adverbial can sometimes be transformed to object. The transformation is restricted by the structure and the semantics. And the transformed pattern shows differences.
The intrinsic meaning of the manner adverbial can indicate the attribute, state, action, affiliated events, manner or modality and so on. Manner adverbials which are constructed by coordinate structure show multiple meaning with multiple manner adverbials may indicating some semantic relation.
The semantics of manner adverbial is not only objective but also subjective. Both objectivity and subjectivity of the words or phrases lie on their syntactic and semantic relation with other words in the sentence.
The manner adverbial enjoys very strong subjectivity. Consequently, there are some subjective syntactic forms of the manner adverbial. They are mainly adverbial mark “de”(地)， reduplicative structure, symmetrical structure and figurative structure. Besides, there are other subjective expressions such as metaphor and the direct speeches (He IV).
1.3 Equivalent Translation
The “equivalent translation”, put forward by American scholar Eugene A.Nida and Chinese scholar Tan Zaixi, emphasizes on the reaction and feeling of TL readers. The relation between TL readers and TL information should be equivalent to that between the original ones, which is based on the translator’s mind reading from the author. Thus, the equal feeling of two kinds of readers can be realized. As a kind of inheritance and development of Taylor’s reader’s feeling theory and Barkhudarov’s equivalence theory, the equivalent translation theory releases the translator from a relatively limited range in form in theory and plays a role of emancipating the mind for the sake of perfection and vividness (Guan and He 3). #p#分页标题#e#
In addition, the contemporary translation puts emphasis on the cross-cultural communication in translating. In order to realize equivalent translation, both a good command of two languages and a rich storage of two cultures are required. For the reason that words are only meaningful in its own culture, the bi-cultural ability appears more important.
The present translation theories are the crystal of wisdom of translating scholars from generation to generation, however, translators should suck the essence to open for new ways and inspiration rather than being limited to a single theory. On this basis, the translator, based on a a thorough mastery over the original text, need to bring into play his own intelligence and spiritualism, seeking for “may not be able to, but look forward to”.
2 Rules in Equivalent Translation of Manner Adverbials规则等效翻译的方式状语
2.1 Rules of Coherence
Coherence refers to the language going smoothly through the context, being well applied to the expression of the target language.
The first requirement is to be grammatically correct, which is the most basic one for both original text and translated version. However, English and Chinese are grammatically different to a great extent, such as tense and predicate. In Chinese, there are merely three tenses: past tense, present tense and future tense. While there exists as many as sixteen tenses in English. In addition, there can be several predicates in Chinese but only one in English (Yang 584).
The second is to adopt correct collocation to present typical English. In some phrases, specific words should be in co-occurrence. For example, we say “change one’s mind” instead of “alter one’s mind.”
Thirdly, it is about coordination in structure. It mainly puts emphasis on the corresponding relationship in text and form:
鸿渐手护着脸笑道：”老实对你说，我没有正眼瞧过她，她脸圆脸扁都没看清楚呢。”
Protecting his face with his hand, Hung-chien said with a grin, “To tell you the truth, I’ve never taken a good look at her. ” (Kelly and Mao 269)
In this case, there are three verbs in the Chinese version——”护”，”笑”,”道”. In order to solve the problem of predicate, the translator applies the participial structure and the preposition structure. “Protecting his face” refers to a state when Hung-chien said that sentence, and “with a grin” suggests the way Hung-chien talks.
2.2 Rules of Clarity
Based on the understanding of the original text, the translator should express the meaning as easy as possible for readers to understand through explicitation and other translating methods. Here explicitation refers to “to express the original text with more clear expressions in form, for example, the translator and adopt the method of epexegesis to meet this requirement, clarity in structure and logic:#p#分页标题#e#
辛楣道：”究竟怎么办？我一个人先去好不好？李先生，你总不疑心我会吞灭公款——要不要我留下行李作押！”说完加以一笑，减低语义的严重，可是这笑生硬倔强宛如干浆糊黏上去的。
Hsin-mei said, “Just what should we do, then? How about if I go first by myself? Mr. Li, you want me to leave my luggage behind as security?” He finished with a laugh to lighten the severity of his tone, but the smile was stiff and obstinate as though stuck on with dried paste. (Kelly and Mao 351)
The context is that they are discussing about dispatching someone to the distant bank to draw the money. Hsin-mei has ready been enraged my Li Mei-t’ing misunderstanding. On one hand, Hsin-mei wants to express his dissatisfaction about Li Mei-t’ing’s petty mind. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to destroy the relationship between them. Anyway, they are companions on the journey and they should stick together through thick and thin. “减低语义的严重” is the intent of “加以一笑”. In order to clarify the logic between the two actions, the translator’s adoption of the infinite mood is an exemplification of clarity. However, Hsin-mei’s intention fails to be realized. “这笑生硬倔强”, as a satire, reveals his true feeling. Apart from the grammatical correctness, “ stiff and obstinate” vividly shows embarrassed facial expression of Hsin-mei.
2.3 Rules of Context
In the translating process, the translator should pay much attention to the specific cultural context so as to work out a precise version:
大家都笑了，赵老太太笑得带呛，不许辛楣胡说。文纨笑得比人家短促，说：“你自己也参加下令会的，你别赖，我看见过那张照相，你是三头里什么头？”
Mrs. Chao laughed till she began to cough and forbade Hsin-mei to utter any more nonsense. Wen-wan laughed more tersely than the rest and said, “You were in the summer club yourself. Don’t deny it. I saw that picture. Which of the Big Three were you?” (Kelly and Mao 587)
“呛”can be translated to “choking.” But here, the reason why Mrs. Chao choked was because Hsin-mei’s joke about the social gatherings was both funny and humorous. The author manifests one’s witty theory through depicting other people’s reaction. Therefore, Mrs. Chao’s response was of great importance. “Laughed till cough” plays a more vivid role in emphasizing the humor. As a comparison to Mrs. Chao’s reaction, “笑得短促” reflects Wen-wan’s calmness. Literally, “tersely” is not a word-for-word translation for “短促”. “Tersely” has the emotional colouring of being brief and unfriendly, which is hidden in this context. Because Wen-wan has already known that Hsin-mei had one joined the summer club which was revealed by the picture. So “tersely” reflects Wen-wan’s feeling more precisely according to the context. #p#分页标题#e#
2.4 Rules of Essence
Rules of essence stem from Fu Lei’s theory of transference of soul. According to Fu Lei, in terms of effect, translating to a translator is just painting to a copyist, for both of them try to achieve the utmost similarity in essence rather than form. “鹏图听了心痛，咬牙切齿道：‘这孩子是该打，回头我上去也要打他呢’。P’eng-t’u listened in pain and said with clenched teeth. ‘That child deserves a good spanking. I’ll give him late I go up’ ”(Kelly and Mao 619). In the context, P’eng-t’u’s son Ah Ch’ou knocked over Jou-chia’s wine glass and her new dress was dyed with a trail of wine strains. According to reason, everyone scolded Ah Ch’ou for his carelessness. But as his parents, P’eng-t’u and his wife hoped Hung-chien and Jou-chia would put in some kind words to save their son’s face. Astonishingly, Hung-chien merely cared about Jou-chia, asking wether the strains could be washed out. P’eng-t’u consequently fell in a bad mood and said something as the example shows. Especially in Chinese, the character “心” indicates one’s mind, mood, or emotion. Accordingly, “心痛” refers to a sorrowful state of mind instead of a heartache. “Pain” is the feeling of unhappiness that one has when something unpleasant or upsetting happens, which depicts P’eng-t’u’s frame of mind to a lifelike level.
3 Methods in Equivalent Translation of Manner Adverbials等效翻译的方式状语
3.1 Literal Translation and Free Translation
Literal translation and free translation are the two main approaches in translating process, based on which there develops other approaches. It should be noticed that literal translation is different from word for word translation; instead, it keeps the original structure and make equivalence translation according to the literal meaning. The translation must have a clear and coherent structure, be in line with the habitual expression of the target language, and keep the original essence when transforming its information and emotion. In other words, literal translation requires the best equivalence from form to text. While free translation is especially used when there’s no choice but to give up the equivalence in form since the linguistic structure and cultural context cannot be reproduced. Under the premise of keeping the original text and emotion, free translation is an appropriate way found to achieve functional equivalence.
3.1.1 Literal Translation
So-called literal translation, respecting English cultural tradition and linguistic expression, aims to make the text, form, linguistic structure and rhetoric in translation be in accordance to the original version. “孙小姐忽然别转脸，手帕按嘴，肩膀耸动，唏嘘哭起来。Abruptly turning her face away, she covered her mouth with her handkerchief. Her shoulders heaved and she burst into sobs” (Kelly and Mao 423). Hereinbefore, Miss Sun was bullied by her students and she was just at Hung-chien’s for complaints. And this illustrative sentence most precisely reveals her sadness. In detailed analysis, it includes two adverbs and four verbs in Chinese. When it comes to the English version, “转”, “按”, “耸”, “哭” are translated to “turn”, “cover”, “heave”, and “burst” on a word-for-word level. The first adverb “忽然” has the translation of “abruptly”, while the second one “唏嘘” was hidden in “sobs” and therefore omitted. As an typical literal translation, the version is in accordance with the original text in text, form and linguistic structure. “孙小姐羞愤顿足道：’我不要坐了！赵先生，别理他。’ Miss Sun indignantly stamped her foot and said, ‘I won’t sit! Mr Chao, don’t pay any attention to him’“ (Kelly and Mao 337). The manner adverbial in Chinese can be understood by “羞愤得顿足”, with “indignantly stamped” just literally expressing the original meaning. #p#分页标题#e#
3.1.2 Free Translation
The alleged free translation was emerged because of the limitation in translation because of different social cultures and linguistic expressions. When translating, the translator has to abort the original textual meaning and present the meaning and essence through other turns of expression to achieve the functional equivalence in communication. “无论如何，他千辛万苦来了，绝不会一翻脸就走的。In any case, Li had been through hell and high water to get here, so Li certainly wouldn’t just break off and leave immediately” (Kelly and Mao 381). “千辛万苦” can be literally translated to “under all hardships”, but this version fails to express the eagerness of Li Mei-t’ing to be the chairman of the Department of Chinese Literature. Whereas, the metaphor “be through hell and high water” vividly and precisely reveals that kind of emotion of Li Mei-t’ing. Another example, “那时候，给教授陆续辞聘的电报吓昏了头。The succession of telegrams from professors declining appointments at that time had put his head in a spin” (Kelly and Mao 381). It is hard to find a one-to-one expression in English to match the Chinese term “吓昏了头”, hence the translator must find another way to express such kind of state. Metaphor is a common way of transformation in this circumstance. “Put his head in a spin”, from the perspective of functional equivalence, makes the target reader understand Kao Sung-nien’s headache in dealing with the employment.
Different ways in translation result from the differences in culture. For instance, “一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳” refers to the lingering fear persists because of the former harm. However , it is translated by “Burnt child dreads the fire.”in English and “Burnt cat dreads the cold water” in French. In this case, versions can be transformed only if they are in accordance to the contexts.
In brief, there’s no mode in translation. Adopting literal translation or free translation depends on the specific needs of translation. Literal translation is recommended when it can express the meaning on a whole, and make it easy for readers to understand. In case the literal one fails to reach a sound effect, or functional equivalence, the translator should rely on free translation. Translators should not be limited to a certain strategy as long as the version text is precisely true, easy to understand, and equivalent in communicating function. In fact, there is not a best way in translation.
3.2 Epexegesis and Omission
There exists a great amount of correspondence in language using between Chinese and English, however, nonidentity takes up more. When facing nonidentity, adjusting the amount of words in translation is a must. Either increase or decrease meets the need of precisely expressing the original meaning, realizing functional equivalence. To some extent, the increase and decrease in amount of words is an approach of free translation. #p#分页标题#e#
Generally speaking, there are three situations where adjusting words is required. The first one is to obey the rule of syntactic structure in the target version. The second is to meet the need of expressing habit. That is, under the premise to be faithful to the original semantics, increasing or decreasing words to make the translation complete and clear. The third is resulted from the demand of coherence. By revising some associated words, correspondence can be assured in context. Neither increase nor decrease could betray the original meaning. In addition, such approach needs to be beneficial to translation improvement, which is the fundamental rule to be followed (Ye 74).
3.2.1 Epexegesis
Used to be in accordance with syntactic structure, increase in amount of words is an approach making the version more cohesive. Such processing method seems to betray the original text, yet after detailed analysis, the added meaning are actually hidden in the original text and increase in words just plays the role of digging into meanings. “唐小姐只好点头。Miss T’ang nodded her head in agreement” (Kelly and Mao147). Here “in agreement” are the added but necessary words. Different gestures have different meaning from culture to culture. In English, “nod one’s head” doesn’t refer to agreement. “辛楣睁大了眼，口齿说：‘你，你不吃了？还有菜呢。’Hsin-mei’s eyes widened in surprise and he stammered, ‘You’re, you’re not eating? There’s still more food’” (Kelly and Mao193). Also, “in surprise” is used to explain the action “eyes widened” which means different aspect in English. Another case, “鸿渐看她怒得可爱，有意撩拨她道：[...] Seeing how attractive she was when aroused, he decided to provoke her further, [...]” (Kelly and Mao43). Although in the English-Chinese dictionary, “provoke” has one explanation of “撩拨” which means to annoy someone and try to make them behave aggressively. However, in this context, Miss Pao has already been annoyed by Fang Hung-chien. In order to emphasize Fang’s reaching one for a yard after taking an inch, “further” shouldn’t be omitted.
3.2.2 Omission
In the process of Chinese-English translation, omission is often required to obey the syntactic rule and expressing habit in English. Once omission is adopted, the translator should be careful not to change the meaning and essence in Chinese. Without influencing the original meaning, subtracting some unnecessary words avoids some wordy expressions which make the version difficult to understand. The subtracted meaning should be hidden in the version. “鲍小姐毫无幽默地生气道：‘胡说！医生是救人生命的。’Unamused, she shot back, ‘Don’t be ridiculous! Medicine saves lives’”(Kelly Mao 43)! “Shot back” is an expression with emotional coloring, and refers to the hidden meaning of irritation. Therefore, there’s no need to find a word to explain “生气”. #p#分页标题#e#
For another example, “吃晚饭时，方遯翁笑得相当自然，说：[...] During dinner, Tun-weng smiled easily and said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 603). In this sentence, the translator only use the word “easily” to translate the “adverb adjective” pattern, seemingly incorrect but actually clear and simple. Because “easily” itself includes the meaning of “easy”, namely, natural. In addition, adverb refers to manner and degree, and here “easily” includes the meaning of “相当”.
3.3 Transformation in Parts of Speech
Because of the differences in thinking and expressing habits, there exist some variations in part of speech using between Chinese and English. For instance, there are more verbs used in Chinese while more nouns in English. When translating, in keeping with linguistic forms and expressing habits, transformation in parts of speech is required in order to make the translation semantically equivalent to the original text (Li 101).
For instance, “他才会意是唐晓芙，笑骂道：‘真胡闹！。’He then realized she was referring to T’ang Hsiao-fu and said with a sneer, ‘What Rubbish’” (Kelly and Mao 661)! Compared with the expression “said sneeringly”, “said with a sneer” is a more idiomatic English expression.
3.4 Transformation to Non-verbs
As a linguistic form of referring some kind of action, verb exists in any kind of language. However, its frequency in using differs from one language to another. The verb in Chinese can play the role of not only predicate but also other component, without changing the form. While in English, it is not recommended to use too many verbs unless the verb is used to act as a predicate, otherwise, we should take the non-verbs(Fan 124).
3.4.1 Transformation to Nouns
Especially, nouns are in wide use in English, moreover, such phenomenon is the symbol of English language. When doing Chinese to English translation, nouns deserve the priority in use, and the more the better. In this way, the value of version reading can be added some more:
柔嘉正走，肩上有人一拍，吓得直跳，回头瞧是鸿渐，惊喜交集，说：”你怎么也来了？”
As she was walking along, Jou-chia felt a tap on the shoulder and jumped with fright. When she turned her head and saw it was Hung-chien, she felt a mixture of surprise and delight and asked,”Why did you come?” (Kelly and Mao 653)
Before this conversation, Jou-chia and Hung-chia just had a quarrel. And Hung-chien left Jou-chia alone to see a film. At this very moment, Jou-chia was a little bit sad. So when Hung-chien returned to her, she must be overjoyed without expectation. “惊喜交集” can be translated to “surprisingly delight” on a word-for-word level. But this version fails to express Jou-chia’s complicated feeling at that moment. The adopted noun “mixture” fills this void. #p#分页标题#e#
3.4.2 Transformation to Infinitives
Using infinitives is one way to broad the function of verbs in English, and such infinitives play multiple roles on a grammatical level.
For example, “苏小姐听了，刺得心里直痛，回答孙太太同时安慰自己道：[...] Miss Sun felt a painful stabbing in her heart when she heard that. To answer Mrs. Sun and to console herself, she said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 12). By analyzing the parts of the sentence, we know that the action “道” includes two objects, “回答” and “安慰”. On the grammatical level, infinite mood refers to purposes. Therefore, in this context, the two coordinate infinitives clarify the sentence parts, making it easier for readers to understand.
3.4.3 Transformation to Participles
In English, when it is required to express an action without using a verb, one solution is to take participles, including present participle and past participle.
For example, “父亲捻着胡子笑道：[...] Stroking his beard, his father said with a smile, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 69). From the Chinese version we know that “捻胡子” and “笑” happen simultaneously. So the present participle “stroking his beard” shows the state where the action “smile” takes place. In other word, this processing mode in translation exactly express the original meaning, especially in terms of time.
For another example, “两人听得骇然，正要回答，汪处厚假装出正颜厉色道：[…] They were both horrified at hearing this and were about to reply when Wang Ch’u-hou, pretending to be angry, said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 465). The manner adverbial “假装正颜厉色” is a “verb adjective” pattern in Chinese, but it is not probable to work it out with the same pattern in English because of the requirement of habitual expression. In addition, there exist two verbs here, and the structure of coordination fails to express the exact relation. In fact, the former one serves as the state of the latter one. The adoption of present participle phrase meets the need of functional equivalence as well as diversity in forms.
3.5 Diversification in Word-rendering
From the perspective of pragmatics, words and phrases have dual characters of independence and dependence. As a kind of basic material for construction, the vocabulary exists in the text in a form of independence, while the exact meanings of words and phrases depend on the given context. It is common phenomenon that the same word or phrase has different meaning in different contexts, conversely, different terms expresses the similar meaning in the same context. The meaning of vocabulary can be changed with the passage of time. Thus, there emerged one term with multi-meaning and several terms with one meaning. Such phenomenon exists in both Chinese and English, but rare is one-to-one correspondence between English and Chinese vocabulary. Easily, translators are unable to attend to everything at one time. Therefore, it is recommended to identify such a special linguistic phenomenon and work the best version. #p#分页标题#e#
3.5.1 One Term with Multi-version
In some circumstances, one Chinese term is rich in meaning. Collocated with different words in different contexts, a single term can bring about various meanings. When encountering such linguistic phenomenon, the translator should be flexible in dealing with different contexts. The version should be worked out through taking the advantage of rich forms of expressing in English, and changing synonyms to strengthen the readability (Rong 115).
For example, there are many words in English that refers to “笑”, like smile, laugh, grin, beam, giggle, chuckle, etc. Roughly speaking, each of them expresses the same meaning but differs in ways, degrees and forms. Some of them even differs in quality——the difference between complimentary sense and derogatory sense:
[...] 对唐小姐做个颜色，唐小姐微笑点头。
Winking at Miss T’ang who smiled and nodded (Kelly and Mao 149).
辛楣笑他扯淡。
Hsin-mei laughed at him for talking nonsense. (Kelly and Mao 401)
“Smile” and “Laugh” are the two most frequently used words. Generally speaking, “smile” is a kind of facial expression of those who are in pleasure, excitement, and happiness without making a sound. Namely, the word “smile” emphasizes the state of mind rather than the action itself. Contrary, “laugh” refers to an action with making a sound. In English, it can be explained: to express amusement, happiness, careless disrespect, etc, by making explosive sounds with the voice, usu. while smiling. It has a very close meaning with “大笑” in Chinese and focuses more on action than state.
However, in many cases, simply using “smile” or “laugh” is far from enough to express various sorts of meanings. “苏小姐道：‘谁要你洗？[...]’说时，吃吃笑了。‘Who wants you to wash it?’ she said. [...] At this she giggled” (Kelly and Mao 55). Here Miss Su was laughing at Hung-chien for washing handkerchiefs. Meanwhile, she was very happy to wash the handkerchiefs for Hung-chien. To “giggle” is to laugh in a silly way. Miss Su’s mixture of happiness and shyness was vividly presented. Likewise, “王主任动笔替他改了，呵呵笑说：[...] Wang corrected them for him, chuckled, and said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 135). In this context, Hung-chien’s mind was preoccupied with his own affairs and made a few errors in the drafts writing. Thus, Chief-secretary Wang seized the chance to make fun of Hung-chien. To chuckle is to laugh quietly with great enjoyment. The word exactly expresses Wang’s effort to hold his laugh for politeness.
“方鸿渐为掩饰斗口的痕迹，有意哈哈大笑。[...] , said Fang Hung-chien, purposely guffawing to cover up his ill feelings” (Kelly and Mao 111). “Guffaw” refers to a very loud laugh. Here it shows an abnormal laughter and corresponds with “to cover up his feelings” in expression.#p#分页标题#e#
For another, “辛楣笑道： ‘这是董斜川想出来的，[...]’ Hsin-mei said with a grin, ‘That’s something Tung Hsieh-ch’uan thought up’’’(Kelly and Mao249). “Grin” represents a broad smile, often baring the teeth, and it shows Hsin-mei’s amusement.
3.5.2 One Version for Several Terms
Contrary to the former situation, sometimes it’s difficult to find a one-to-one English expression for a Chinese term. Commonly, there exists only one word one phrase to finish the translation. “鸿渐没好气道：‘没学什么。’‘I didn’t study anything,’ said Hung-chien crossly” (Kelly and Mao 109). This conversation happens at the first meeting of Hung-chien and Hsin-mei. Hsin-mei mistakenly takes Hung-chien as his rival in love and he creates difficulties for Hung-chien from time to time. This time, Hsin-mei asked Hung-chien what he studied abroad. Enraged by Hsin-mei already, Hung-chien knew clearly that he would be made joke of again. Translated by “crossly”, here “没好气” reveals Hung-chien’s angry.
“方鸿渐恼道：‘不过是同坐一条船，全没有什么。[…]’ ‘It’s just someone was on the same boat,’ said Hung-chien crossly” (Kelly and Mao 66). In this conversation, Hung-chien was asked by his father about Miss Su mentioned by P’eng-t’u. Having no affection on Miss Su, Hung-chien was annoyed about other’s gossip. Here “恼” is also understood by “crossly” in English.
4 Conclusion 结论
As a Chinese masterpiece that should never be ignored by the academic and literary enthusiasts, Fortress Besieged is also lighted by its English version in achieving its intension. This paper offers a thorough analysis of its translation strategies from the perspective of equivalence translation.
While looking into the in-depth analyses and clear exemplifications, we can draw the conclusion that the translation strategies of manner adverbials adopted in Fortress Besieged are primarily literal translation and non-verbs.
Culture, as a heated issue involving every aspect of human activities and social lives, has permeated through literary studies, linguistic researches as well as translation theory and practice. The relationship between culture and translation is put into details in this paper, and examples are given from Fortress Besieged to show how the translators render the considerable amount of cultural contents into the TL, with an attempt to maintain the original flavor at its maximum and meet for the target readers’ tastes.
However, the limitations of the paper are also transparent: an extensive study with only one English version and vague norms or criteria is far from enough to be a significant one. #p#分页标题#e#
With a little reference value in strategy choosing for those who engage in adverbial translation, this paper remains open to further discussions and improvement.
Works Cited文献
Kelly, Jeanne, and Nathan K. Mao. Fortress Besieged, Beijing：People’s Literature Publishing House, 2008.
Fan, Huaiyu. (樊怀宇). “汉英状语表示法的对比与翻译”. 内蒙古科技与经济. 8(2003): 124-126.
Guan, Xinping, He, Zhiping. (管新平，何志平). 英汉等效翻译. 广州：华南理工大学出版社，2006.
Guo, Xiaona. (郭小娜). “现代汉语方式副词的界定及再分类”. 广东广播电视大学学报. 3(2010): 93-96.
He, Hongfeng. (何洪峰). “汉语方式状语研究” Diss. 华东师范大学，2006.
Li, Yebai. (李也白). “副词翻译技巧”. 思路与方法. 2009: 61-63.
Rong, Linhai. (戎林海). 翻译问题探索. 南京：东南大学出版社, 2010.
Yang, Fangfang. (杨芳芳). “张培基汉英散文翻译中副词的翻译和妙用”. 科技信息. 34(2010): 172-173.
Ye, Zinan. (叶子南). 高级英汉翻译理论与实践(第二版). 北京：清华大学出版社, 2008.
在文学翻译中方式状语的使用是一个很常见的现象,在中文和英文中扮演着不可或缺的角色。因此,对等翻译的方式状语揭示了它的重要性。钱钟书的独特的方式状语,幽默和讽刺,完全呈现出作者对社会的独特感受。在《围城》中经常使用这样的各种常用的状语创建一个美丽的景色。然而,精致的状语在很大程度上挑战翻译人员的能力,同时为读者提供一种快感。所谓《围城》的翻译就来自法国谚语——Le mariage est une forteresse assiégée, ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer, ceux qui sont dedans veulent en sortir————意味着婚姻是围城,外面的人希望参与进去,而里面的人渴望自由。在这部小说中由这句话担任主题,简洁地总结了民间对生活的态度。
The use of manner adverbials is a very common phenomenon in literature, playing an indispensable role in both Chinese and English. Thus, the equivalence translation of manner adverbials reveals its importance. Qian Zhongshu’s inimitable manner adverbials, both humorous and ironic, fully present the author’s unique feelings to the society. In Fortress Besieged, such a great variety of frequently-used adverbials create a beautiful scene. Yet the exquisite adverbials challenge the translator to a great extent while providing a pleasant sensation for the readers.
1.1 The Classic Fortress Besieged
So-called Fortress Besieged comes from a French proverb——Le mariage est une forteresse assiégée, ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer, ceux qui sont dedans veulent en sortir——means that marriage is a fortress besieged, for the people outside hope for engagement while the inside ones yearn for freedom. Served as the theme in this novel, this sentence concisely summarizes lay folk’s attitude toward life.
The leading character Fang Hung-chien originally did not know the story of “Fortress Besieged”, yet he couldn’t agree more after hearing this and experiencing the later frustrations. The term is a vivid summary of life situations, as well as a clever catch of mental state. This novel depicts an eternal cycle of human idealism and disillusionment. Since time immemorial, so many people started to believe that they would be blessed by god but ended up admitting that they were only fooled by destiny. This fact can be manifested by the stories arising now and then and the statements made here and there.
Mr Qian looks on the floating life and points out the world situation through his deep thinking, making the readers know something profound about life. With a humorous style and wonderful analogies, this novel can really enable us to appreciate the beauty of Chinese text.
1.2 Chinese Manner Adverbial
As a development out of that of Ming and Qing dynasty, there results the contemporary Chinese manner adverbial. Yet the richness of the components, the diversity of the semantics and the flexibility of the transferring etc. are just nonesuch to those of the Ming and Qing Dynasty. #p#分页标题#e#
The manner adverbials composed by the Subject-Predication structure have many distinguishing features in regard of form, grammatical attribute, semantic relationship, cognition，and information characteristics and so on(Guo 94).
The manner adverbial and the predicate are entwined in a close relationship: some verbs show a state of verb or preposition in the process of grammaticalization; some structures show a state of predicate or adverbial; the adverbial mark “地” makes the transformation between the adverbial and predicate. But the transformation between manner adverbial and predicate is restricted by the structure and semantics. The essential factor of the structure being restricted is the restriction of the semantic aspect, when transformed to be a predicate, the manner adverbial differs in the syntactic function, syntactic semantics, information features and cognitive schema.
Some of the manner adverbials are closely related to complement, attribute, and referential object. Some manner adverbials can be transformed to complement and attribute; and the referential manner adverbial can sometimes be transformed to object. The transformation is restricted by the structure and the semantics. And the transformed pattern shows differences.
The intrinsic meaning of the manner adverbial can indicate the attribute, state, action, affiliated events, manner or modality and so on. Manner adverbials which are constructed by coordinate structure show multiple meaning with multiple manner adverbials may indicating some semantic relation.
The semantics of manner adverbial is not only objective but also subjective. Both objectivity and subjectivity of the words or phrases lie on their syntactic and semantic relation with other words in the sentence.
The manner adverbial enjoys very strong subjectivity. Consequently, there are some subjective syntactic forms of the manner adverbial. They are mainly adverbial mark “de”(地)， reduplicative structure, symmetrical structure and figurative structure. Besides, there are other subjective expressions such as metaphor and the direct speeches (He IV).
1.3 Equivalent Translation
The “equivalent translation”, put forward by American scholar Eugene A.Nida and Chinese scholar Tan Zaixi, emphasizes on the reaction and feeling of TL readers. The relation between TL readers and TL information should be equivalent to that between the original ones, which is based on the translator’s mind reading from the author. Thus, the equal feeling of two kinds of readers can be realized. As a kind of inheritance and development of Taylor’s reader’s feeling theory and Barkhudarov’s equivalence theory, the equivalent translation theory releases the translator from a relatively limited range in form in theory and plays a role of emancipating the mind for the sake of perfection and vividness (Guan and He 3). #p#分页标题#e#
In addition, the contemporary translation puts emphasis on the cross-cultural communication in translating. In order to realize equivalent translation, both a good command of two languages and a rich storage of two cultures are required. For the reason that words are only meaningful in its own culture, the bi-cultural ability appears more important.
The present translation theories are the crystal of wisdom of translating scholars from generation to generation, however, translators should suck the essence to open for new ways and inspiration rather than being limited to a single theory. On this basis, the translator, based on a a thorough mastery over the original text, need to bring into play his own intelligence and spiritualism, seeking for “may not be able to, but look forward to”.
2 Rules in Equivalent Translation of Manner Adverbials规则等效翻译的方式状语
2.1 Rules of Coherence
Coherence refers to the language going smoothly through the context, being well applied to the expression of the target language.
The first requirement is to be grammatically correct, which is the most basic one for both original text and translated version. However, English and Chinese are grammatically different to a great extent, such as tense and predicate. In Chinese, there are merely three tenses: past tense, present tense and future tense. While there exists as many as sixteen tenses in English. In addition, there can be several predicates in Chinese but only one in English (Yang 584).
The second is to adopt correct collocation to present typical English. In some phrases, specific words should be in co-occurrence. For example, we say “change one’s mind” instead of “alter one’s mind.”
Thirdly, it is about coordination in structure. It mainly puts emphasis on the corresponding relationship in text and form:
鸿渐手护着脸笑道：”老实对你说，我没有正眼瞧过她，她脸圆脸扁都没看清楚呢。”
Protecting his face with his hand, Hung-chien said with a grin, “To tell you the truth, I’ve never taken a good look at her. ” (Kelly and Mao 269)
In this case, there are three verbs in the Chinese version——”护”，”笑”,”道”. In order to solve the problem of predicate, the translator applies the participial structure and the preposition structure. “Protecting his face” refers to a state when Hung-chien said that sentence, and “with a grin” suggests the way Hung-chien talks.
2.2 Rules of Clarity
Based on the understanding of the original text, the translator should express the meaning as easy as possible for readers to understand through explicitation and other translating methods. Here explicitation refers to “to express the original text with more clear expressions in form, for example, the translator and adopt the method of epexegesis to meet this requirement, clarity in structure and logic:#p#分页标题#e#
辛楣道：”究竟怎么办？我一个人先去好不好？李先生，你总不疑心我会吞灭公款——要不要我留下行李作押！”说完加以一笑，减低语义的严重，可是这笑生硬倔强宛如干浆糊黏上去的。
Hsin-mei said, “Just what should we do, then? How about if I go first by myself? Mr. Li, you want me to leave my luggage behind as security?” He finished with a laugh to lighten the severity of his tone, but the smile was stiff and obstinate as though stuck on with dried paste. (Kelly and Mao 351)
The context is that they are discussing about dispatching someone to the distant bank to draw the money. Hsin-mei has ready been enraged my Li Mei-t’ing misunderstanding. On one hand, Hsin-mei wants to express his dissatisfaction about Li Mei-t’ing’s petty mind. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to destroy the relationship between them. Anyway, they are companions on the journey and they should stick together through thick and thin. “减低语义的严重” is the intent of “加以一笑”. In order to clarify the logic between the two actions, the translator’s adoption of the infinite mood is an exemplification of clarity. However, Hsin-mei’s intention fails to be realized. “这笑生硬倔强”, as a satire, reveals his true feeling. Apart from the grammatical correctness, “ stiff and obstinate” vividly shows embarrassed facial expression of Hsin-mei.
2.3 Rules of Context
In the translating process, the translator should pay much attention to the specific cultural context so as to work out a precise version:
大家都笑了，赵老太太笑得带呛，不许辛楣胡说。文纨笑得比人家短促，说：“你自己也参加下令会的，你别赖，我看见过那张照相，你是三头里什么头？”
Mrs. Chao laughed till she began to cough and forbade Hsin-mei to utter any more nonsense. Wen-wan laughed more tersely than the rest and said, “You were in the summer club yourself. Don’t deny it. I saw that picture. Which of the Big Three were you?” (Kelly and Mao 587)
“呛”can be translated to “choking.” But here, the reason why Mrs. Chao choked was because Hsin-mei’s joke about the social gatherings was both funny and humorous. The author manifests one’s witty theory through depicting other people’s reaction. Therefore, Mrs. Chao’s response was of great importance. “Laughed till cough” plays a more vivid role in emphasizing the humor. As a comparison to Mrs. Chao’s reaction, “笑得短促” reflects Wen-wan’s calmness. Literally, “tersely” is not a word-for-word translation for “短促”. “Tersely” has the emotional colouring of being brief and unfriendly, which is hidden in this context. Because Wen-wan has already known that Hsin-mei had one joined the summer club which was revealed by the picture. So “tersely” reflects Wen-wan’s feeling more precisely according to the context. #p#分页标题#e#
2.4 Rules of Essence
Rules of essence stem from Fu Lei’s theory of transference of soul. According to Fu Lei, in terms of effect, translating to a translator is just painting to a copyist, for both of them try to achieve the utmost similarity in essence rather than form. “鹏图听了心痛，咬牙切齿道：‘这孩子是该打，回头我上去也要打他呢’。P’eng-t’u listened in pain and said with clenched teeth. ‘That child deserves a good spanking. I’ll give him late I go up’ ”(Kelly and Mao 619). In the context, P’eng-t’u’s son Ah Ch’ou knocked over Jou-chia’s wine glass and her new dress was dyed with a trail of wine strains. According to reason, everyone scolded Ah Ch’ou for his carelessness. But as his parents, P’eng-t’u and his wife hoped Hung-chien and Jou-chia would put in some kind words to save their son’s face. Astonishingly, Hung-chien merely cared about Jou-chia, asking wether the strains could be washed out. P’eng-t’u consequently fell in a bad mood and said something as the example shows. Especially in Chinese, the character “心” indicates one’s mind, mood, or emotion. Accordingly, “心痛” refers to a sorrowful state of mind instead of a heartache. “Pain” is the feeling of unhappiness that one has when something unpleasant or upsetting happens, which depicts P’eng-t’u’s frame of mind to a lifelike level.
3 Methods in Equivalent Translation of Manner Adverbials等效翻译的方式状语
3.1 Literal Translation and Free Translation
Literal translation and free translation are the two main approaches in translating process, based on which there develops other approaches. It should be noticed that literal translation is different from word for word translation; instead, it keeps the original structure and make equivalence translation according to the literal meaning. The translation must have a clear and coherent structure, be in line with the habitual expression of the target language, and keep the original essence when transforming its information and emotion. In other words, literal translation requires the best equivalence from form to text. While free translation is especially used when there’s no choice but to give up the equivalence in form since the linguistic structure and cultural context cannot be reproduced. Under the premise of keeping the original text and emotion, free translation is an appropriate way found to achieve functional equivalence.
3.1.1 Literal Translation
So-called literal translation, respecting English cultural tradition and linguistic expression, aims to make the text, form, linguistic structure and rhetoric in translation be in accordance to the original version. “孙小姐忽然别转脸，手帕按嘴，肩膀耸动，唏嘘哭起来。Abruptly turning her face away, she covered her mouth with her handkerchief. Her shoulders heaved and she burst into sobs” (Kelly and Mao 423). Hereinbefore, Miss Sun was bullied by her students and she was just at Hung-chien’s for complaints. And this illustrative sentence most precisely reveals her sadness. In detailed analysis, it includes two adverbs and four verbs in Chinese. When it comes to the English version, “转”, “按”, “耸”, “哭” are translated to “turn”, “cover”, “heave”, and “burst” on a word-for-word level. The first adverb “忽然” has the translation of “abruptly”, while the second one “唏嘘” was hidden in “sobs” and therefore omitted. As an typical literal translation, the version is in accordance with the original text in text, form and linguistic structure. “孙小姐羞愤顿足道：’我不要坐了！赵先生，别理他。’ Miss Sun indignantly stamped her foot and said, ‘I won’t sit! Mr Chao, don’t pay any attention to him’“ (Kelly and Mao 337). The manner adverbial in Chinese can be understood by “羞愤得顿足”, with “indignantly stamped” just literally expressing the original meaning. #p#分页标题#e#
3.1.2 Free Translation
The alleged free translation was emerged because of the limitation in translation because of different social cultures and linguistic expressions. When translating, the translator has to abort the original textual meaning and present the meaning and essence through other turns of expression to achieve the functional equivalence in communication. “无论如何，他千辛万苦来了，绝不会一翻脸就走的。In any case, Li had been through hell and high water to get here, so Li certainly wouldn’t just break off and leave immediately” (Kelly and Mao 381). “千辛万苦” can be literally translated to “under all hardships”, but this version fails to express the eagerness of Li Mei-t’ing to be the chairman of the Department of Chinese Literature. Whereas, the metaphor “be through hell and high water” vividly and precisely reveals that kind of emotion of Li Mei-t’ing. Another example, “那时候，给教授陆续辞聘的电报吓昏了头。The succession of telegrams from professors declining appointments at that time had put his head in a spin” (Kelly and Mao 381). It is hard to find a one-to-one expression in English to match the Chinese term “吓昏了头”, hence the translator must find another way to express such kind of state. Metaphor is a common way of transformation in this circumstance. “Put his head in a spin”, from the perspective of functional equivalence, makes the target reader understand Kao Sung-nien’s headache in dealing with the employment.
Different ways in translation result from the differences in culture. For instance, “一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳” refers to the lingering fear persists because of the former harm. However , it is translated by “Burnt child dreads the fire.”in English and “Burnt cat dreads the cold water” in French. In this case, versions can be transformed only if they are in accordance to the contexts.
In brief, there’s no mode in translation. Adopting literal translation or free translation depends on the specific needs of translation. Literal translation is recommended when it can express the meaning on a whole, and make it easy for readers to understand. In case the literal one fails to reach a sound effect, or functional equivalence, the translator should rely on free translation. Translators should not be limited to a certain strategy as long as the version text is precisely true, easy to understand, and equivalent in communicating function. In fact, there is not a best way in translation.
3.2 Epexegesis and Omission
There exists a great amount of correspondence in language using between Chinese and English, however, nonidentity takes up more. When facing nonidentity, adjusting the amount of words in translation is a must. Either increase or decrease meets the need of precisely expressing the original meaning, realizing functional equivalence. To some extent, the increase and decrease in amount of words is an approach of free translation. #p#分页标题#e#
Generally speaking, there are three situations where adjusting words is required. The first one is to obey the rule of syntactic structure in the target version. The second is to meet the need of expressing habit. That is, under the premise to be faithful to the original semantics, increasing or decreasing words to make the translation complete and clear. The third is resulted from the demand of coherence. By revising some associated words, correspondence can be assured in context. Neither increase nor decrease could betray the original meaning. In addition, such approach needs to be beneficial to translation improvement, which is the fundamental rule to be followed (Ye 74).
3.2.1 Epexegesis
Used to be in accordance with syntactic structure, increase in amount of words is an approach making the version more cohesive. Such processing method seems to betray the original text, yet after detailed analysis, the added meaning are actually hidden in the original text and increase in words just plays the role of digging into meanings. “唐小姐只好点头。Miss T’ang nodded her head in agreement” (Kelly and Mao147). Here “in agreement” are the added but necessary words. Different gestures have different meaning from culture to culture. In English, “nod one’s head” doesn’t refer to agreement. “辛楣睁大了眼，口齿说：‘你，你不吃了？还有菜呢。’Hsin-mei’s eyes widened in surprise and he stammered, ‘You’re, you’re not eating? There’s still more food’” (Kelly and Mao193). Also, “in surprise” is used to explain the action “eyes widened” which means different aspect in English. Another case, “鸿渐看她怒得可爱，有意撩拨她道：[...] Seeing how attractive she was when aroused, he decided to provoke her further, [...]” (Kelly and Mao43). Although in the English-Chinese dictionary, “provoke” has one explanation of “撩拨” which means to annoy someone and try to make them behave aggressively. However, in this context, Miss Pao has already been annoyed by Fang Hung-chien. In order to emphasize Fang’s reaching one for a yard after taking an inch, “further” shouldn’t be omitted.
3.2.2 Omission
In the process of Chinese-English translation, omission is often required to obey the syntactic rule and expressing habit in English. Once omission is adopted, the translator should be careful not to change the meaning and essence in Chinese. Without influencing the original meaning, subtracting some unnecessary words avoids some wordy expressions which make the version difficult to understand. The subtracted meaning should be hidden in the version. “鲍小姐毫无幽默地生气道：‘胡说！医生是救人生命的。’Unamused, she shot back, ‘Don’t be ridiculous! Medicine saves lives’”(Kelly Mao 43)! “Shot back” is an expression with emotional coloring, and refers to the hidden meaning of irritation. Therefore, there’s no need to find a word to explain “生气”. #p#分页标题#e#
For another example, “吃晚饭时，方遯翁笑得相当自然，说：[...] During dinner, Tun-weng smiled easily and said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 603). In this sentence, the translator only use the word “easily” to translate the “adverb adjective” pattern, seemingly incorrect but actually clear and simple. Because “easily” itself includes the meaning of “easy”, namely, natural. In addition, adverb refers to manner and degree, and here “easily” includes the meaning of “相当”.
3.3 Transformation in Parts of Speech
Because of the differences in thinking and expressing habits, there exist some variations in part of speech using between Chinese and English. For instance, there are more verbs used in Chinese while more nouns in English. When translating, in keeping with linguistic forms and expressing habits, transformation in parts of speech is required in order to make the translation semantically equivalent to the original text (Li 101).
For instance, “他才会意是唐晓芙，笑骂道：‘真胡闹！。’He then realized she was referring to T’ang Hsiao-fu and said with a sneer, ‘What Rubbish’” (Kelly and Mao 661)! Compared with the expression “said sneeringly”, “said with a sneer” is a more idiomatic English expression.
3.4 Transformation to Non-verbs
As a linguistic form of referring some kind of action, verb exists in any kind of language. However, its frequency in using differs from one language to another. The verb in Chinese can play the role of not only predicate but also other component, without changing the form. While in English, it is not recommended to use too many verbs unless the verb is used to act as a predicate, otherwise, we should take the non-verbs(Fan 124).
3.4.1 Transformation to Nouns
Especially, nouns are in wide use in English, moreover, such phenomenon is the symbol of English language. When doing Chinese to English translation, nouns deserve the priority in use, and the more the better. In this way, the value of version reading can be added some more:
柔嘉正走，肩上有人一拍，吓得直跳，回头瞧是鸿渐，惊喜交集，说：”你怎么也来了？”
As she was walking along, Jou-chia felt a tap on the shoulder and jumped with fright. When she turned her head and saw it was Hung-chien, she felt a mixture of surprise and delight and asked,”Why did you come?” (Kelly and Mao 653)
Before this conversation, Jou-chia and Hung-chia just had a quarrel. And Hung-chien left Jou-chia alone to see a film. At this very moment, Jou-chia was a little bit sad. So when Hung-chien returned to her, she must be overjoyed without expectation. “惊喜交集” can be translated to “surprisingly delight” on a word-for-word level. But this version fails to express Jou-chia’s complicated feeling at that moment. The adopted noun “mixture” fills this void. #p#分页标题#e#
3.4.2 Transformation to Infinitives
Using infinitives is one way to broad the function of verbs in English, and such infinitives play multiple roles on a grammatical level.
For example, “苏小姐听了，刺得心里直痛，回答孙太太同时安慰自己道：[...] Miss Sun felt a painful stabbing in her heart when she heard that. To answer Mrs. Sun and to console herself, she said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 12). By analyzing the parts of the sentence, we know that the action “道” includes two objects, “回答” and “安慰”. On the grammatical level, infinite mood refers to purposes. Therefore, in this context, the two coordinate infinitives clarify the sentence parts, making it easier for readers to understand.
3.4.3 Transformation to Participles
In English, when it is required to express an action without using a verb, one solution is to take participles, including present participle and past participle.
For example, “父亲捻着胡子笑道：[...] Stroking his beard, his father said with a smile, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 69). From the Chinese version we know that “捻胡子” and “笑” happen simultaneously. So the present participle “stroking his beard” shows the state where the action “smile” takes place. In other word, this processing mode in translation exactly express the original meaning, especially in terms of time.
For another example, “两人听得骇然，正要回答，汪处厚假装出正颜厉色道：[…] They were both horrified at hearing this and were about to reply when Wang Ch’u-hou, pretending to be angry, said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 465). The manner adverbial “假装正颜厉色” is a “verb adjective” pattern in Chinese, but it is not probable to work it out with the same pattern in English because of the requirement of habitual expression. In addition, there exist two verbs here, and the structure of coordination fails to express the exact relation. In fact, the former one serves as the state of the latter one. The adoption of present participle phrase meets the need of functional equivalence as well as diversity in forms.
3.5 Diversification in Word-rendering
From the perspective of pragmatics, words and phrases have dual characters of independence and dependence. As a kind of basic material for construction, the vocabulary exists in the text in a form of independence, while the exact meanings of words and phrases depend on the given context. It is common phenomenon that the same word or phrase has different meaning in different contexts, conversely, different terms expresses the similar meaning in the same context. The meaning of vocabulary can be changed with the passage of time. Thus, there emerged one term with multi-meaning and several terms with one meaning. Such phenomenon exists in both Chinese and English, but rare is one-to-one correspondence between English and Chinese vocabulary. Easily, translators are unable to attend to everything at one time. Therefore, it is recommended to identify such a special linguistic phenomenon and work the best version. #p#分页标题#e#
3.5.1 One Term with Multi-version
In some circumstances, one Chinese term is rich in meaning. Collocated with different words in different contexts, a single term can bring about various meanings. When encountering such linguistic phenomenon, the translator should be flexible in dealing with different contexts. The version should be worked out through taking the advantage of rich forms of expressing in English, and changing synonyms to strengthen the readability (Rong 115).
For example, there are many words in English that refers to “笑”, like smile, laugh, grin, beam, giggle, chuckle, etc. Roughly speaking, each of them expresses the same meaning but differs in ways, degrees and forms. Some of them even differs in quality——the difference between complimentary sense and derogatory sense:
[...] 对唐小姐做个颜色，唐小姐微笑点头。
Winking at Miss T’ang who smiled and nodded (Kelly and Mao 149).
辛楣笑他扯淡。
Hsin-mei laughed at him for talking nonsense. (Kelly and Mao 401)
“Smile” and “Laugh” are the two most frequently used words. Generally speaking, “smile” is a kind of facial expression of those who are in pleasure, excitement, and happiness without making a sound. Namely, the word “smile” emphasizes the state of mind rather than the action itself. Contrary, “laugh” refers to an action with making a sound. In English, it can be explained: to express amusement, happiness, careless disrespect, etc, by making explosive sounds with the voice, usu. while smiling. It has a very close meaning with “大笑” in Chinese and focuses more on action than state.
However, in many cases, simply using “smile” or “laugh” is far from enough to express various sorts of meanings. “苏小姐道：‘谁要你洗？[...]’说时，吃吃笑了。‘Who wants you to wash it?’ she said. [...] At this she giggled” (Kelly and Mao 55). Here Miss Su was laughing at Hung-chien for washing handkerchiefs. Meanwhile, she was very happy to wash the handkerchiefs for Hung-chien. To “giggle” is to laugh in a silly way. Miss Su’s mixture of happiness and shyness was vividly presented. Likewise, “王主任动笔替他改了，呵呵笑说：[...] Wang corrected them for him, chuckled, and said, [...]” (Kelly and Mao 135). In this context, Hung-chien’s mind was preoccupied with his own affairs and made a few errors in the drafts writing. Thus, Chief-secretary Wang seized the chance to make fun of Hung-chien. To chuckle is to laugh quietly with great enjoyment. The word exactly expresses Wang’s effort to hold his laugh for politeness.
“方鸿渐为掩饰斗口的痕迹，有意哈哈大笑。[...] , said Fang Hung-chien, purposely guffawing to cover up his ill feelings” (Kelly and Mao 111). “Guffaw” refers to a very loud laugh. Here it shows an abnormal laughter and corresponds with “to cover up his feelings” in expression.#p#分页标题#e#
For another, “辛楣笑道： ‘这是董斜川想出来的，[...]’ Hsin-mei said with a grin, ‘That’s something Tung Hsieh-ch’uan thought up’’’(Kelly and Mao249). “Grin” represents a broad smile, often baring the teeth, and it shows Hsin-mei’s amusement.
3.5.2 One Version for Several Terms
Contrary to the former situation, sometimes it’s difficult to find a one-to-one English expression for a Chinese term. Commonly, there exists only one word one phrase to finish the translation. “鸿渐没好气道：‘没学什么。’‘I didn’t study anything,’ said Hung-chien crossly” (Kelly and Mao 109). This conversation happens at the first meeting of Hung-chien and Hsin-mei. Hsin-mei mistakenly takes Hung-chien as his rival in love and he creates difficulties for Hung-chien from time to time. This time, Hsin-mei asked Hung-chien what he studied abroad. Enraged by Hsin-mei already, Hung-chien knew clearly that he would be made joke of again. Translated by “crossly”, here “没好气” reveals Hung-chien’s angry.
“方鸿渐恼道：‘不过是同坐一条船，全没有什么。[…]’ ‘It’s just someone was on the same boat,’ said Hung-chien crossly” (Kelly and Mao 66). In this conversation, Hung-chien was asked by his father about Miss Su mentioned by P’eng-t’u. Having no affection on Miss Su, Hung-chien was annoyed about other’s gossip. Here “恼” is also understood by “crossly” in English.
4 Conclusion 结论
As a Chinese masterpiece that should never be ignored by the academic and literary enthusiasts, Fortress Besieged is also lighted by its English version in achieving its intension. This paper offers a thorough analysis of its translation strategies from the perspective of equivalence translation.
While looking into the in-depth analyses and clear exemplifications, we can draw the conclusion that the translation strategies of manner adverbials adopted in Fortress Besieged are primarily literal translation and non-verbs.
Culture, as a heated issue involving every aspect of human activities and social lives, has permeated through literary studies, linguistic researches as well as translation theory and practice. The relationship between culture and translation is put into details in this paper, and examples are given from Fortress Besieged to show how the translators render the considerable amount of cultural contents into the TL, with an attempt to maintain the original flavor at its maximum and meet for the target readers’ tastes.
However, the limitations of the paper are also transparent: an extensive study with only one English version and vague norms or criteria is far from enough to be a significant one. #p#分页标题#e#
With a little reference value in strategy choosing for those who engage in adverbial translation, this paper remains open to further discussions and improvement.
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