“Faithfulness”and “Similarity in Spirit”

赵婉莹 杨一秋

摘 要：現代著名翻译家刘士聪（1937—）认为文学翻译需忠实于原文，而且更为重要的是要体现出原文的艺术效果，比如风格，精神，意韵等，即基于翻译理论，传达原文的神韵。本文旨在用“信”和“神似”这两个翻译理论来分析比较刘士聪对夏衍（1900—1995）《野草》的英译版本，以此用来证明刘士聪的英译版本更加可行和恰当。

关键词：信；神似；文学翻译；野草

Abstract：As a modern famous translator，Liu Shicong（1937—）believes that literary translation should be faithful to the content of the original text，more importantly，it should convey its artistic effect，which includes the style，spirit and verve of the original text，namely transmitting the spirit of the original text Based upon this translation principle，the paper aims to analyze and compare his English translation Wild Grass with the source text written by Xia Yan（1900—1995）in the aspects of being faithful to the original text and transmitting the verve of the original text，thus proving that the principles for prose translation initiated by Liu Shicong are applicable and effective.

Key Words：faithfulness；similarity spirit of the original text；literary translation；

Wild Grass

Introduction

Wild Grass is an allegorical prose written by Xia Yan during the period of the War of Resistance against Japan.It aims to tell our people that we as warriors will finally triumph over those invaders by using of the tenacious wild grass.For this reason，the wild grass in the prose is endowed with all the qualities of a strong and resolute Chinese warrior.Although the language is simple and concise，the meaning it conveys is profound and thought-provoking.In this case，difficult work to translate it into English without losing its original meanings and styles flavors.

There is no doubt that Liu Shichong is a great master of translation and an advocator of the above view points and it is perfectly reflected in his translation of Wild Grass written by Xia Yan.He believes that literary translation should be faithful to the content of the original text and more importantly，it should convey its artistic effect，which includes the style，spirit and verve of the original text.This thesis will make efforts to explore how Mr Liu employs his two translation principles mentioned above in his practical translation of Wild Grass through its diction，syntax，style and recreation of the prose's verve or spirit，thus proving that the principles for prose translation initiated by Liu Shicong are applicable and effective.

1 Being Faithful to the Original Text

As a matter of fact，our translation circles have never reached the agreement on the standard of translation，but the standard of being faithful to the original text is widely accepted by almost all translators.Then what is the meaning of being faithful to the original text？ Liu Shicong agrees that Faithfulness refers to the following two aspects.First，it indicates that the translation should precisely express the content of the text without any distortion or amplification or omission in spite of the facts that the text narrates，the purpose of the text and the scenery it describes，the Content also contains the thoughts，viewpoints，standpoints and feelings the author conveys in narration，exposition and description.Second，Faithfulness means that translator cannot arbitrarily change the text's style and the translation must reproduce the style of the original text.In translating Wild Grass，Mr Liu does keep to the translation principle of following the text faithfully in two sides.

1.1 Being consistent with the content

A good translation should be at least consistent with the content of the original text.In the first place，he often adopts literal translation without big changes in structure，because too much free translation will，to some extent，distort or even destroy the original meaning.For examples：

“這是一种不可抗的力"—This is an irresistible force.

“世界上什么东西的气力最大”—What is the most powerful thing in the world？

The both sentences are translated literally and they are independent sentences，but the meanings have been properly presented.If the translator chooses some big words or makes the structure complex，then the meaning will be twisted and the style ofthe text will be changed For this reason，literal translation is a good choice for some sentences.

Secondly，in order to be consistent with the content of the original text，the translator must dig through the whole text to determine the exact meaning of certain words and then chooses the right translation.For example：

“你看见过被压在瓦砾和石块下面的一棵小草的生成吗？”

“Have you ever seen how frail young grass grows out from under debris and rubble？”

In the above sentences，there are three different translations of the same words and each of them demonstrates the writer's different feelings about the grass and also conveys different meanings for readers.This prose speaks of wild grass，however，it is，in fact，a metaphor of our people Therefore，the wild grass is different from the grass growing in the garden The translator must distinguish the different meanings of grass in different sentences other wise the subtle disparity cannot be manifested.

1.2 Being in accordance with the style

Wild Grass is an argumentative essay As known to all，prose is a very vivid and vigorous literary form and its content is various，which means that anything in the world can be its material sonly if the chosen material can inspire the author's emotions Furthermore，the text can be long or short and its structure is very flexible Some proses are lucid and elegant，while other proses are full of profound philosophical wisdoms.With the purpose of exposing the wild grass's dogged vitality and expressing his appreciation of Chinese warriors，Xia Yan uses simple words and syntax；however，its structure and logic are closely constructed.At the same time，he employs some joking words，thus making his work not S0 rigid or monotonous.Hence，what the translator should do is to reproduce its collquial style by using simple words and syntax，as well as compact conformation.Taking these elements into consideration，Liu Shicong's translation is a success one.In Liu Shicong's version，he uses many simple words and phrases and sometimes even divides relatively long sentences into short ones.For example，

“那么"

Well；

“只要生命存在”

So long as there is life；

“世界上氣力最大的，是植物的种子，一粒种子所显现 出来的力，简直是超越一切。"

The most powerful thing in the world is the seeds of plants.The force displayed by a seed is in credible.

As for the first example，Mr Liu just uses an oral word "well” to replace “那么” Since both of them are simple and oral words，they are the right choices for the colloquial writing style In translating the short sentences，Mr Liu also adopts short sentences，thus making them correspondent Even if the third sentence is long，it can be cut into several short English sentences because he different short sentences are not so tightly related In this way，its meaning and logic becomes clearer.

2 Transmitting the Verve or Spirit of the Original Text

Our great translator Fu Lei once proposed that literary translation should attach importance to transmit the verve or spirit of the original text Comparing with other translation principles，we will find that"Elegance" and"Naturalisation" are too abstract while"Transmitting the verve of the original text" is relatively accurate and easy to understand Liu Shicong is consent to Fu Leis point of view and says that a high quality translation lies in its similarity in spirit instead of form In general，“verve” refers to the internal spirit and similarity in spirit consists in the understanding grasp of the essence of objective things and deeply revealing their unique characters.

2.1 The reflection of the essence of things

Translators must reflect the essence of things that the text describes，including peoples personality，disposition，thoughts，feelings，behaviors and attitudes with the aim of breaking away from the restriction of the source language，such as lexicon，grammar and style，translators are required to have a deep understanding of the original article and then properly transmit its art concept.For example：

“你看见过被压在瓦砾和石块下面的一棵小草的生成吗....它的根往土壤钻，它的芽往地面挺....阻止它的石块结果也被它掀翻，一粒种子的力量的大如此如此。”

Have you ever seen how frail young grass grows out from under debris and rubble？....roots will drill downward and its sprouts will shoot upward.Any rock lying in its way will be upset This，further，shows how powerful a seed can be.The beauty of this paragraph concentrates on the description of the tenacious spirit of wild grass The author makes efforts to attract readers attention by using interrogative sentence and compound sentence When we read the first sentence，we couldnt help thinking that have we ever noticed the growth of little grass and is it really tenacious as what the author says.Then we continue to read the following sentences and accomplish it at one go on account of its coherence and symmetry Furthermore，we are deeply moved and shocked by its strength.

2.2 The reflection of translators recreation

Similarity in spirit refers to the creation of an excellent translator，which displays the translators thorough grasp of the original text and his or her great skills.Whats more，sometimes we cannot fully convey the deep meaning of the text by literal translation on account of cultural differences.Therefore，our translators must make some changes in language form or substitute the original cultural words or even use another expression.For examples，

（1）“沒有一个人将小草叫做大力士”—Though the little grass has never been said to be her culean.

（2）“人的头盖骨结合得非常致密与坚固.....后来忽然有人发明了一个方法就是把一些植物的种子放在要剖析的头盖骨里.....一发芽这些种子便以可怕的力量将一切机械力所不能分开的骨骼，完整地分开了，植物种子力之大，如此如此。”

The bones of a human skull are so tightly and firmly joine.....Then someone invents a method He puts some seeds of a plant in the skull to be dissected.....Once the seed germinate，they manifest a terrible force that succeeds in opening up the human skull that has failed to be opened even by mechanical force.This story tells how powerful the seeds of plants can be.That Mr Liu uses the word “herculean” to substitute “大力” almost perfectly transmits the meaning of the original text and makes it understandable by foreigners，because Herculean in western cultures refers to the greatest god of Greek mythology and he is famous for his braveness and perseverance Concerning about the second example，the translator makes adjustments on the structure of the whole paragraph and recreates its spirit by free translation and the last sentence in particular.If we translate “如此如此” directly，then the original meaning will be totally lost However.Mr Liu connects “植物种子力之大” with “如此如此” and translates it as “This story tells how powerful the seeds of plants can be.” In this way not only can the translator recreate the verve of the original text but also make the sentences coherent and compact.

Conclusion

As a whole，literary translation should use one language to duplicate the contents and form of the original text so as to create a new artist entity.Mao Dun once said，“As a literary translator，not only should the translator be a master of languages，but also he or she must have a certain literary accomplishment.Furthermore，in spite of those requirements，a translator should also have rich life experience in order to translate the text creatively.”

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作者简介

赵婉莹，女，山东潍坊人，1993年7月生，青岛科技大学外国语学院英语口译专业在读硕士研究生；杨一秋，女，教授，山东威海人，青岛科技大学国际学院副院长，青岛科技大学外国语学院英语口译专业导师。1986年7月毕业于曲阜师范大学外文系英美语言文学专业，同年分配至青岛科技大学工作至今。长期从事英语专业本科生以及研究生听说、口译、笔译、外国语言学及应用语言学专业研究生的翻译理论和实践、翻译批评与鉴赏、翻译硕士的口译理论与实践等课程的教学工作。研究方向：翻译理论与实践、翻译质量评估。

（作者单位：青岛科技大学外国语学院）