English-Chinese Translation of News LEAD

【Abstract】In the news， the News Lead embodies the core of news and has a leading role. Moreover， the majority of news is written in English. To sum up， the translation strategies of English News Lead is significant to meet peoples needs.

【Key words】English news leads; translation strategies

【作者簡介】薛娉婷（1996.03-），女，汉族，甘肃嘉峪关人，西北师范大学，本科，研究方向：翻译研究。

1. Introduction

1.1 Significance of the Thesis

It is known that reading news is one of the fastest ways to know trend of world. To enhance the readers ability of knowing the news lead and give some advice to English news translation practitioners， this paper analyzes how to translate English news lead in a better way from the prospective of linguistic features.

1.2 Definition of News Lead

Rich （2005： 151） defines news leads as “the beginning of your story， a promise to the reader of what is to come”. Besides， Li （1997） expressed that news lead is a show window for news reporter to show his masterpieces. It could be said that lead is like a baited hook that could attract readers to read news.

2. Strategies in English-Chinese Translation of News Leads

2.1 Translation Principles

Firstly， translation of news lead should be objective. Moreover， translation should be aesthetic. Lastly， translation should be fit with Chinese readers ideological content. Therefore， the translators should express the truth of English news lead precisely and dont increase or delete views.

2.2 At Lexical Level

Christiane （2001） said that translation needs to fit with intentions that English news reporters express.

2.2.1 Omission

（3） The American Lung Association says fewer Americans smoke cigarettes now than before tobacco control policies were put in place.

美国肺脏协会说，自从烟草控制政策实施以来，美国的吸烟人数有所减少。

It can be seen that Chinese translation omits the comparative form， but information is clearer. If the translator writes the comparative form， the structure of sentence would be more cumbersome. Thus， the proper omission would make structure closer.

2.2.2 Addition

（4） President Donald Trump plans to announce Wednesday that the United States is recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv.

美国总统川普计划星期三宣布，美国承认耶路撒冷为以色列首都，并将把美国大使馆从特拉维夫迁到耶路撒冷。

In the instance， the sentence is divided into two sentences to translate， and translator adds proper nouns and conjunctions. Thus， it can be seen that Chinese edition could be understood more clearly. If translators literally translate the news， the readers would be confused： where does U.S. embassy move towards？ So translator has responsibility to make the news more accurate.

2.3 At Rhetoric Level

2.3.1 Metaphor

（5） Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he plans to affirm an “ironclad” U.S. commitment to NATO during a visit to Belgium， Austria and France this week.

美国国务卿蒂勒森说，他计划这个星期访问比利时、奥地利和法国期间强调美国对北约“坚如磐石”的承诺。

In this example， translation uses a metaphor “坚如磐石” to highlight the firm of commitment. When translator makes use of typical metaphors in Chinese， the Chinese readers would be more interested in the news.

2.3.2 Metonymy

（6） Delegations from the two Koreas met Monday to hammer out details about the North sending a troupe of artistic performers to next months Winter Olympics in the South.

韩国和朝鲜的代表团星期一会见，最后商定朝鲜向韩国下个月举办的冬季奥运会派出一个表演艺术团的问题。

The translation gives the complete explains about the metonymy so that Chinese readers could easily know the news， otherwise not anyone understand that what is “two Koreas”.

3. Conclusion

To sum up， this paper aims to expand the study results could be helpful for those people who want to understand the news lead accurately and English news translation practitioners.

References：

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