Such a long sentence as the source language in this example is smooth and coherent, without any problem. But when more than one English sentences are piled up without any connectives, just like the English translation in this example, they form a very unnatural and awkward sentence, which fails to conform to the features of English. A better translation would be to replace the former part of the sentence with a prepositional phrase, so that the three paralleled clauses can be integrated into a complex sentence as follows: With a total area of 2.25 sq km and a population of 42,000, the ancient city largely maintains its historical appearance of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368～1911). Example7: (SL):舟的前方驾着一柄长舵，形如关云长的青龙偃月刀。 (TL)…is shaped like the sword in traditional Beijing opera used by Guan Yu, a general of the state of Shu of the Three Kingdom period (220-280A.D). It seems as if this translation is quite adequate, for it has added some information to explain about the sword and its master Guan Yu. However, this addition is nearly of no use. After reading this introduction, the foreign tourists still can’t figure out what is the sword like, for they don’t know anything about Guan Yu at all unless they have watched the Beijing opera. Thus in this sense, this explanation is completely invalid. It produces no effect other than making the whole sentence redundant. Maybe another simpler version will be better:…is shaped like the knife on the westerners’ dinner table. This version has omitted the invalid information, so it’s much more concise. What’s more important is that it sounds familiar to the foreign tourists and they can understand what the sword looks like immediately when they see this introduction. Example8: (SL):“黄龙吐翠”（西湖十景之一） (TL): “Yellow Dragon Spits Green” （市民日常外语会话北京新华出版社） The Chinese name “黄龙吐翠” has two meanings: On the one hand, it means that a clear spring is flowing out from the Yellow Dragon Cave; on the other hand, it infers that the whole scenic spot (Yellow Dragon Cave) is surrounded by green trees. The character “吐”here means present or look, when it is translated into “spit” in English, the meaning has completely been changed. Because “spit” often means “spitting saliva”, which gives us an unpleasant impression. 3.1.2. English scenic-spot introductions in Britain Example9: ‘…the centre of time and space…’ The Greenwich Meridian The Prime Meridian is an imaginary line running north-south through Greenwich. In 1884, the line was named as the world’s longitude zero by the International Meridian Conference. Every position on earth is defined by its longitude (its distance east or west from Greenwich) and its latitude (the distance north or south from the equator). Both latitude and longitude are measured in segment of a circle: degreesｏ minutes’ and seconds”. This introduction about Greenwich Meridian is a standard description. From this four sentences, we get the information about the source of the meridian, the establishment of the astronomical observatory, the importance and the measuring method of latitude and longitude. And the content of this introduction corresponds perfectly with the title, which is cited from a work of the famous American writer Hawthone. On the whole, the four sentences are all simple sentences, even if the third sentence includes some added information. Maybe because only English has been adopted to make the introduction, the simplest words and sentences are chosen to enable more tourists to understand it. Meanwhile, in order to inform the tourists of the knowledge about longitude and latitude, explanations are added, which is really considerable. Example10: Trade in the Tang Dynasty—An introduction in the Chinese Department in the British Museum The people living beyond the borders of China in the steppes of Central Asia and the desert lands of the Silk Route coveted China’s high-quality goods and raided and invaded whenever they could. At times foreigners ever ruled northern China. However, both in the Han period (206BC-AD220) and the Tang (AD618-906) the Chinese reacted to such threats by sending armies into Central Asia and asserting control over the city states along the Silk Route. At this times trade flourished. From the westerners the Chinese sought horses, glass, exotic foods and plants, including the grape, servants, dancers and acrobats, textiles and certain forms of dress. In return, the Chinese exported silk, other textiles and lacquers, the luxuries of daily life. In consequence, in the Tang period and earlier, China absorbed many foreign features in the shapes of vessels and in decoration of all sorts which transported Chinese applied arts. In later periods the influence was exerted in the other way. |
