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 郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文《变译理论视角下<这里是中国>（节选）汉译英翻译实践报告》，是本人在导师的指导下，独立进行研究取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包括个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果，并承诺因本声明而产生的法律结果由本人承担。                        

          学位论文作者：金建军

                      日期：2023年5月20日

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变译理论视角下《这里是中国》（节选）

汉译英翻译实践报告

 摘  要

 目前，全球各国交流频繁，中国对外开放程度加深，各界都高度重视提升自身国际形象，而翻译则是这一命题的突破口。中国科普事业发展在上世纪九十年代得以萌芽，后续也出台了科教兴国、两翼理论等许多相关政策，由此可见国家对其的重视程度。科普事业立足于广大受众，旨在将科学知识普及给更多人，这一观点为其赋予了无可替代的使命意义。

 本文所选翻译材料来自一家科普自媒体机构——星球研究所。星球研究所成立于2015年，他们以创作优质地理类图文为核心，发布的文章阅读量超千万，收揽粉丝数百万。《这里是中国》则是国内第一部全视野中国地理科普著作，生动形象地介绍了中国的壮丽山河，出版即广受读者好评，无疑是一本难得的本土优秀科普作品，值得英译向外传播。

 变译理论由黄忠廉教授于21世纪初正式提出，属于本土新兴翻译理论，应用性强。就变译而言，其主要指译者在特定条件下，根据特定读者的特殊需求，采用七种变通手段进行翻译活动。通过本文对翻译材料的分析，笔者主要选取其中增译、减译、编译三种手段对其进行案例分析。

 浙江省属于经济强省，地处沿海，对外交流频繁，在提升国际形象方面起关键性作用。因此，笔者主要选取其中浙江篇，结合黄忠廉教授提出的变译理论进行翻译实践。

关键词科普翻译；变译理论；翻译实践；《这里是中国》

A REPORTONTHECHINESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATIONOFHI, I’M CHINA (EXCERPT) FROMTHE PERSPECTIVE OF VARIATION TRANSLATION THEORY

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, with frequent exchanges among countries around the world and further opening-up in China, people attach great importance to the improvement of international image. Undoubtedly, translation is the breakthrough of this proposition. The development of science popularization in China sprouted early in the 1990s. Many relevant policieswere introduced subsequently, revealing the importance that the country put on it. Popular science aims to impart scientific knowledge to more people, which gives it irreplaceable significance.

The selected translation material is from Institute for Planets, a We-media organization for science popularization founded in 2015. They published many articles with more than 10 million times of views and attracted millions of fans.Hi, I’M China is the first comprehensive Chinese geography popular science work. It vividly introduces the magnificent landscapes of China, which received wide praise from readers immediately after its publication. Thus, there is no doubt that it is an outstanding popular science work, worthy of translation and dissemination.

Variation translation theory was put forward by Huang Zhonglian in 2001. In terms of  variation translation, it means that translators use seven variation strategies to carry out translation activities under specific conditions according to the special needs of specific readers. In this paper, the author mainly selects addition, deletion and compilation for case analysis.

Zhejiang Province is a powerful province, located in the coastal area, and has frequent exchanges with foreign countries. It plays a key role in enhancing the international image of China. Therefore, the author selects the chapter on Zhejiang and combines the variation translation theory proposed by Professor Huang Zhonglian for translation practice.

KEY WORDS  popular science translation; variation translation theory; translation practice; HI, I’M CHINA

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

This chapter will be divided into three parts, respectively introducing the background, significance, and purpose of this translation practice and introduction to the variation translation.

1Background

As China’s reform and opening up has been deepened further, it is a critical time to promote international communication and external publicity. Following this tendency, China has devoted much effort to better conduct public diplomacy programs in many fields. Accordingly, many achievements have been obtained and China’s international image has been improved. However, this is far from enough. Some issues, such as narrow publicity scope, inadequate and incomprehensive domestic and foreign resources, excessive propaganda, and inappropriate publicity strategies, remain to be unsolved.

Aimed this, publicity-oriented translation can exert significant influence on it. Meanwhile, translation is an important link in publicity work that cannot be replaced and ignored, serving as a bridge between source culture and target culture. Among various genres of text, popular science text boasts its own characteristics and research values. Also, it has the advantage of being available for wider readers compared to academic science texts.

In terms of the background of domestic popular science works, the rising trend of the creation and publication of popular science books began early in the 1990s. With the proposal of the national strategy of “invigorating the country through science and education”, the Party and the government strove to boost the development of popular science work (于涵 2020: 8). Subsequently, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Popularization of Science and Technology was officially promulgated in 2002, which is the world's first and the only law specially legislated for popular science, further guaranteeing a better social condition for the development of popular science works. Besides, Leng Bingbing (2017: 9) concluded several stages in the development of science popularization in her doctoral dissertation:

Science popularization, as an inevitable outcome of the development of human society, will go through several stages: traditional science popularization, public understanding, science communication, etc. Under the guidance of national policy, our country gradually moves from the traditional science popularization stage to the second and third stages since 2006.

In more recent years, the state has continuously promulgated a series of new science and technology policies and strategies to comply with the principles of science and technology development, especially the “two-winged theory” proposed by President Xi (朱雅楠 & 刘佳佳, et al. 2022: 78). The theory emphasized that scientific and technological innovation and scientific popularization should be paid equal attention, promoting the upgrade of science popularization and create a more popular science-friendly environment for all. Taking all the above into consideration, the popular science career has always been actively advancing and developing in our country.

With regard to the relationship between translation and scientific knowledge, Maeve Olohan(2007: 131)argues that it is undisputed that translation has had a crucial role in the production and distribution of scientific knowledge through cultures and times. However, the emphasis on popular science translation is not commensurate with the development and the status of popular science in modern society (王振平 2006: 35).

The history of popular science translation is so long that it can be traced back as earlier as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Li Daguang (2008: 60), a professor of Social Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, elaborated on the domestic translation history of science books in 2008. The science books here conclude the popular science books and science academic books. Li (2008: 60) argued that the science works translation in China can be generally divided into three periods with the third stage showing an unstable but continuous development trend after the founding of New China. Based on the literature resources of CNKI, searching “popular science translation” by subject category and analyzing all the published literature, Figure 1-1 shows that the domestic research on popular science translation began to sprout before 1983, and then showed an overall upward trend from 2013.

Figure 1-1 Domestic Literature on Popular Science

Despite the increasing quantity of literature on popular science, few pieces of research are made on the translation of popular science texts from the perspective of the variation translation theory. Figure 1-2 demonstrates that there are only 13 relevant pieces of literature, the majority of which are translation practice reports, based on a search of “variation translation theory” and “popular science” by subject category in the CNKI literature resources.

Figure 1-2 The Number of Literature on Variation Translation Theory and Popular Science

Also, as shown in Figure 1-3, there does not include any thesis about Chinese-English translation practice. Additionally, the topics of these papers are mostly related to medicine, technology, biology, and without geography. Thus,it is necessary to conduct a study on the application of variation translation theory in translating popular science texts, especially in the field of geography.

 Figure 1-3 The Themes of Literature on Variation Translation Theory and Popular Science

The field of science popularization covers a wide range. Thus, we should apply the variation translation theory in vast fields of popular science to fully embody its practicability of it. Besides, people currently have a vague understanding of the concept of scientific and popular science works, even equating the two (王振平 2006: 35).

Therefore, the author thinks that it is of great significance to further study the translation of popular science texts and realize the importance of their functions. This study aims to analyze the translation strategies used in the translation of popular science texts in geography by using the variation translation theory and to explore the effectiveness of this theory in translating these texts. By doing so, this study can provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the translation of popular science texts in geography and other fields.

2Significance and Purpose

As a matter of fact, the history of popular science translation in our country has relatively deep roots. Those pioneering translators also made many remarkable and profound achievements for our descendants in this field. Until this year, it has been 20 years since the variation translation theory was officially put forward. Through decades of challenges and development, this domestic theory has not lost its value, while ceaselessly exploring new possibilities in the process of expansion. Meanwhile, Prof. Huang has been developing himself ever since he proposed the theory. Many other scholars also have been committing to the promotion and research of domestic translation theory.

However, although the variation translation theory has made remarkable achievements in China over the past decades, there are few relevant studies abroad, most of which are about the phenomenon of language variation in translation. For example, Lapshinova-Koltunski, E (2013: 86) excludes that language may vary according to the activity of the involved participants, production varieties of a language or the relationship between speaker and addressee. This opinion is consistent with the basic concept of variation translation theory, but it is not research about it. Also, in the search of three major foreign academic databases, there is no relevant thesis or introduction on variation translation theory can be found, which caused such an awkward situation as “flowering in the wall but not fragrant outside” (焦鹏帅2018: 20). As Professor Fang said, we look forward to an upgraded version of variation translation theory that advances with the times, makes theoretical innovations, keeps in touch with the reality, and boasts the characteristics of Chinese translation thinking and discourse (方梦之&王志娟2020: 86). It also implies that our later generations should make more efforts to support and carry it forward.

Besides, with support from the state, domestic popular science workers are also trying to carry forward the development of popular science. The number of excellent popular science works in China will surely increase, and the corresponding excellent popular science translation works must strive to catch up so that the good voice of China can be heard. Considering the present situation of translation, the proportion and scope of variation translation far exceeds that of complete translation. In this information age with a fast pace, information is targeted and applicable, and all kinds of practical and professional information are updated rapidly in large quantities (方梦之 2019: 5). Therefore, under social needs, variation translation theory attaches great importance to the development of translation, including popular science translation.

Prof. Huang also holds his own opinions about popular science translation. He published The Classification and Application of Scientific Translation in 2004, reckoning that science is the career of a few people, but involves the development of human beings and the public. Thus, concerning how to make the profession of a few people become public knowledge, the answer is to popularize science. And in the need to turn the translation of popular science texts into a form that readers can enjoy and visualize the scientific facts, variation translation is the choice. Both the origin of the variation translation concept and the future development of variation translation theory is inseparable from popular science translation. In this sense, variation translation theory and scientific translation are inextricably linked, and the two complement each other.

This book HI, I’M CHINA interprets the Chinese story with a broad geographic perspective and a grand time scale. The wonderful illustrations, professional maps, and affectionate words included depict the magnificent landscapes of China, allowing us to better understand the stories of China's past, present, and promising future while enjoying a visual feast. Some findings illustrated that visual elements in academic texts would play an informative and persuasive role as they provided the readers with immediate access to information (Babaii E., Atai, M. R., & Saidi, M. 2017). Also, it is an excellent and typical popular science book on geography of China. The author is Institute for Planets, a We-media organization for science popularization, covering various fields of physical geography, human geography, provinces and cities, astronomy, architecture, engineering, etc. It is also committed to making popular science videos and using online platforms to expand the scope of popular science propaganda. With the creation of high-quality geographical content as the core, it deconstructs everything in the world from a professional perspective. Both the illustrations and contents reflect the aesthetics and ideas of the new era. It equips the characteristics of an excellent popular science work, which is worthy of translating and spreading abroad.

3Introduction to the Variation Translation Theory

First, variation translation is a systematic translation theory put forward by Professor Huang Zhonglian in 2001. In his book Variation Translation Theory, Prof. Huang (2002: 96) defined the theory that “It refers to the translation activities of the source texts by flexibly using seven variation means of addition, deletion, compilation, narration, condensation, combination, and adaptation according to the special needs of specific readers under specific conditions”. For many years, most views about translation have a common feature that translation is the preservation of meaning and form, which is a movement to maintain the source text (黄忠廉 2002: 5). People always regard absolute translation as the top criteria, but the truth is that variation translation is the one which can better cater to the practical needs.

Second, variation translation theory is an excellent domestic translation theory. After the theory was published, the variation translation concept highly received recognition from domestic translators. Based on the literature resources of CNKI, searching “variation translation theory” by subject category shows that the number of relevant kinds of literature has been on the rise since 2004.

Figure 1-4 The Number of Domestic Literature on Variation Translation Theory

Based on CNKI, the research on the translation of popular science texts from the perspective of variation translation theory can be generally divided into three categories: translation practice reports (王月月2021), translation strategy research (王诗诗2017), and theoretical studies on the analysis of the translation of popular science work (方梦之&王志娟2020). Also, translation practice reports of master’s and doctoral papers are in the majority. From this point of view, the relevant research studied by masters and doctors can promote the dissemination and further development of variation translation theory. It is also applied and referred to by many other fields, such as education, literary theory, literature, and so on.

Last but not least, variation translation theory is a new translation theory based on the study of Yan Fu's translation of Evolution and Ethics. As we all know, Evolution and Ethics written by Huxley is a profound scientific book. After the translation by Yan Fu, Chinese people then had the opportunity to learn from the ideas and opinions in it, which have exerted a significant influence on them ever since. Through careful research and deep investigation of Yan Fu’s translation, Prof. Huang summarized the rules and formed the prototype of the variation translation concept. In his book Scientific Translation co-authored by Prof. Li, it mentioned that the “faithfulness” proposed by Yan Fu does not mean to entirely translate based on the original work, but on the reader’s needs (黄忠廉;李亚超2004). This is consistent with the concept in variation translation theory that we should flexibly use different variation strategies according to the special needs of specific readers under specific conditions. Meanwhile, it can be seen from the features of popular science that this kind of text has a more interpersonal aspect, creating less distance for readers (Dekker R. R. 2019: 7).

Therefore, we can draw a conclusion that variation translation theory is of practical significance to the translation practice of popular science texts.

2. Features of Popular Science Texts

Before introducing the translation process, it is necessary to illustrate and analyze the text. The selected translation material is a popular science text which boasts its characteristics. So, the author will specify the function and features of it.

4Texts Function

First of all, it is necessary to distinguish popular science texts from scientific texts. From the audience, language style, function, and other aspects, both the two have their characteristics. Also, it is critically wrong to equate the two.

In terms of the difference between popular science texts and scientific academic texts, professional and popular texts tend to represent science differently as the readers’ and writers’ worlds are different and the target audience lacks the relevant professional and semantic knowledge (Bowler P. J. 2009: 185). In brief, scientific language is accurate, precise, and detached from individual impulse (Ahmad Jameel 2012: 47) while popular science texts have a more interpersonal aspect (Dekker 2019: 7). In the information age, scientific language has become more expressive and used to attract the attention of readers and raise their interest in science and technology (Ilynska. L & Oksana. S, et al. 2016: 85). This reflects that most scientific texts are gradually featured by the characteristics of popular science texts. Rory Dekker (2019: 7) illustrates the distinction between popular science and scientific academic texts by saying that “There is also an aspect of the distance between the reader and the text”.

Considering all the above opinions, the author believes that the function of popular science text is reader-oriented and to spread scientific knowledge to more people in an easy-to-understand way.

5Linguistic Features

Different from the rigorous and complicated language style used in scientific texts, popular science texts are more literary and diversified in language forms while retaining their original professionalism. Therefore, the author mainly summarizes the following four linguistic features.

First, since popular science texts contain much professional knowledge, there are many terms about geography, such as “白垩纪流纹质火山岩”, “冲积”, “榫卯”, etc. Also, there are many proper nouns, such as “尼格罗—澳大利亚人种”, “天目山脉”, “雁荡山”, “浙北平原”, “青铜剑”, etc.

Second, scientific knowledge always needs some data to support its objectivity, and so does popular science text. This numerical information makes the knowledge more authentic and convincing, allowing readers to understand the information more concretely.

Third, according to Chinese cultural characteristics, the author of HI, I’M CHINA also uses some Chinese poems to add literary flavor and combines geographic knowledge with the historical context, such as “士比鲫鱼多”.

Fourth, the text contains many four-character idioms, which are also difficult to translate, such as “人才济济”,“忍俊不禁”, “云海翻勝”, “卧薪尝胆”, etc.

To sum up all the preceding analyses, the four linguistic features are the use of terms, data, four-character idioms, and expressions with Chinese characteristics.

3. Translation Process

As we all know, the translation process usually has three steps: pre-translation, in-translation, and post-translation. Thus, the author will specifically introduce the translation practice from the three aspects.

1. Pre-translation Process

A complete understanding of the source text message is the fundamental basis for adequate translation (Gayane G. 2020: 118). The pre-translation process usually refers to the first step of the translation process. However, the “pre” can be considered more as “preparation”, which means making full preparation and laying a firm foundation. In the pre-translation process, the author mainly took three steps to pave the way for the next translation practice.

First, gather background information and accumulate relevant knowledge. After the author has selected the translation material, the very first step to pre-translation analysis is collecting proper information about the source text to make the analysis complete and reliable (Gayane G. 2020: 119). Since the selected material is a popular science text which requires a high level of accuracy and professionalism, only when the background information is collected comprehensively can the meaning of words be accurately translated, and the implicit connotation be mined. Also, because this is a popular science text about Chinese geography, it not only contains a lot of professional knowledge about geography, such as Cretaceous rhyolite volcanic rocks, but also contains a lot of Chinese cultures, such as Chinese ancient poems. Given these situations, the author carried out some investigation on the background information in the text with the help of tools such as CNKI and Baidu, to avoid some semantic errors in the subsequent translation process.

Second, extensively read the whole text and grasp the main idea. The book Hi, I’M CHINA contains hundreds of pages, a total of 16 chapters with each chapter having a theme. Since Zhejiang Province is a powerful province,and has frequent exchanges with foreign countries, it plays a key role in enhancing the international image of China. Given this reason, the author mainly selects the chapter on Zhejiang as the translation material. As mentioned earlier, popular science texts are different from scientific texts. Except for the simple statement of scientific facts, popular science texts will also use some literary skills, including some rhetorical devices, to make the expression content easier to understand and acceptable to the public. Therefore, the author read the Chapter on Zhejiang about 5 times to get the main idea of the article.

Third, underline the words and phrases that are difficult to translate, such as professional terms, toponyms, culture-loaded words, and sentences that use rhetorical devices. After marking these keywords, the author can easily find the main points of translation. Aimed at these words, the author will first interpret them in Chinese by utilizing some dictionaries and the Internet, and then translate them into English.

2. In-translation Process

The whole translation practice lasted for a week. During the translation practice, the author followed the guidance of variation translation theory, using strategies to solve the problems in translation, such as addition, deletion, compilation, and so on.

First, as for the key points marked in the pre-translation process, the author placed more emphasis on their translation and modification. Considering the professional terms, the author searched the Chinese meaning, and then translated them into English. For example, in the translation of “江南水乡”, the author found that it refers to “长江以南的地区，在古代，江南往往代表着繁荣发达的水乡”. Through some modification, the author translated into “Jiangnan Watertown in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River”. In terms of rhetorical devices, the best way to translate them is to find similar expressions that contain similar meanings. It can fully retain the original function while still being understood by foreign readers. For example, “士比鲫鱼多”uses the analogy, but the word “鲫鱼”in English can not fully express the meaning in Chinese. So the author translate it into “sardines” so as to better convey the original meaning.

Furthermore, since the target audience of this paper is foreign readers, the author tried to play roles as readers to find the problems and deficiencies in the translation. The author also thought from the readers’ perspectives so that they can more fully understand the knowledge and words mentioned by the source text writer.

3. Post-translation Process

After finishing the translation practice, the author, first, did the self-editing several times with the help of Grammarly to check for some mistakes such as spelling and grammar. Then, the version was submitted to my supervisor and the author also received some suggestions about the logic, format, and some specific content. It helps the author to interpret the ideas in the source text more accurately and perfect the translation. After totally 5 rounds of inspection and polish, the author confirmed the final version with the supervisor.

During the process of analysis, the author summarized typical examples and classified them into four groups according to their own characteristics as it can be shown in Chapter 4. Each example is analyzed from the perspective of variation translation theory.

Additionally, the author reflected upon the whole process of this translation practice and recorded two limitations in the below Chapter 5. Moreover, the author summarized the question encountered and concluded some practical solutions as well as useful suggestions to solve these problems. There are totally three points. First, it is easy to translate some words inadequately. To solve this problem, transposition thinking can be a great solution. Second, the inability to free from the text. It is mainly resulted from the lack of professional knowledge. In this case, information gathering is important before translating. Third, translation strategies are not varied with only three methods selected. This is partly due to the small amount of text. In the future translation practice, the amount of text can be appropriately expanded so that the practicability of the translation theory can be fully reflected.

In the post-translation process, timely reflection on the whole can be conducive to accumulating the translating experience and laying a firm foundation for future translation practice.

4. Case Analysis

This chapter is mainly divided into four parts, respectively summarizing, and analyzing the typical cases in the translation practice according to three strategies of the variation translation theory.

6Addition

Addition refers to the increment of information based on the source text. There are three ways of addition: interpretation, comment, and writing. And this paper mainly uses interpretation. Interpretation is the explanation of a certain part of the source text in the translation, including the interpretation of allusions, the interpretation of ancient words to modern expressions, the interpretation of words or sentences, and so on. Besides, according to Professor Huang, the addition here does not refer to simply adding footnotes or end-notes by side. Instead, the additions are incorporated into the text to make the information of the target text more than the original text (黄忠廉 2002: 94).

The following Table 4-1 shows some specific cases. The words “ST” and “TT” in the following tables respectively represent “source text” and “target text”.

Table 4-1 Examples of Addition

In terms of example 1, the translation here uses the interpretation of words. When translating the word “江南水乡”. The author retains the literal translation while adding some specific geographic information to make sure they understand the meaning. This example shows the addition used to translate the four-character idioms, which turns out to be more articulated. In this way, Chinese idioms can be easier to be understood by foreign readers.

For example 2, the translation here uses the transformation of ancient words into modern meanings and the interpretation of allusion. The source text here actually includes an allusion. The sentence “士比鲫鱼多”is from the poem The First Travel of Shaoxing written by Yuan Hongdao, which shows the poet's exclamation on the sheer number of scholars in Shaoxing. Compared with the original text, the translation has added the words “here”, “even”, and “sardines”. Considering the difference between English and Chinese, the former is a much more explicit language than the latter. Thus, it is vital to excavate the hidden meaning in Chinese. This example shows the addition to the translation of ancient Chinese poems. As we can see, addition can make the poem more explicit, getting rid of too much Chinese flavor while retaining the central idea.

As for example 3, the addition here is the interpretation of the implied meaning of the sentence. This sentence refers to the phenomenon of homophony in Chinese. For Chinese readers, it is easy to understand the phonetic connection between the two words “曲曲折折”and “浙江”. But for foreign readers, they cannot understand the causal relationship between the two without further explanation. Thus, the author adds a long sentence to illustrate the implied meaning here.

Regarding example 4, the three translations here all use the interpretation of proper nouns. First, sentence 1 contains three sets of data, respectively representing the type, quantity, and weight of jades. The meaning of each data must not be confused. Furthermore, after searching for some information about “琮王”, the author knows that it refers to the most representative unearthed a relic of Liangzhu culture, and the largest, heaviest, and most exquisite one is known as “琮王”. However, if it is simply translated as “the King of Cong”, readers still cannot understand the meaning of “Cong”. Second, according to the information online, “Yue” was a general term in ancient China. Ancient books of the pre-Qin Dynasty call it “Yue” for the tribal systems along the Han coast located the south of the Yangtze River. In brief, “越人”refers to the people from the ancient Yue tribes. Third, taking the literal meaning alone, readers may think that “鸟虫书”is a book about birds and insects. But taking the context into consideration, we can find that it is a special kind of character, which is featured by the birds and insects.

For the four similar cases above, the author combined transliteration and interpretation to maintain the original title with Chinese characteristics while clarifying the basic meaning for readers. Therefore, in addition to translating the title with Chinese pinyin or literal translation, the author also adds the relevant interpretation behind it.

7Deletion

Deletion is generally the removal of the information that was superfluous for readers in the source text. The goal is to make the most use of the main information (黄忠廉 2002: 95).

The following Table 4-2 shows some specific cases:

Table 4-2 Examples of Deletion

About example 5, this sentence uses the deletion of unnecessary information. From the perspective of readers, the information about the poet is just minor. So, the author deletes the introduction about where Yuan Hongdao was from and adds information about his identity as a poet.

For example 6, these two cases use the deletion of duplicate information. The words “浙江”and “大地”refer to the same meaning in this sentence. Also, the word “富裕生活”appears twice. We should try to avoid repeating words to conform to English expression habits. Thus, the author both deletes the latter to make the translations briefer and clearer.

In the above two cases, the author used deletion to delete the redundant parts to keep the sentence concise and clear. This shows that in the process of Chinese-English translation of popular science texts, the deletion can make the meaning of articles more explicit and concentrate the main idea of sentences.

8Compilation

Compilation refers to organizing and ordering the content of the source text, including sorting out part of the source text, rearranging the content of the source text in a certain order, compiling, and writing the materials provided by the source text (黄忠廉 2002: 95). This method aims to make the main idea more distinct and the logic smoother, but also conform to the expression habit of the target language.

The following Table 4-3 shows some specific cases:

Table 4-3 Examples of Compilation

The translation in example 7 rearranges the content of the source text in a certain order. In accordance with the characteristics of the English language, it often places the keywords first, while Chinese does the opposite. Therefore, here the author changes their orders, putting the subject “黄茅尖”before the attribute “洞宫山隊的”, and placing the status of the mountain before its altitude. In this way, readers can easily grasp the main points of the whole sentence.

The source text contains two sentences. But, after sorting out part of the source text, and rearranging the order of information, the author combines the two sentences into one in the target text. Besides, the author adds the word “Since” based on it to make the logic of the sentence more fluid and clearer.

As can be seen from the above two cases, popular science texts can be processed by translators in the way of compilation. By changing the order of sentences and integrating multiple sentences, translators can make the sentence logic more coherent.

9Translation of Rhetorical Devices

The selected material uses many rhetorical devices which make the language of the book vivid and interesting, such as similes, analogy, allusion, and puns. But we all know that there are similarities but also differences between domestic and foreign rhetorical devices. Hence, how to translate these points should be seriously considered.

The following Table 4-4 shows some specific cases:

Table 4-4 Examples of Translation of Rhetorical Devices

First, in example 9, the sentence here uses two rhetorical devices, analogy, and allusion. In terms of the analogy, the poet makes an analogy between famous scholars and carp, which reflects a large number of scholars. Crucian carp is a common fish in the mind of the Chinese, but it is not so in foreign countries. If a literal translation is made here, then the analogy may not be understood by foreign readers. Therefore, the author changed the crucian carp into sardines which are more familiar to foreign readers and have a similar meaning to the crucian carp in Western countries. In terms of allusion, the sentence here is from a poem talked about Shaoxing in Zhejiang province. Thus, it is essential to translate them into more explicit words so that the readers can get the meaning of it.

As to example 10, these two cases both utilize similes. The use of similes in Chinese literature and foreign literature is the same, so the author uses literal translation and addition here. Besides, the sign word “like” was added to the translation of case 1 to show the similes.

In terms of example 11, the sentence here uses a pun. For the literal meaning, “bird language” is used by the book writer to call the language that the Yue people speak. But for the word meaning, the “bird language” can be understood as Chinese slang to describe a language that is hard to understand. Even today people call a language they don't understand bird talk.

Based on the above three examples, the first thing we should pay attention to in the translation of rhetorical devices is the linguistic expression and cultural differences between Chinese and English. We should follow the expression habits of English and make comprehensive use of various translation methods to transcode Chinese culture in a way that foreign readers can understand.

5. Conclusion

   1. Major Findings

To draw a conclusion about the translation practice, here are two major findings.

First, variation translation theory does have guiding significance for the translation of popular science texts.

For one thing, as mentioned in the first chapter above, its theoretical gist is in line with the purpose of popular science texts, both of which are reader oriented. This also requires the translator to read the translation from the perspective of the reader during the translation process, find out the improperly translated words and sentences, and then supplement and polish them. For another, as it shows in the Case Analysis in Chapter 4, the translation strategies summarized by variation translation theory are applicable to the practical problems encountered in translating popular science texts.

Second, the use of addition.

On the one hand, in terms of the strategies of variation translation theory used in this paper, addition is the most frequently used one in the translation. This can be seen from Chapter 4, where the listed example of addition is of the largest number. Due to the different features of English and Chinese, the former tends to express explicitly, while the latter is more implicit. Therefore, when translating Chinese into English, not only the superficial meaning should be expressed, but also the implied relationship and deep meaning. In addition, as the main purpose of popular science is to popularize more scientific knowledge to the public, each word and concept should be explained clearly. Consequently, in the process of converting Chinese to English, more interpretive language is needed.

On the other hand, addition can be used together with other translation methods. Even many translation methods are often based on addition. For example, if you want to use the compilation to translate multiple sentences into one sentence, it is a must to add some words, such as logical words, even phrases, and sentences based on the source text, so that multiple sentences can be harmoniously integrated into a whole while remaining the smooth logic.

2. Difficulties and Solutions

After reflecting on the whole process of translation practice, the author finds the following three difficulties, each with its solutions followed.

First and foremost, since the source text is written in the author's native language, it is easy to overlook the deep meaning behind some words during the translation process. Take the word “越人”for example. For native speakers in China, the meaning can be easily understood without too much explanation. But for foreign readers without the knowledge base of Chinese historical culture, the simple word translation “Yue People” can merely make readers understand the meaning of “People” while being confused by the word “Yue”. To overcome this barrier, the translator should transform his role into a reader to interpret every word meaning explicitly.

Secondly, the relevant professional knowledge is not enough, which results in the inability to free from the source text. For a text that includes familiar knowledge, translators tend to be more confident to create and even daring to add their comments. However, in front of such a text containing a large amount of professional information, the author dares not make too much deletion or rearrangement, for fear of damaging the original meaning. Variation translation is a kind of translation activity that liberates the translators’ productivity who is tied by the language ropes (王诗诗 2017: 16). Therefore, the author should make adequate preparation before translation, and actively accumulate more encyclopedia knowledge in daily life to improve the translation ability.

Thirdly, translation strategies are not varied enough. There are only three strategies used in the whole translation, addition, deletion, and compilation, while the variation translation theory includes seven strategies and eleven methods. Variation translation theory has only been 23 years since its establishment. Compared with other translation theories, it is immature in many aspects. Practice can provide impetus and source for theoretical innovation, which in turn supports and guides practice (方梦之&王志娟 2020: 86). The author believes that as a new generation majoring in translation, it is our responsibility to spread the local translation theory. Therefore, we should bear the brunt of the practice to make it fully developed and perfect.

3. Limitations and Suggestions

Taking the whole practice into consideration, the author thinks there still exist some limitations.

First, as the length of the translation material is short with only one chapter in the book selected, it cannot serve as evidence to prove whether the variation translation theory is also applicable in the case of a large amount of text material.

Second, since the translation materials applied this time only involve geographical popular science text, it remains to be tested whether the translation theory can also be applied to other fields of popular science texts.

In this regard, the author believes that in future translation practice, the length of the translated text can be expanded, and the fields of popular science involved can be more diverse. At the same time, the seven strategies and eleven methods of the variation translation theory can be fully utilized to further verify the practicability of the theory. In this way, we can better enhance the value of translation theory and carry it forward.

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Acknowledgments

Time flies as the end of gold hours in college is coming in front of my eyes. So many regrets have been left while so many achievements have been made.

First, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisorMrs. Wu Shuangjiao. It is her patient instruction and kind suggestions that helped me successfully finish the paper writing. Hope I did not disappoint those professors that have imparted me useful knowledge and experience.

Second, I would like to convey my heartfelt thankfulness to my dear family. They have given me so much confidence and trust, which supported me to overcome all the difficulties and failures. Hope I have grown up in the way they are satisfied with.

Third, I would like to give myself a thumb. When looking back, I did not regret the decision I made at that time. The decision that I will choose this college to start my campus life, and the decision that I will participate in more competitions, the decision that I will learn from those outstanding senior schoolmates and become an excellent person. There is a word that I always keep in mind: “Everything worked out for the best.” Every decision that I have made and every effort that I have taken are well-arranged. Whether they may lead to success or failure, there exists something I can gain. Hope I can enjoy everything I want to do without regrets and make more brilliant achievements in the bright future.

This is the end of my paper, but my life will go on and far.

Appendix