I am heartedly grateful to Professor Zhou Fang-zhu for his generosity in initiating me into the field of literature translation, for his constant encouragement of my studies, and for his personal guidance in the course of writing this dissertation. Without his kind help, I cannot have today’s humble achievement. Without his considerate guidance, the present paper cannot have been as what it is now.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Cheng Zeng-fa, Professor Hong Zeng-liu, Professor Zhu Yue, Professor Ma Zu-yi, Professor Zhu Xiao-mei, Professor Xiao Shu-hui, Professor Tian De-bei and Professor Wang Xiao-ling for their precious advice both on my studies and at the various stages of writing this dissertation.

I should never forget to extend my genuine thanks to the faculty members of the College English Teaching Department and my family. With their kind and selfless help, I could manage to finish my post-graduate studies smoothly.

Key Words: translation equivalence; female image; cultural differences; cultural communication

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

TE is one of the central issues in the theory of translation. Various definitions to it have been given from various angles by scholars at home and abroad with different focuses.

1.1.1. According to Catford, “In total translation, SL and TL texts or items are translation equivalents when they are interchangeable in a given situation ”(Catford 1965, 49)

Catford’s is of a linguistic (co-textual) approach, it’s based on the notion of “textual equivalence ” which he sees in sharp opposition to the concept of “formal correspondence”. He holds that there is no meaning equivalence, but only denotative equivalence, (Catford, 1965, 27).

1.1.2. Nida’s is of a communicative approach, for him language is above all “a multi-functional tool of communication”. In order to be communicatively efficient linguistic utterances must be receptor-oriented. TE can be achieved only if a translation fulfills the conditions of “the closest natural equivalence to the SL message ”, which he defines as DE (“dynamic equivalence”), (Nida 1964, 176).

1.1.3. Newmark divides translation into two categories, namely “communicative translation” and “semantic translation”. The former attempts to produce on it’s readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained by the readers of the original and the latter attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language, the exact contextual meaning of the original, (Newmark, 1981, 39).

1.1.4. The famous Chinese scholar Qian Zhongshu puts forward the criteria of “sublimation”, that is to say, an ideal translation is to render the SLT (source language text) into TLT (target language text) which sublimates all it’s meaning and flavor naturally with no awkwardness from language differences.

1.1.5. Zhao Yuanren emphasizes “pragmatic equivalence”, somewhat similar to Newmark’s “ communicative translation”.

1.1.6. F.C. Tsai warns the translators of the “danger” of “literal translation” and he claims to obtain TE is to convey the implied meaning, the suggested emotion, the author’s style and his strategy.

1.1.7. Mao Dun believes that in order to achieve TE the artistic mood of the original must be fully conveyed, meanwhile the TLR (target language readers) are enlightened, touched and excited by the sense of beauty in the translated version as the SLR (source language readers) are in the original.

1.1.8. Wang Zuoliang points out that genuine TE is to find out the equivalents of meaning, function, range, emotional tint and affect in the TL in respective culture.

All the statements agree that TE should be taken as the vital criteria of optimal translation, yet it’s hard to find an objective, universally acceptable answer applicable to the complex problem of inter-textual TE.

The above-mentioned statements can be roughly divided into approaches as linguistic (co-textual) approach; communicative (contextual) approach, the former labeled as text-specific and the latter as recipient-specific.

The new tendency firstly advocated by Susan Bassnet and Andre Lefevere, namely the “cultural turn”, has now aroused great concern in translation area and has made its way into both translation theory and translation practice.

In order to get a clear view on it, first we shall try to answer these questions: “What is translation? ” “Who is the translator?” “What’s the purpose of his translation?” “Who will be the TLR?” “What’s the circumstances when the translation is produced?” etc.

We can find some typical examples of translation versions and give comments on them -----whether they have achieved TE or not.

The following is a well-known example, which makes an illustration that in order to cater to the TLR the translator has to sacrifice the faithful information and distort the original image in hope that the translation may arouse the same or similar response of the TLR.

The novel Joan Haste was translated by Pan Xizi more than a century ago, because of the different moral standards in different cultures he canceled details like the heroine’s pregnancy before marriage (“几费踌躇，几费斟酌，隐去了”寅半生，1907), and it’s warmly welcomed by the then scholars. However, years later Lin Shu, another translator produced his version, much more faithful to the original “information”, with all the details supplemented, the new version aroused a thunderstorm , as someone put it: “ 吾向读《迦茵小传》，而深叹迦茵之为人，清洁娟好，不染污浊，甘牺牲生命，以成人之美，实情界中之天仙也；吾今读《迦茵小传》，而后知迦茵之为人，淫贱卑鄙，不知廉耻，弃人生之义务，而自殉所欢，实情界中之蟊贼也。”

We can hardly say which of these two versions has achieved TE. Perhaps the first has, to some degree, achieved TE from the TLR response point of view; while the second from the “equivalent information” point of view.

In fact, from a modern view, the first version, which was popular for a time can hardly be seen as translation, maybe a piece of an adopted version instead. The second, which disgusted the scholars at that time, is in fact a good one. Then here comes a question: what has caused this dilemma? The answer lies in the specific times. At the time when the versions were produced, China was a feudal society totally isolated from the outside world, it’s the Confucius moral standards that dominated the social norms: how could a woman pregnant before marriage be welcomed in that cultural context, no matter how many virtues she may possess.

So it’s clear in that specific cultural context, the translators would try in vain to seek TE if they choose works full of conflicting elements with their own culture and try to convey the contents faithfully.

It follows that at the primary stage of cultural communication, both the translator and the target language readers are too heavily influenced by their own culture that they can hardly be “carefree” while they encounter something that is strikingly different from their own, either in contents or in language using. At this stage, TE is the most difficult to obtain, the translator then has to make a hard choice--- which---the image or the response of TLR, he is going to sacrifice in order to achieve TE within the range. More often than not, the translator has to cater to the TLR in order that their translated versions will not be rejected.

In some cases, it goes further, that is, according to Qian Zhongshu, “在各国翻译史里，早期的译作往往相当于译述或改写，以求把外国的事物变得尽量接近国货，以便本国读者容易理解和接受。”（钱钟书《谈“比较文学”与“文学比较”》，1979）

It follows that since there are so many variants effecting TE, TE can never be static and absolute. In specific times, different translators with different translation purposes have different understanding and interpretation of the original and they are bound to employ different translation strategies with their own individual styles, thus the translated versions can achieve TE only to some degree.

There are two generally acknowledged principles concerning the achievement of TE. One is that the more overlap the two cultures share, the more possible it is to achieve TE; the other is that the more frequent the cultural communication is, the more cultural information the TLR will have and the greater possibility will be for achieving TE.

With the rapid development of cultural communication, the readers’ horizon is being greatly widened, TLR are more interested in the different elements of foreign cultures. At this stage, the introduction of exotic elements is not only necessary but also important, for it will draw the readers’ attention and appeal to them instead of causing estrangement.

On the other hand, Chinese, at present stage is a mature language, unless necessary, it’s not a sensible approach to choose syntax which seems too “odd” to be properly understood by most TLR. In short, “foreignization” method should be only restricted on a cultural level instead of on a linguistic level, otherwise it may cause obstacles to accurate understanding.

1): “she was still --- a comely and faithful companion, whose cheeks were faintly mottled, and whose gray-blue eyes had acquired a certain fullness.

a) “她依旧是个好看而忠实伴侣，不过两颊淡淡地有点斑驳，而灰蓝的眼睛也有点儿饱满了。”（张培基1980,）

Which of the two versions has achieved TE? Perhaps both are literal translation and neither has achieved TE on semantic and cultural levels. For the Chinese readers will feel greatly bewildered when they come across words like: “两颊---斑驳”, “眼睛有点儿饱满”, “双颊斑---露出--灰斑”, “眼睛--有点--发胖”. Here, word selection in both versions is too “foreign” to be well accepted and understood by TLR, hence the failure of achieving TE on part of the readers’response.

Perhaps we can infer that to obtain TE as much as possible, domestication strategy should be employed on linguistic level while foreignization on cultural level, if the TL is a mature one which can fully convey the intended meaning without introducing a foreign expression, as is pointed by Prof. Sun Zhili: “use foreignization when possible”, so far as cultural elements are concerned, “and domestication when necessary” so far as syntax is concerned, in order to be well accepted, (“可能时尽量异化，必要时尽管归化” 孙致礼2002,42).

As Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere have pointed out translation now is taken the “cultural turn”, as “Translators have always provided a vital link enabling different cultures to interact” and “cultural construction is a determinant factor in presenting and marketing a text as a translation”. With the rapid development of cultural globalization, nowadays the main target of translation is to unfold foreign cultures for the readers as much as possible. TE, in this sense, must be examined at least from these two aspects: one is to preserve its exotic elements and the other is to be well understood and accepted by the target readers.

2.1.1 Sexual discrimination is almost omnipresent. Female is seen as inferior to male both in the occidental and oriental cultures.

In the west, according to the Bible, woman is made of man’s rib. What’s more it is woman who committed the crime that caused human being driven out of the paradise and suffering all the earthly misfortunes. Hence, woman is sinful who brings disaster to her husband, her master, so woman is born to repent, to bear the disasters, to serve God and man, her master.

In China, where Confucius doctrine takes the leading role in its culture, norms for women like: “三纲五常”，“三从四徳”，“饿死事小，失节事大”，“存天理，灭人欲”，“女子无才便是徳”,“惟女子与小人难养也”，“守妇道”“相夫教子”，“温顺贤良”are deeply rooted in Chinese ethics.

As Jane Tompkins said in her Me and My Shadow: “Women are used as “extensions of men”, “mirrors of men”, “devices for showing men off”, “devices for helping men get what they want”. They are never there in their own right, or rarely. The world of the Western contains no women. Sometimes I think the world contains no women.”

In other words, men have made women the “non-significant Other”.

2.1 2. Female is seen as the object being enjoyed in the male dominated society and all the conventions for the female are set by the male.

In her famous “The Second Sex”, French writer Simone de Beauvoir declares that the western society is “Patriarchal”, which means, females are controlled by males in almost all aspects. She believes that “males in these societies define what it means to be human, including, therefore, what it means to be female.” Since the female is not the male, she becomes the “Other”, an object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the male.

There are countless female images in literature works, most of which are created by male writers. Thus, females are portrayed as goddesses of beauty, obedient saints, seducing sirens, ferocious dragons, shameless whores, evil witches and old spinsters. In other words, males are the arbitrary judges who give all the standards reflecting male expectation for the females. In other words, “man is the subject, the one who defines meaning; woman is the object, having her existence defined and determined by the male.”(Feminist, p.105)

In the patriarchal society, virtuous females are stereotyped as being gentle, obedient, humble and fabric. Females who violate the norms by realizing ambitions, mastering skills, being independent as males will definitely horrify males. And males will try every means to underestimate them or to eliminate this “heresy” if they can.

From the 20th century Women’s Liberation Movements have aroused universal concern for women’s problems and thus shaken the conventions a lot, as a consequence, female position has been more or less improved.

In 1919, the British scholar and early feminist Virginia Woolf laid the foundation for feminist criticism in her work A Rome of One’s Own. She exclaimed “great minds possess both male and female characteristics, and that a female Shakespeare could achieve literary prominence in the 20th century if women scholars, teachers and critics would only pave the way”.

Beauvoir believes that a woman must “break the bonds of patriarchal society and redefine herself if she wishes to become a significant human being in her own right and to defy male classification as the Other”.

With the advent of the 1960s and its political activivities and social concerns, feminist issues found new voices. Questiones on the male and female positions became the rallying points for feminist criticism, and throughout the late 1970s books that defined women’s writings in feminine terms proliferated.

While their western counterparts devoted themselves to feminism, Chinese females also made intense commitment to it. In the late Qing Dynasty quite a few advisable scholars, men and women, advocated to cultivate “New Females”, which included forbidding foot-binding and education for females. This campaign was widely spread and well received by open-minded males and females, shaking the conventions considerably.

To sum it up, Women’s Liberation Movements of all kinds happening on the global scale have made great contribution to the shaking of the traditional yoke imposed on women. Modern women, both the oriental and the occidental, tend to be much more independent psychologically and economically.

2.2.1 Cultural differences may cause different or even conflicting views towards the same thing.

As is known, the major sources of each culture play a vital role in determining social conventions.

The most striking feature of Greco-Roman element is its Spirit of Innovation, as “they speculated freely about the nature of the world and the ends of life, without being bound in the fetters of any inherited orthodoxy.”(Bertrand Russell: History of Western Philosophy). This tremendously influences the Renaissance whose philosophy is humanism with the assertion of the greatness of man. This can be best summarized in the lines of Shakespeare: “What a piece of work is man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god!” (Hamlet, II. ).

While the other element----Judeo-Christian element takes a different trend. “At the heart of Christianity is the life of Jesus. How he lived and died to redeem the whole human race.”(Wang Zuoliang, 1993). According to Christianity, man is born sinful, because of the Original Sin, he lives to serve God and get salvation. While the female is more sinful as being seduced by the serpent and then to seduce her husband, which has caused human’s disaster of being driven out of the Paradise to live an earthly life full of pains and sufferings. Women are considered as inferior to men as is clearly illustrated in Adam’s words: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

2.2.2. Chinese culture is composed of three major elements: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Among them, Confucianism is the leading one. In 140 B.C. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty decided to make Confucianism the state thought. From then on, except a few short periods, Confucianism was the mainstream of Chinese thought for about 2,000 years. Its influence was most extensive and penetrating. (Ding Wangdao, Glimpses of Chinese Culture, 2001)

Confucius believes humanity (“仁”) is the supreme principle, there are also other virtues, such as “righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness, loyalty, reciprocity, filial piety, brotherly love”, (“义,礼,智,信,忠,恕,孝,悌”), which are closely connected with humanity. All these virtues help to set up strict hierarchy in which females are always taken as secondary or nonexistent players in both domestic affairs and social institutions. As this can be best illustrated in the lines: “有天地,然后有万物; 有万物; 然后有男女; 有男女; 然后有夫妇; 有夫妇; 然后有父子; 有父子; 然后有君臣; 有君臣; 然后有上下; 有上下, 然后礼仪有所措.夫妇之道不可以不久也, 故受之以恒.”(<周易>).

Laozi, the founder of Taoism advises people to remain mild, peaceful, submissive, tolerant, modest, contented, humble, to live a quiet and simple life. Quietness, submission, tolerance, humbleness are seen as the priceless virtues, which all together help to contribute to the distinctive features of traditional Chinese, of course, including the females. Taoism has an enormous effect on traditional Chinese aesthetic standards; the most note-worthy is that “indirectness(含蓄)” is always mostly valued. Anything obvious and direct is considered as lacking the sense of beauty.

The main teaching of Buddhism is to attain Buddhahood by way of meditation. “Those who aspired to enlightenment should remain isolated from the outside would and concentrate on their own thinking”(Ding Wangdao, 2001). What’s more, according to the Buddhism, the “outside world” has nothing permanent or valuable, instead, it’s full of evils that may trap people, tempting them to commit sinful deeds. Among the dangerous and destructive evils, the female is the worst one, whom the male should always reject. Thus monks believing Buddhism should avoid any form of love affairs and marriage.

To sum it up, occidental women, though bearing salvation in mind, tend to be more emotional and passionate, who pay more attention to individualism, while the oriental women tend to be much more reserved and obedient, who tend to express themselves indirectly and value the interest of the collective more.

2.3.1. Female images with different moral standards in the specific cultural contexts and their translation.

Influenced by Greco-Roman element, western females tend to be more emotional, passionate, who are much more bold in expressing their true feelings in words and actions, compared with the Chinese women.

We can find countless examples in literary works. For instance, in Hawthorne’s famous The Scarlet Letter, we are impressed by the dark-haired and sensual heroine---Hester, who is so passionate that “borders on being licentious” (Chang Yaoxing, 1994).

Let’s relive the passionate and touching moments when Hester met with her lover, Dimmesdale, the priest in the woods.

“With sudden and desperate tenderness, she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom; little caring though his cheek rested on the scarlet letter. He would have released himself, but strove in vain to do so. Hester would not set him free---“

Though being forced to wear a scarlet letter on her breast, Hester became more determined and mature, as passionate as ever, if not more, she didn’t veil her strong love for the young priest, instead she expressed it intensely, which would have been seen as an unbearable shame in the traditional Chinese culture. If such affair happened in China at that time, the heroine, who committed adultery, was supposed to do nothing but commit suicide!

Jane Eyre, another shining female model, has carved herself in the minds of readers all over the world. The homely-looking, strong-minded mistress is also among the passionate type, who expressed her love and hatred directly and vigorously before her master, the man she loved, with no shyness a young lady usually has. In a traditional Chinese culture that’s not a decent behavior for a girl like her, as it’s not a woman’s virtue to express her feelings and love firstly, she should always be the patiently waiting party no matter how passionate she may be inside and how eager she may want to express it.

Jane’s famous lines would definitely have horrified a Chinese reader one century ago at her time. “ And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you” “we stood at God’s feet, equal, ----as we are!”

Connie in Lady Chatterley’s Lover shocks the conventional world with her daring and crazy deeds. A passionate woman as she is, she would have died from a life without love and vigor. Her marriage to a sexually impotent husband is tearing her apart. “The physical sense of injustice is a dangerous feeling, once it is awakened, it must have outlet, or it eats away the one in whom it is aroused.” Gradually “A sense of rebellion smoldered in Connie”, when Connie met with the keeper of her husband’s woods, a vigorous male, a true man, she is saved and intoxicated with her love, smashing all the conventions. Their unearthly love went to its climax on the rainy night:“She was nearly at the wild riding when he (Mellors, her lover) came up and flung his naked arm round her soft, naked-wet middle---” “Her sharp breast rose and fell, her hair was plastered down with rain, her face was flushed ruddy----she looked another creature.”

If the above paragraph had a faithful Chinese version the day it was produced, the translated version would have confronted the same disastrous fate《迦茵小传》met with, if not worse. Since in a closed Chinese feudal culture a woman like the heroine would be undoubtedly regarded as a crazy and shameful whore with no virtue at all. Thus in that given cultural context, no matter what translation strategy is employed, the female image will definitely horrify the TLR provided all the information in the original is faithfully copied.

The Thorn Birds portrays another passionate female---Maggie, which makes it the best seller for decades. Because Ralph’s religious career, Maggie is destined never to be able to enjoy a blessing marriage to him. She makes the bold decision to possess him by having a child with him. As she confesses: “I can never have Ralph, I’ve always known I could never have Ralph. But I have! I have! I have got the part of Ralph the church can never have, the part of him which carries on from generation to generation. Through me he will continue to live, because I know it’s going to be a son—I’ll beat God yet!” If the translated version appeared in the year 1977 (the year the original one was produced), it is no doubt that a faithful version with all the information truthfully conveyed will definitely portrait a female image who has, in effect, committed adultery with a priest, which is too abnormal and crazy to be of any virtue!

To our greater astonishment is that Maggie’s aunt, Mary, an old lady in her seventies, who loves Ralph just as much as Maggie does, if not more. As she exclaimed to Ralph, “If I’d been younger I’d have got you in a different way, Ralph, you will never know I’ve longed to throw thirty years of life out the window. If the Devil had come to me and offered to buy my soul for the chance to be young again, I’d have sold it in a second.” “I have loved you, God know how much ---- inside this stupid body, I’m still young—I still feel, I still want, I still stream!”. When Ralph wanted to kiss her good-bye, “she pulled them (her hands) away, “No, not tonight. On my mouth, Ralph, Kiss my mouth as if we were lovers!”

When this was refused, “she laughed shrilly, eerily, “Oh, Ralph, what a sham you are! Sham man, sham priest! Sham, sham, sham! That’s all you are, Ralph! An impotent, useless sham! Impotent man and impotent priest!” The flames are burning, as we can see in our mind’s eye. However, in a traditional Chinese context, it is not a decent way for senior citizens to directly express their love to the opposite sex as they are supposed to be more reserved than the young and what’s more, love affairs are usually considered as the privilege of the young, it’s really shameful for an old lady to express her love to a young man!

This reminds us of the lines of Shi Ping in The Thunder Storm by Cao Yu. When Zhou Pu-yuan, her former lover, the father of her two sons, talked about their old sweat memories and showed his great regret, Shi Ping only sighed to stop his words:“现在我们都是上了年纪的人，这些傻话请你也不必说了。”

It is true that one thing natural in one culture may be unthinkable in another culture. Thus it follows sometimes the same information may trigger different even opposite responses provided there is a huge cultural gap.

Compared with their sisters on the other hemisphere, traditional Chinese females are much more reserved, who tend to express their feelings indirectly.

As is known, the earliest and most prestigious Chinese works The Great Poetry (《诗经》) is to cultivate people, especially women to be conventional and obedient. (“一言以蔽之曰思无邪”，“温柔敦厚怨而不怒”).

Here is a typical example, a poem by the name of “Meng” (“氓”) , tells a story of an abandoned woman, as she laments,

2):“三岁为妇，靡室朝焉。”“及尔偕老，老使我怨 ”“信誓旦旦，不思其反。反是不思，亦已焉哉！” Especially the last sentence, “Since he (her husband) broke his promise, there is nothing I can do to make a change, let it be then.”

In the traditional Chinese culture, an abandoned woman is supposed to lament her miserable life or accept her fate as it is or even commit suicide but she is never supposed to make any attempts to take revenge on the man who “wronged her”, which may be strange and alien to people in other cultures.

In translation the translator tends to use his own interpretation, with ethics and aesthetic standards of his own culture, to encode the original works, which may cause great gap or even distortion of the original image of the character portrayed.

A case in point from Kong Huiyi in her work Translation –Literature- Culture helps to illustrate the point that the translator, consciously or unconsciously, interprets the heroine in the original by employing traditional Chinese way of thinking and moral standards for women.

3): “What smoldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in this passionate Celtic woman’s soul when she saw the man who had wronged her--- wronged her perhaps far more than we suspected--- in her power?---Had she just been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into its place?---” (The Musgrave Ritual)

The background information is that the housekeeper in the story disappeared all of a sudden, meanwhile, a female servant seemed to be greatly irritated and there was evidence showing that she committed suicide but the corpse couldn’t be found, the detective was assigned to investigate the affair and he deduced that the housekeeper tried to get the treasure in the cellar of the house, in doing so an assistant was needed, and he thought about the female servant who he has “wronged”, however the housekeeper died in the cellar in the end.

There are three points worth mentioning. Firstly, the servant is portrayed as a “passionate Celtic woman”, while according to the western culture, Celtic women tend to be most passionate and emotional. The reason that this point is mentioned is to suggest that the detective believes the revenge taken is more out of her Celtic origin, raising it to a typical cultural level. (However here the word “Celtic” remains a “semantic gap” to Chinese readers if it is directly rendered into “凯尔特人”， for they have no appropriate association with the word.) Secondly, it’s mentioned more than once that the housekeeper had “wronged” the woman, which implies a reproach to the man’s immoral behavior. However, here lies the “cultural obstacle”, according to traditional Chinese culture, it’s man’s privilege to enjoy love affairs with more one woman, for whom he didn’t have to take any responsibility. Meanwhile the women, abandoned after the affair would supposedly do anything like committing suicide or lamenting in all her remaining days but taking revenge on the man who “wronged her”. Thirdly, words like “ suddenly” and “sudden” are used, which also suggests the killing is out of impulse instead of a plotted one.

Once it’s rendered into Chinese, the translators’ interpreted the original with the ethics of his own culture, together with his aiming at catering to the then TLR, the above mentioned paragraph is rendered into the following:

a) 而秋风团扇之捐，固已久怀怨毒，报复之念，蕴诸于心。正如弩箭在弦，随机即发---于是时，忆往事，顿触旧恨。以为此天假我以大好之时会也，不死此伧无以泄吾愤。

b) 见泊露身处窖内，---无异鸟之入笼，鱼之投网，顿生一念。忆及泊露吞前之相弃，怨恨交集，且疑其近日情好，必系伪为。---转思抽去诸木，则泊身葬窖中，万难逃遁，且隐窖藏尸，亦无发之虞，于是胆粗气厉，杀机遂萌。

---《墨斯格力夫礼典案》

Obviously the two Chinese versions give totally different impressions on the TLR, far way from that the author tries to give in his original version.

The following example from Romeo and Juiet is to throw light on this point. Here the heroine is lamenting when anxiously waiting for her young man to come. “

4): “He made you (the rope ladder) a highway to my bed;

But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.”

a) “他本要借你做捷径，登上我的床；

b) “他要借你做牵引相思的桥梁，

This example also illustrates how the TLR’ aesthetic standards and expectation horizon have effect on and set restriction to the process of translation. The cultural difference between the SL and TL determines the difference between the original image and its corresponding one in the TL. As is known in the traditional Chinese culture young ladies (especially from the upper class) were never expected to say “登上我的床 ” because it is a social taboo to say anything directly connected with sex . Thus in order to cater to the TLR, the female image in the original ---a passionate occidental “处女” is altered into a reserved oriental “怨女” in the second Chinese version, for the latter is more likely to rouse the similar response of the TLR in the earlier times. However it’s revealed modern TLR tend to welcome the first version as they are getting familiar with western culture and are more tolerant to the foreign elements (Xie Tianzheng, 1994). Hence, it’s believed in order to achieve TE on part of the response of the TLR, classical works should have various translated versions to meet the need of the TLR in different times, since the TLR’ aesthetic standards and expected horizon are changing all the time.

The Tang poetry and Song poetry are a golden treasury of Chinese literature, reflecting almost all respects of life in that age, among that females are often portrayed.

Great difference of Chinese females may be detected so far as their character is concerned. For instance, going with their reserved character, most commonly shared feeling among Chinese females is inner silent sorrow (“愁”), as we can find countless examples.“花自飘零水自流，一种相思，两处闲愁。（李清照《一剪梅》）；“只恐双溪 舟，载不动，许多愁。”（李清照 《武陵春》）；“欲寄相思满纸愁”“如丝肠肚怎禁愁”“一叶中藏万斛愁”“乱愁依旧锁眉峰”（朱淑真《寄情》）This may also form a contrast against the comparative mobility of the westerners.

Meanwhile ancient Chinese females are so reserved that they even feel shy in face of their husbands, which may puzzle the westerners considerably.

5): 长干行 （李白）

a) While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead,

I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.

You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,

You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.

And we went on living in the village of Chokan;

Two small people, without dislike or suspicion

At fourteen I married My lord you.

I never laughed, being bashful.

Lowering my head, I looked at the wall,

Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

(Pound)

b). Soon after I wore my hair covering my forehead

I was plucking flowers and playing in front of the gate.

When you came by, walking on bamboo-stilts.

Along the trellis, playing with green plums.

We both lived in the village of Ch’ang-kan,

Two children, without hate or suspicion

At fourteen I became your wife;

I was shame-faced and never dared smile,

I sank my head against the dark wall;

Called to, a thousand times, I did not turn.

(Willey)

As is mentioned above, lines like “never laughed, being bashful”, “I was shame-faced and never dared smile,” will definitely make the western readers confusing: how strange it seems to be that the wife should be so “bashful” or “shame-faced” that she even “never laughed” or “ never dared smile”! What’s more, it’s still even stranger that when “called to”, the wife “never looked back” or “did not turn”. While Chinese readers, when reading the original poem will immediately form a picture in their mind the image of a shy, reserved and lovely young wife, however it may arouse endless questions to the western readers, like “Why the wife is so nervous before her husband? ” “What’s wrong with the wife? ” “Is she afraid of her husband? ”, to name just a few. In this case, TE, on part of the readers’ response, is unrealized.

On the other hand Chinese women tend to accept personal misfortune as their destined fate and they rarely attempt to make a change of it except to lament.

In a poem by the name of “Reply of a Chaste Wife”(《节妇吟》) we see how a faithful wife declined another man’s love though she felt greatly regretful.

6): “君知妾有夫，赠妾双明珠。”“还君明珠双泪垂，恨不相逢未嫁时。”As the woman has sworn to serve her husband all her life, though she is grateful for the man’s good will, she does not try to make any effort to make a change but to have the daydream : “Would we have met before I was a wife!”

Cultural impact on the translator is unavoidable, and sometimes it can be enormous. The following example is also a good case in point to show how the different ethics in different cultures influence the translators.

The same Chinese poem has various versions with striking difference by different translators from different cultures can be seen as follows:

7): 古别离 （孟郊）

a): You wish to go, and yet your robe I hold.

Your late returning does not anger me,

ut that another steals your heart away. ( Fletcher)

Words in this version, especially the last line, are used in a direct way without any reservation, which is not fitful to a Chinese wife in the old times, for she is supposed to be always submissive to and content with her husband, she should never complain nor show any anger before her husband，no matter he is doing right or wrong, wives are expected to do nothing else more than persuasion. Accordingly the heroine in the original poem is gently and indirectly persuading her husband not to be involved in any love affairs with other women. However in this version, we see an angry wife condemning a non-existing “another” who “steals” her husband’s heart away!

Thus Professor Xu Yuanzhong improved it in this way:

I hold your robe lest you should go.

Where are you going, dear, today?

Your late return brings me less woe

Than your heart being stolen away.

It’s obvious that the second is doing better so far as the female image is concerned, from the point of traditional Chinese moral standards.

The cultural impact is so influential that in a few cases it may mislead the translators to commit mistakes in both decoding and recoding processes. Here is an example from Xie Tianzheng in his work The Study of Translation (《译介学》).

8):

古诗十九首（其二）

a): A singing girl in early life,

And now a careless roue’s wife.

Ah, if he does not mind his own,

He’ll find some day that the bird has flow!

( Charles)

b): And she was a courtesan in the old days,

And she has married a sot,

Who now goes drunkenly out,

And leaves her too much alone.

( Pound)

If we turn a) back into Chinese, it is astonishing to find it is similar to: “他如果不理睬他的妻子，有一天他会发现她逃跑了。” And b) in fact commits a mistake in rendering “娼家女” into “a courtesan”. Again due to cultural difference, the original image is severely distorted. Probably the translator knows little about traditional Chinese virtues and is ignorant of Confucius teaching of “温柔憨厚，怨而不怒”.

There are other Chinese norms concerning the females’ behaviors that may cause difficulty for the western TLR to understand and to accept. For instance, traditional Chinese culture advocates the relation between male and female should strictly abide by principles like “发乎情，止乎礼仪”,“男女授受不亲”. For example, in Cao Yu’s The Thunderstorm, there is a scene of Sifeng meeting Zhou Ping, her young master, with whom she had a love affair. It goes like this: “(周萍)走近，拉着她的手。四凤：不，（推开他）不，不。（ 听，四面望）看看，有人！”Later, when Zhou Ping begged her to forgive him in hitting her brother mistakenly, she replied:“我并不怨你，不过今天晚上你千万不要来找我。”周萍：可是以后呢？四凤：那——再说吧！四凤：不，无论如何，你不要来。不，不，你不要胡闹。你千万不……”

If the translated version is semantically faithful, the westerners will definitely feel puzzled, since they are lovers (in fact at that time Sifeng was pregnant with Zhou’s child), why “taking the hand” is not welcome but refused hastily? What’s more, why does the girl decline it when her lover requests to see her that night? For on this occasion, it must be a common case for the westerners to be eager to see each other, as we can see in Romeo and Juiet.

One more great difference deserves mentioning is that occidental moral standards tolerate the females to enjoy much more sexual freedom than the Chinese ones and views on sex vary considerably in the two cultures.

For example, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, “both Hilda and Constance had had their tentative love affairs by the time they were eighteen----why couldn’t a girl be queenly, and give the gift of herself?”

And “when Hilda was twenty and Connie eighteen, their father could see plainly that they had had the love experience.”

“L’amour avait passé par la,” as someone put it. But he was a man of experience himself, and let life take its course. As for the girls’ mother, “a nervous invalid in the last months of her life, she only wanted her girls to be “free” and to “fulfill themselves”.

Another example is Justine in The Thorn Birds when she talked about her first sex to her brother Dane.

“What did you do last night, Jus?”

“I lost my virginity. At least I think I did.”

“Pooh! High time, I say. How can I hope to be a good actress if I don’’t have a clue what goes on between men and women?”

In contrast, in China, females’ chastity is seen as the most important which should be sustained at any cost, including life. As Zhu Xi’s teachings have already been deeply rooted in the Chinese culture as divine oracle: “Comparing with losing one’s chastity, starving to death is nothing but a trifle” (“饿死事小，失节事大”)

Again let’s take Si Feng in The Thunder Storm as an example. When her father suspected that she had a love affair with her young master, he began to question her angrily about it. 鲁贵：（恼羞）“你以为我真装糊涂，不知道你同这混帐大少爷做的事么？’；鲁贵：（恶相地）“我是你的爸爸，我就要管你。我问你，前天晚上----什么？说！（低声，恐吓地）可是半夜送你回家的那位是谁？坐着汽车，醉醺醺，只对你说胡话的那位是谁呀？”（得意地微笑）四凤（惊吓） “那，那---”

When Fan Yi, the mistress, suggested to Si Feng’s mother that the girl might have a love affair with her son, Si Feng’s mother replied :“我总相信---她总不会做出一点糊涂事的。---And she promised :“明天，我准离开此地，我会远远地带她走，---”

Here difference of the attitudes towards sexual affairs is too tremendous to be understood and accepted by people from the other culture.

Since “the translator is to produce as nearly as possible the same effect on his readers as was produced on the readers of the original,” (Rieu, 1953), the translator is confronted with a big challenge: if the version is faithful semantically, it will not arouse the same response from the readers, however, if it were to achieve the equivalence of response, the original image would be severely distorted. Here lies the dilemma: it seems that no matter what strategy the translator employs, TE can hardly be achieved. An ideal way out in the long run, perhaps, lies in the readers’ background information being greatly enlarged with more and more cultural communication.

Though at present cultural communication is on the increase TE can be hardly achieved on all levels, despite the translator’s effort and his corresponding translation strategies, some important details can hardly be conveyed satisfactorily even at the level of syntax.

For instance, in the dialogue between Zhou Pu-yuan and Si Ping, with the former not knowing the latter is no one else but his former lover, Zhou intended to inquired about Si Ping, the woman deserted by him years ago. Being a wealthy man from the upper class he polished his words carefully.

9):“梅家的一个年轻小姐，很贤惠，也很规矩。”However Si Ping replied:“我倒认识一个姓梅的，可是她不是小姐，她也不贤惠，并且听说是不大规矩的。”And Si Ping goes on:“她是个下等人，不很守本分的。听说她跟那时周公馆的少爷有点不清白，生了两个儿子。---

The translated version by Guo Hua goes like this: “There was a young lady in the family, virtuous and well-behaved.” Shi Ping answered: “But she wasn’t exactly a young lady, and I heard she wasn’t that well-behaved, either.” “She was a low-class girl who had been getting above herself. They say she was having illicit relations with the young master of the Zhou house and had given birth to two babies.”

There are several points worth mentioning in the above version. Firstly here “小姐”refers to a young lady from middle or upper class, possessing good manners, abiding by all the social conventions, in Chinese there are quite a few graceful names for her, like“大家闺秀”“名媛淑女”.While “a young lady” in English has much broader usage, it may refer to almost any female, words like “shopping bag lady” (a homeless woman), “shady lady” (prostitute) are common. Thus “a young lady” is too general to arouse the proper association with “good manners” or “high social status”, so it cannot result in “equivalent response”. Secondly, “贤惠” is a virtue of Chinese women, which means being gentle and obedient, subject to all social norms and ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of her husband and her family. While “规矩” implies, for girls, maintaining her chastity and, for married women, being absolutely faithful to her husband. Therefore the English version “virtuous” and “well-behaved”are too general to arouse the proper and specific associations mentioned above. Thirdly “下等人” in Chinese refers to low-class people deprived of most social rights, what’s more, according to Chinese philosophy, they should always abide by all the social norms strictly---knowing what have to be done and what should never be tried. People from low-class should never seek to change their fixed status or worm their way into the upper class. People especially women who act against these will be depreciated and taken as shameful and sinful. Whereas, being “low-class” in English may be associated with poor economic status, poor education and vulgar manners. However, to be ambitious and try one’s best to worm his/her way into the upper class is appreciated in western culture, which sees a considerable contrast against the Chinese conventions. Thus “low-class girl, who had been getting above herself” may not be the “equivalent” to “下等人，不很守本分”, since the two do not arouse the same response due to different value standards in respective cultural contexts. Fourthly, in Chinese “有点不清白” is an indirect way to imply an unlawful sexual relation, as losing one’s chastity is the most disastrous affair for Chinese females, it is always conveyed by means of euphemism, therefore, “illicit relation” is too direct or even eye-striking.

2.3.2 Different standards for comely appearance and some of the objects with specific associations with women in respective cultures.

The western and Chinese cultures set different aesthetic standards for female appearance. For example the modern Miss World who may have a big mouth, full lips and dark skin is definitely not considered as a beauty at all according to the traditional Chinese taste.

One notable difference is that the westerns usually pay more attention to features like the color of a female’s hair, her eyes, which Chinese people ignore in most cases, since all Chinese females have black hair and dark eyes.

In Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the heroine Constance has “soft brown hair”. Miss Carmichael in The Thorn Birds, “lacked the special glory of the red-gold hair”; Maggie in the same story has“ liquid dark eyes”; Hester in The Scarlet Letter has “dark and abundant hair” and “deep black eyes”; Little Pearl, Hester’s love child has “eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep; glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black.”

One of the reasons why westerns pay considerable attention on the colors of hair and eyes is that it is usually associated with the character of the heroine.

Kong Hui-yi illustrates this point further with more examples in her book Translation- Literature- Culture.

10): “ ---and a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seems the darker against the absolute pallar of her skin. I don’t think I have ever seen such deathly paleness in a woman’s face. Her lips, too, were bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept silently into room she impressed me with a greater sense of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong character, with immense capacity for self-restraint.”

(The Adventure of the Beryl Corone)

11): a) “It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face, which confronted Milverton----a face with a curved nose, strong, dark eye-brows shading hard glittering eyes, and a straight, thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous smile.” (The Adventure of Charles August Milverton)

11): b) “I saw the picture of a regal and stately lady in at that delicately curved nose, at the marked eyebrows at the straight mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it.”

(The Adventure of Charles August Milverton)

12): “She was a striking looking woman, a little short and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large dark Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair.”

In the above-mentioned models, all the appearances of the three females’ go with their character and status perfectly.

The girl in 10) has “dark hair and eyes” and “deathly paleness” in her face, which, in western culture, suggests a strong sense of self-restrained. The woman in 11) has “dark eyebrows”, “straight thin-lipped mouth”, which implies a rational rather emotional character.

In The Thorn Bird when Fin heard her sister-in-law’s criticism about her dressing, 13): “ Fin’s thin lips grew thinner”, in fact it suggests that Fin is a rather rational woman who tries to keep calm even in face of embarrassment. However this cultural information will not be conveyed in its Chinese version:“（菲）那薄薄的嘴唇变得更薄了”, because in traditional Chinese culture “thin-lipped” has an implication of harshness in stead of being rational ! Consequently TE on part of the TLR’ response may not be achieved. While being “full-lipped” in English culture suggests being passionate and emotional, which is absent from Chinese culture. The woman in 12) is one typical in the southern Europe, with “large dark Italian eyes”, she tends to be more passionate and hot-tempered as the word “Italian” implies. However, without the necessary cultural background, all these associated implications are absent for Chinese readers, thus the “equivalent response” can be hardly achieved.

Here is an example from the novel “Jane Eyre”:

14): Mr. Rochester’s mad wife in the story is portrayed as a woman“ with hair just as ladies of Carthage must have had”. If the word “Carthage” is directly translated into “迦太基”，the TLR will feel puzzled as they have not the slightest idea about what kind of hair “Carthage” ladies have. However if it is liberally translated as “头发浓密”, the cultural tint will be lost. In this case an elaborating literal translation“迦太基女人般头发浓密的” is preferred as it can convey the meaning clearly and maintain the cultural tint as well, what’s more, in doing so a foreign cultural element is successfully introduced. Thus TE is better achieved in the last version than in the first two.

In English culture beauties usually have “regular features” (Kong huiyi, 1999), it remains a question that whether it can find out its equivalent in the Chinese expression “五官端正”. In traditional Chinese culture, however, a beauty possesses “柳叶眉”(willow-leaf-shaped eyebrows);“杏核眼”(apricot-shaped eyes)“樱桃小口(tiny red-cherry-like mouth);“瓜子脸”(melon-seed-shaped face);“杨柳细腰”(willow-slender waist);“玉手香腮”(jade-like hands and fragrant cheeks)“三寸金莲”(three-inch golden lotus);“肌肤胜雪”(skin whiter than the snow) and so on.

To deal with this perhaps “functional equivalence” and “formal equivalence” can hardly be achieved at the same time. Take“蛾眉” as an example, can the English expression“mothy eyebrows” give the intended association with beauty as the Chinese“蛾眉” can? As pointed by Ou Yangzheng : “mothy eyebrows refer to eyebrows which possess the features of the moth, to be more exact, the shape of the moth’s antenna, which arouses beautiful association for the Chinese. However the intended association can not be got by the western readers who will connect it with worm-eaten clothing and the smell of camphor balls, which forms a sharp contrast against the traditional Chinese way of thinking that pays attention to the graceful shape of the antenna of the moth.” (“蛾眉，意为具有蛾的特征的眉毛，尤其是指像蛾的触须。中国人也许认为是很美的，英语读者会联想到被蛾蛀坏了的衣服和樟脑味。现代西方人强调蛾对衣服的破坏作用，传统的中国人关注的是蛾的触须那优美的形状。”)

Another example can be found in The Great Poetry (《诗经》), the ancient poem describes a beauty’s appearance in great detail.

15): 硕人

手如柔荑，肤如凝脂。领如蝤蛴，齿如 犀。

There are, in total, five similes with five images employed to describe the beauty, however, most of the images are remote to even modern Chinese readers’ experience not to speak of that of the TLRs’. Thus if all the similes in the original are exactly copied, the image of the heroine will be more frightening than be charming, with a beauty being distorted into a monster! Then in this case the translator has to sacrifice the surface information in order to achieve the “equivalent of cultural function” (Susan Bassnett 1997).

Accordingly comes the following version, which aims to achieve TE by finding out the equivalent of cultural function of the original.

Her hands are small, her fingers slim;

Her skin is smooth as cream;

Her swan-like neck is long and slim;

Her teeth like pearls do gleam.

And make her black eyes glow. (Chen Yan, 1996)

In Chinese words for the extraordinary beauty are “沉鱼”; “落雁”; “闭月”;“羞花”, which were originally used for the description of the peerless beauty of the four famous beauties in Chinese history (namely “西施”,“王昭君”,“貂婵”and“杨贵妃”). It is note-worthy when it comes to TE, if they are directly rendered to “making the swimming fish sink”; “making the flying wild goose fall”; “making the shining moon away”; “ making the flowers feel shamed”, the TLR will definitely feel puzzled; however, if they are translated liberally without the image of “fish”, “wild goose”, “moon” and “flowers” the cultural tint is pitifully lost. Then it may be a wise approach to employ a elaborating literal translation or a footnote to preserve the cultural element and to make the version understood by the TLR at the same time, on the other hand, a successful cultural transplant is obtained, enriching the SL by introducing an original and vivid expression to it.

What’s more, the beauty of the oriental has its distinctive feature of being fabric, which also has its origin deeply rooted in its culture. According to traditional Chinese culture, females should depend on male all their life and in all aspects. As is seen in The Great Learning（《大学》）“为人妇，止于听”,“夫妇人必有所倚者也，父在则倚父，夫在则倚夫，子在则倚子。”（刘向《列女传》卷四《齐杞梁妻》）

Thus, women’s being weak and fabric both physically and mentally is the stereotype and is even considered as their virtue in traditional Chinese culture. Probably because their weakness would arouse men’s desire to protect them also at the same time to control them.

Thus the corresponding expressions are nothing but common: “应是西施娇困也，眉黛双颦。”（柳永《浪淘沙》）；“温泉水滑洗凝脂；侍儿扶起娇无力。”（白居易《长恨歌》）；“态生两靥之愁，娇袭一身之病”,“娇喘微微”，“行动时似弱柳扶风”,“病如西子胜三分”（曹雪芹 《红楼梦》）.

No wonder some scholars exclaim that the beauty Chinese females possess is kind of “morbid” beauty, physically weak and frail, far away from the western standards for beauty, which prefers a healthy appearance. Obviously here a question arises, if the sick morbid image is faithfully copied in the translated version, will it produce the same response to the TLR as the original does to the SLR? The answer is probably the negative.

Because of the beauty shared by both females and flowers, the oriental and the occidental cultures tend to use flowers to describe good -looking women. However, it is worth mentioning that though both cultures tend to resort to flowers to describe women, different flowers are preferred due to its respective cultural experience, which may cause different associated images.

In traditional Chinese literature females are mostly compared to flowers like“桃花”“莲花”“芙蓉”“梨花”“杏花”“兰花”“杨花”“石榴花”, as illustrated in poems:“芙蓉如面柳如眉”“梨花一枝春带雨”（白居易《长恨歌》）；“人面桃花相映红”“桃花依旧笑春风”（崔护《题都城南庄》）；“一枝红杏出墙来”（叶绍翁 《游园不值》）“红裙妒杀石榴花”（万楚 《五日观妓》）；“芙蓉露冷秋宵永，芍药风暄春昼长。”（虞集成《白雀歌》）；“秋江渺渺芙蓉芳”“爱惜芙蓉好颜色”（萨都刺 《芙蓉曲》）；“兰香满路马尘飞”（萨都刺 《燕姬曲》）；“香草真当日以兰”（钱谦益 《咏同心兰》）；“桃花得气美人中”（柳如是《西湖》）；“郎道花红如妾面”（顾媚《自题桃花杨柳图》）。Among them“桃花” is mostly employed and favored. For instance, “桃花运”is an frequently used euphemism, implying a love affair with a woman and “桃色新闻”suggests a sexual scandal, while expressions like“桃红柳绿”“面若桃花” have almost become cliché. What deserves attention is that “面若桃花” is often translated into “rosy cheeks” instead of “ peach-blossom-like face”, it is obvious that the “pragmatic equivalent” is more concerned by the translator in order to achieve TE on part of the response of the TLR.

Another interesting example can be found in an English poem in which a girl is described as following.

16):“her lily hands under her rosy cheeks”, the famous Chinese scholar Liang Shiqiu put it into “玉手托香腮”，a typical Chinese expression for females. Though the original information is not exactly copied and the image is somewhat altered in this “communicative translation”, yet the “pragmatic equivalent” is perfectly reserved, achieving TE satisfyingly on part of the response of the TLR. On the other hand, however, if it is rendered into “玫瑰般的面颊下一双百合花似的纤手”the original information is faithfully conveyed in this “semantic translation”, which may also be appreciated as it brings little difficulty to modern Chinese readers in understanding and in achieving their equivalent response. (The only flaw, if any, is that the second version is not as concise and typical as the first one.) Thanks to the rapid development of cultural communication, the target language readers are getting to know more and more about the SL culture, the way to use “lily” and “rose” to portray females is but common occurrences causing no estrangement to the TLR at all.

Probably that “桃花” is the most favorable image in traditional Chinese cultural while it is “rose” in the western culture that symbolizes love and beauty of women, however the western image “rose”now has already successfully wormed its way into the Chinese culture due to the increasing cultural communication.

In the discussion about flowers another typical Chinese expression attached to women will be reminded, that is “烟花”. For example, “烟花女子”(a prostitute),“烟花巷”(a brothel)（择膏粱，谁承望流落在烟花巷！《红楼梦》）. As the household line by Li Bai:“烟花三月下扬州” suggests that the reason why “扬州” was the most appealing paradise to Chinese scholars in the old times, it is not because of the “mists and blossoms” but blossom-like beauties! This cultural element, in practice, forms a severe challenge when it comes to the achievement of TE, as “semantic translation” will lead to obstacles to understanding while “communicative translation” will result in the loss of cultural tint. In this case, as Nida suggests when the “formal equivalent” causes serious obscurity, literal translation has to be abandoned in order to achieve “functional equivalent”.

As each culture has its own favorite flowers with the corresponding associations and only a limited number of them are successfully transplanted in foreign cultures, most of the associated implications are not familiar to people from other cultures, thus it makes TE on part of the readers’ response hard to achieve.

An example from “Sons and Lovers” may help to illustrate this point.

“Suddenly, without knowing, he (Paul) was scattering a handful of cowslips over her(Clara) hair and neck saying: “Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, If the Lord won’t have you the devil must.”

“Clara laughed strangely, and rose, picking the cowslips from her hair. One flower had remained tangled in her hair. He saw, but would not tell her.”

“Miriam camp up slowly, her face in her big, loose bunch of flowers, walking ankle-deep through the scattered froth of the cowslips.”

As “cowslips” is mentioned several times, it must help to reveal the implied information of the females in question. However it’s a misfortune for Chinese readers who possess no necessary cultural background, consequently there exists an “association blank” for them, which makes TE almost unrealized.

The same is true with colors. Take the Chinese character “红”for example, countless examples can be found out to show its special attachment to the females:“湖边女儿红粉妆”（倪瓒《竹枝词》）；“The rosy-dressed girls live by lakeside as they please”;“颜如花红眼如漆”（萨都刺《燕姬曲》）” ;“With rosy face and eyebrows green”;“一团红玉沉秋水”（徐渭《杨妃春睡图》）；“She sleeps like rosy jade in autumn water sunk.”“一代红妆照汗青” （吴伟业《圆圆曲》）；“Her rosy dress will shine in history for age.“争教红粉不成灰”（白居易《燕子楼》）;” “How could her rosy cheeks still beautifully remain.” In all the examples, with no exception, Chinese “红”used for describing females is rendered into “rose” or “rosy”in order to achieve the “pragmatic equivalence”.

According to traditional Chinese culture“红”has rich, colorful and delicate associated implication with females. For instance, the prestigious masterpiece of Cao Xueqin(《红楼梦》) has a clear implication of the girls’ chambers, connected with love and missing the beloved, which is far more than merely “red mansions” or “red buildings”can suggest . Evidence can easily be found in lines like“红楼富家女”；“美人情易伤，暗上红楼泣”；“长安春色本无主，古来尽属红楼女”; “红楼隔雨相望冷，珠箔飘灯独自归”；“红楼别夜堪惆怅，香灯半卷流苏帐”“东风已绿瀛洲草，紫殿红楼觉春好”etc., to name just a few.

Therefore if “红楼” is rendered into “red mansions”, it may be misleading for the version will be expected to mainly convey the ups and downs of the noble families instead of the poignant love stories and tragic experiences of the females in the mansions, that is conflicting to the original motivation of the writer, which is to “亦可使闺阁昭传”. As to this, the famous scholar Zhou Ruchang has pointed out that the version “red mansions” may be rendered back into Chinese “朱门梦”or“朱邸梦”which is obviously ridiculous since it is too far away from the original “红楼”. However, the translator is placed in a dilemma for he has to make a hard choice, since some thing has to be sacrificed in order to achieve TE to the greatest possible degree.

Because of the impact of Taoism, beauty lies in the indirectness, it’s a common practice for Chinese females to resort to lifeless objects to convey their lively feelings and affection. Here is an example for illustration.

17): 红豆.(王维)

红豆生南国，春来发几枝。

愿君多采撷，此物最相思。

. Here “红豆” is no longer a common plant, instead it has a profound association with love and fond memories. When it comes to the translation of it, a question arises as which is better: a literal version into “the red beans” or a liberal one “love seeds”? The first cannot lead to the desired association of the TLR or to obtain the same response of the TLR, whereas the second will lead to the loss of cultural tint. It follows that neither approach can result in a satisfactory TE. An intelligent way out may be to resort to a footnote, which may give an explanation to remove the puzzlement that a literal translation may cause and at the same time it can enrich the TL by introducing a new cultural element to it.

Other distinctive Chinese symbols for women and love include the “mandarin duck” and the “butterfly”, they are so popular that later it comes into being a literary school by the name of “School of the Mandarin Duck and the Butterfly”(“鸳鸯蝴蝶派”) with its distinctive theme of sentimental love. Chinese poetry dealing with females and love often employs these images. For instance, “不管鸳鸯梦惊破，夜如何？”（杨果《小桃红》）；“桃李东风蝴蝶梦”（郝经《落花》）；“沉沉宫殿锁鸳鸯”（虞集《白翎雀歌》）；“八月蝴蝶黄，双飞西园草”（李白《长干行》）；“鸳鸯瓦冷霜华重”（白居易《长恨歌》）.

The reason probably lies in that mandarin ducks and butterflies are always appearing in pairs, which make typical images of deeply attached lovers or couples. Perhaps it is a unique custom for Chinese females to make and present gifts with mandarin ducks on to their beloved. Butterfly is another symbol for love in Chinese culture, the well known love story by the name “Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai”(《梁山泊与祝英台》) impresses its audience with the unforgettable image in the end of two butterflies flying in the flowers carefree, creating an extraordinary romantic atmosphere. Consequently, to Chinese audience both the mandarin ducks and butterflies arouse colorful and romantic associations, which is unfamiliar to the western readers. Meanwhile in the western context, butterfly is sometimes associated with the image of a playboy while the mandarin duck has almost no fixed associative implication. This difference may cause some difficulty in achieving TE from the perspective of the response of the TLR.

Another favorite symbol often connected with females is the “willow” which is preferred both in Chinese and western cultures but with somewhat different associations.

Firstly, Chinese “柳”is pronounced as “liu” which is similar to “liu” (“留”，“流恋”) implying urging somebody to stay or being unwilling to leave, accordingly it is the Chinese custom to pick up willow branches when seeing the beloved one off. Countless poems with the image of the willow can be found in Chinese literature. “昔我往耶，杨柳依依”（《诗经-小雅》）；“杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上踏歌声”（刘禹锡）；“年年柳色，灞陵伤别”（李白《忆秦娥》）。

A closer examination of a few poems may help to throw light on this point.

18): 闺怨 （王昌龄）

闺中少妇不知愁，春日凝妆上翠楼。

Sorrow of A Young Bride

Nothing in her boudoir brings sorrow to the bride;

She mounts the tower, gaily dressed, one a spring day.

Suddenly seeing willows green by the roadside,

How she regrets her lord seeking fame far away!

In this version the sight of “willows green” reminds the bride of the sweet memories with her lord and the touching movements of departure with him. However the TLR with no such background information may not immediately get the intended associations.

19): 柳枝词 （刘禹锡）

清江一曲柳千条，二十年前旧板桥。

The version given by Professor Xu Yuan Zhong is:

The Willows

Thousands of willows see the winding clear stream flow

Beneath the wooden bridge of twenty years ago,

Where my beauty took leave of me and went away .

O I regret no news of her comes e’en today!

Again in this poem, the image of willow is closely associated with the poignant moments of departure and the delicacy of the beloved beauty as well. Willows, together with a bridge and a beauty knit a delicate and touching picture of departure, which a western reader can barely fully appreciate without the necessary cultural background information.

Secondly in Chinese culture because of the softness and delicacy of willow branch, it is often associated with the tenderness and frailness of the weak sex, as Chinese beauties usually possess “柳眉” (“柳眉桃脸不胜春”王衍《甘州曲》);“柳腰”(“柳腰莲脸本忘情”如韩《频访卢秀木》); pretty young ladies are“嫩柳鲜花”, (“嫩柳池边初拂水”杨玉环《赠张云容舞》)；the graceful and slim are“弱柳迎风”, and plainly-looking and aged are“残花败柳”！Not only associated with the delicate image of female, willow is also associated with their tender feelings, (“一丝柳，一寸柔情”吴文英). More cases in point can be found.

20): 江边柳 (雍裕之)

袅袅古堤边，青青一树烟。

To the Riverside Willow

Your long, long branches wave by riverside;

Your green, green leaves like wreaths of smoke afloat.

“Make ropes unbreakable of them,” she sighed,

“To tie up my beloved one’s parting boat!”

(Xu Yuan Zhong)

To Chinese readers it is obvious that why the heroine fancies using ropes made of willow instead of other plants to tie up the parting boat of her beloved. However can it be taken for granted that target readers who are not fully culture-conscious can also get the full implication?

Thirdly Chinese“柳”sometimes implies prostitute or immoral sexual relation with them. Licentious men indulge themselves in “花街柳巷”，enjoying“寻花问柳”or “眠花宿柳”and consequently suffer“花柳病”. When it comes to the translation for it, TE is always to a limited degree, since “semantic equivalence” and “communicative equivalence” can hardly be sustained at the same time. Maybe a liberal translation with a detailed foot note is appreciated to serious TLR who always welcome foreign elements, but it is rarely resorted to which is too lengthy and exhausting to most common TLR.

In the western culture willow is also full of implications, however they differ greatly from the Chinese ones. For instance it may imply sorrow and despair, hence the name “weeping willow”, which is absent from Chinese culture.

21): In Shakespeare’s Othello, the heroine sings the following song:

My mother had a maid called Barbary.

She was in love; and he she loved proved mad

And did forsake her. She had a song of “Willow”;

An old thing it was, but it expressed her fortune,

And she died singing it.

She continues:

“The poor soul sat singing by a sycamore tree,

Sing all a green willow;

Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,

Sing willow, willow, willow.

The fresh streams ran by her and murmured her moans;

Sing willow, willow, and willow;

Her salt tears fell from her, and softened the stones

Sing willow, willow, willow---”

---

Sing all a green willow must be my garland.”

“Willow, willow”---

Prithee hie thee; he’ll come anon,

“Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

Let nobody blame him; his scorn I approve”

---

“I call my love false love; But what said he then?

Sing willow, willow, willow:

If I court moe women, you’ll couch with moe Men.”

a): “我的母亲有一个侍女名叫巴巴拉，她跟人家有了恋爱；她的爱人发了疯，把她丢了。她有一支《杨柳歌》。那是一支古老的曲调，可是正好说中她的命运；她到死的时候，嘴里还在唱着它。

可怜的她坐在枫树下悲泣，

歌唱那青青杨柳；

她手抚着胸膛，她低头靠膝，

唱杨柳，杨柳，杨柳，

她的热泪溶化了顽石的心，---

唱杨柳，杨柳，杨柳。

快一点，他就要来了。----

不要怪他，我甘心受他笑骂，----

我叫情哥负心郎，他又怎讲？

唱杨柳，杨柳，杨柳。

我见异思迁，由你另换情郎。 （朱生豪）

b): 我的母亲有过一个女仆名叫巴巴拉；她有了情事，她的爱人发了疯抛弃了她；她有一曲“青柳歌”；那原是旧调子，却能抒发她的命薄，于是她歌唱而死；

可怜的人坐在无花果树边叹气，

唱啊所有的青柳，

她的手抚着胸，她的头垂到膝，

唱啊青柳，青柳，青柳；

清溪在她身边流，低诉她的苦痛；

唱啊青柳，青柳，青柳，

她的酸泪下落，把石头泡得软松；----

唱啊青柳，青柳，青柳，

请你去罢；他就要来了。---

唱着青柳必要成为我的花冠。

谁也不要怪罪他，他的傲慢我该当。

我说我的爱人是负心；但他说什么？

唱啊青柳，青柳，青柳；

若我恋爱别的女人，你可陪别的男子睡卧。（梁实秋）

It is clear that “willow” in the original version implies being sentimental and sad, on this point it shares some similarity in Chinese“柳” .However, in English culture there are other different associations of “willow” which are absent in Chinese culture, for instance, “wear the willow” implies mourning the death of the beloved, and “weeping willow” is the symbol of being heart broken and being abandoned, thus “willow” has no Chinese “equivalent” which implies the identical associations.

2.3.3. Different dresses and ornaments

People from different cultures tend to have different preferences and tastes to ornaments and dresses.

A close study may be helpful by citing some examples. In The Thorn Birds, for in stance, the “great lady” in an oil painting is “in her pale-pink lace gown, crinolined with one hundred and seven flowers”, here a question arises: what does her dress imply anyway? To the TLR without the necessary cultural information they are never sure about its associated meaning: is the dress luxurious or beautiful or redundant or what else?

Later Mary Carson, the rich lady “looked at Fee’s (her sister-in-law) high-necked, floor-length calico gown superciliously” while she herself “was clad in the new fashion, a cream silk dress coming only half way down her calves, with loose elbow sleeves, no waist and a low décolletage”. Again readers from non-English culture will feel at a loss, for they can hardly form a picture of the two ladies in their minds, they can never figure out a comment on the women’s dressing: Is Fee’s dressing good-looking, or plain or out-of-date? Is Mary Carson’s fashionable or luxurious or funny or ostentatious?

The same thing happens when readers are confronted with words like “sweeping gowns”, or a dress that was “sleeveless” and had “a low, draped neckline”, or women who are “wearers of petticoat and farthingale”(The Scarlet Letter).

Another point worth mentioning is that the color “brightly red”, or “scarlet” has completely different association in different cultures. In the western culture, “scarlet” is usually related with corrupted women, like whores or prostitutes. As we can trace its source in the Bible, in which the image of the “great harlot of Babylon” is a woman in scarlet. Also in Hawthorn’s “The Scarlet Letter”, Hester, who committed an adultery is forced to wear a “scarlet letter” on her breast, thus by reading the Chinese title 《红字》 the TLR can hardly get the intended association with the heroine committing adultery.

22): Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide

樱桃树树中最娇，日来正花压枝条，

Puzzle arises because in traditional Chinese culture, as people never put on “素衣似雪” on“佳节” , instead, they are always dressed in red, especially bright red!

Quite a few other Chinese colors particularly used for women. Take “ 红”，“翠” for example, “一枝红艳露凝香”（《清平调》），“红裙妒杀石榴花”（《五日观妓》），“红蕖袅袅秋烟里”（《增张云容舞》杨玉环），“红袖香销已十年”（《燕子楼》张仲素），“春日凝妆上翠楼”（《闺怨》王昌龄），“翠翘金雀玉搔头”，“翡翠 寒谁与共”（《长恨歌》白居易）。 Obviously it is neither “red” nor “green” that can be taken as their equivalent. It’s only possible to achieve TE through context instead of individual words, and TE on the part of the response of the TLR, rather than “semantic equivalence”, should be more concerned.

Also it’s hard for the TLR to have a clear and accurate idea of anything they have never seen. Let’s take the well-known Chinese ancient novel “Golden Plum Blossom”(《金瓶梅》) as an example as it throws light on every detail of daily life in that age. There are countless ornaments for females, such as “翠凤”，“柳穿金鱼儿”，“头面”，“插戴”，“银丝 ”，“香囊”，“金三事儿”，“翠面花儿”，“九凤垫根儿”，“禁步”（注：妇人裙边所缀小金铃，行走时迈稍大，即发出叮当之声，不符妇人之道。”）

Also there are numerous kinds of dresses that may bewilder even modern Chinese, not to speak of English readers. For example, “睡鞋”，“新月莲花”，“内家妆束”，“大红妆花通袖袄儿”，“白绫袄儿蓝缎裙”，“沉香色遍地金比甲”to name just a few. What’s more, Chinese “裙”has no equivalent either in “dress” or “skirt”, since “裙”and “dress” “skirt” share little similarity in material, style, design or appearance.

Here semantic gap caused by cultural divergence is unavoidable, which may lead to failure of TE on semantic or pragmatic level or even both.

2.3.4 Different usage of language

2.3.4.1 Addressing terms

It is believed that Chinese people have the most complex addressing system in the world, which always confuses people from other cultures. As in the Chinese culture great attention is paid to family clan, its language tends to confirm and illustrate this feature.

First, in Chinese there are specific addressing terms for each member in extended family, while there are only general words for the relatives. For example, the English word “aunt” covers all the Chinese terms including “姨妈”，“姑妈”，“婶娘”，“舅母”，“大妈”，“伯母”. How can the sentence be put into English if it goes like this: “他的大姨妈和三姑妈是同学，大妈和二婶是堂姊妹，和二舅母是表姊妹，真是太巧了！”

23): In “A Dream of Red Mansions”, when Tai-yu first met Hsi-feng, she “以嫂呼之”, which is rendered into “greeting her with a smile as cousin.”. There lies a big gap: “嫂” exactly means one’s elder brother’s wife, which is far away in meaning from the word “cousin”(表姊妹，表兄弟). Though His-feng was in fact Tai-yu’s cousin’s wife, however it is the Chinese custom to address her in that way, probably that is because it reveals more intimate and close relation. Then here lies the dilemma: if it was rendered into “sister-in-law” to achieve the semantic equivalence, it would cause great confusion of the TLR for they know Tai-yu is the only child of her parents. In effect, neither of the two translated versions is satisfying as the cultural obstacle is too tremendous to overcome.

Secondly, as modesty is considered as a virtue in Chinese culture, it is a common practice for Chinese to use self-depreciating expressions to address things and people akin to themselves. For instance we have“贱内”，“拙荆” for “my wife”, “小女”for “my daughter”. What’s more, females are expected to be humble to show great respect to others even to their husband, self-abasing terms like“妾”，“贱妾”，“奴家” are used by women when addressing themselves. On the other hand, Chinese use specific respectful terms to address others and their family members,“令堂” is used for the hearer’s mother，“令媛”for the hearer’s daughter, to name just a few. In this case, it is generally agreed that for the sake of TE of the response of the TLR only pragmatic meaning should be retained and the cultural tint has to be sacrificed.

Thirdly, to shorten social distance, addressing terms used for family members are often employed in social communication. For example, it is a common practice to use terms like“李嫂”，“张妈”，“王婶”，“梅姐”for friends and acquaintances. Even to strangers it is acceptable to use addressing terms like “大妈”，“大婶”，“大姐”，“婆婆”，“奶奶”.

24): In her book “Translation-Literature-Culture”, Eva Hung mentioned a story by the Taiwan writer Cheng Yinzhen, the story is about the friendship between two female prisoners. The younger called the elder as “宋大姐”，instead of using her name“宋蓉萱”. However in a version it’s translated into “Auntie Song”, which is criticized by Eva Hung as “violating the English norms”, for no one in an English culture addresses their friend as “Auntie”! Here perhaps it’s unnecessary and impossible to achieve TE in every aspects, pragmatic meaning will be the major concern, while cultural flavor has to be sacrificed.

Another example can be found in Sun Zhili’s essay “Culture and Translation”.

25): The original version: “My dear Mr. Bennet” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”. (Jane Austen: “Pride and Prejudice”,). Wang Keyi put “My dear Mr. Bennet” into“我的好老爷”, Prof. Sung comments that this version is somewhat misleading, for it gives the TLR the false impression that it is also the common practice for British women in the 18th century to address their husbands as the Chinese women in the old times did by addressing their husbands as“老爷”, thus he suggested“亲爱的贝内特先生” as a sensible alternative.

Forth, instead of using “darling”, “sweet heart”, “honey”, there is a unique expression in Chinese for females to address their sweethearts or even husbands, that is “大哥”，“哥哥”，“ X哥”，“阿哥”. The reason lies in the distinctive Chinese culture, which pays great attention to family clan and also lies in Chinese women’s reserved character. Again in this case, according to Eva Hung literal translation of “(love between) brother and sister” will cause severe chaos and confusion, for the English readers will be shocked to find that in China monks and nuns can also enjoy earthly love affairs, or they may think there is no concept of incest in this country as “brother and sister” can get married! Of course these extremes may not always be happening, however at least literal translation here is sure to cause misunderstanding and estrangement due to cultural difference. Again cultural tint has to be given up to obtain communicative success.

2.3.4.2. According to linguistic findings females tend to use specific words for emphasis, however culture takes its course again. For instance, Chinese women use “阿弥托佛”，“我的天”，“老天爷”as sigh or exclamation coming from Buddhism, while western women use words with Christian tint, such as “my God”, “for God’s sake”, “my lord”, “by St. Peter’s name”. For example in “Romeo and Juiet”, in order to show her certainty, the old nurse exclaims “Now, by my maidenhead at twelve years old, I bade her come.” “I’ll lay fourteen of my teeth---”. Out of different translation motives the translators would accordingly employ diverse strategies to achieve TE to the greatest possible degree.

More examples can help to illustrate this point more clearly.

26): “姥姥既如此说，况且当年你又见过这姑太太一次，何不你老人家明日就走一趟，先试试风头再说。”刘姥姥道：“嗳呦呦！可是说的，‘侯门深似海”，我是个什么东西，他家人又不认得我，我去了也是白去的。”（《红楼梦》）

Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang put “嗳呦呦”into “Aiya”, while David Hawks put it into “Bless us and save us!”

27): “周瑞家的听了笑道：“阿弥陀佛，真坑死人的事儿！等十年未必都这样巧的呢。” （《红楼梦》）

Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang put “阿弥陀佛” into “Gracious Buddha” while David Hawks into “God save my soul!”

It’s obvious that different strategies vary with translators, which is based on their individual translation motivations. The Yangs take a “text-based” strategy while Hawks takes a “reader-based” one, as each holds a specific goal for translation. The former mainly aims at introducing Chinese culture to the outside world, as he put it well when he said: “要以忠实的翻译“信”于中国文化的核心，中国文明的精神。忠实传达中国文化的价值，灵魂，传达中国人的人生。他们的乐与悲，爱与恨，怜与怨，喜与怒。” While the latter mainly aims at ushering the western readers into Chinese literary arena, by appreciating it with their own interpretation.

2.2.4.3 As is known, words can reveal many aspects of a person, including his character, social position, educational degree and other subtle stuff as well. Accordingly the choice of words in translation has a great effect on the female image. An example given by Feng Qinhua in his essay entitled “On the Style of the Translator” may help to illustrate this point.

28）： 秦（秦可卿）氏道：“婶婶，你是个脂粉队里的英雄，连那些束带顶冠的男子也不能过你，你如何连两句俗语也不晓得？常言“月满则亏，水满则溢”，又道是“登高必跌重”。如今我们家赫赫扬扬，已将百载，一日倘或乐极悲生，若应了那句“树倒猢狲散”的俗语，岂不虚称了一世的诗书旧族了！” (《红楼梦》)

a). “You are such an exceptional woman, aunt, that even men in official belts and caps are no match for you. Is it possible you don’t know the sayings that “the moon waxes only to wane, water brims only to overflow,” and “the higher the climb the harder the fall”? Our house has prospered for nearly a hundred years. If one day it happens that the height of good fortune declines the “tree falls and the monkeys scatter’ as the old saying has it, then what will become of our cultured family?”

b). “Tell me, Auntie,” said Qin-shi, “how is it that you who are such a paragon among women that even strong men find more than their match in you can be ignorant of the simple truths expressed in homely proverbs? Take this one:

The full moon smaller grows,

Full water overflows.

Or this:

The higher climb, the harder the fall.

Our house has now enjoyed nearly a century of dazzling success. Suppose one day “joy at its height engenders sorrow”. And suppose that, in the word of another proverb, “when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter” Will not our reputation as one of the great, cultured households of the age then turn into a hollow mockery?”

According to Mr. Feng, words in b) are more formal and civilized, like “paragon” “ignorant” ‘homely” “dazzling” “endanger” “reputation” “cultured” “hollow” “mockery”. This, together with long complicated sentence structure makes the female in the second version appearing to be more literarily graceful, yet it remains a question whether it achieves TE better than that the first version does.

Another example given by Xie Tianzhen from Romeo and Juiet may suggest how the choice of words affects the heroine’s image, reflecting her personality and social position.

29): While Juiet was waiting for the nurse bringing word from Romeo, anxious as she was, she said to herself:

“But old folks, many feign as they were dead;

Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.”

a) “但是这些老东西。真的，还不如死了干净。又丑，又延迟，像铅块一样，又苍白又笨重。” （曹未风）

b) “可是年纪老的人，大多像死人一般，手脚滞钝，呼唤不灵，慢腾腾地没有一点精神。” (朱生豪)

Obviously the words selected in the first version are too rude to be fitful for a lady from a noble family like Juiet, who must be well cultivated and graceful, while the second is better in dealing with this point by preserving the proper taste of the female.

The same is true with the following example given by Shun Zhili in his essay “Culture and Translation”

30): “I know, Dad,” she said, “I’m a selfish pig. I’ll think about it---“(J. Galsworthy: A Modern Comedy)

“我知道，爹，”她说，“我是头自私自利的猪。我会考虑这个

问题的。---” （汪倜然译《白猿》）

事的。---” （陈冠商译《白猿》）

Again b) is doing better in retaining the female image by selecting the proper words to fit her character and social position.

Another interesting phenomena deserves mentioning is that some words are exclusively labeled as “female words” both in Chinese and English.

An example from “Ulysses” may help to throw light on it. The following lines are from the heroine:

31): “and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flowers and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was gong like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.”

According to the translator Jin Di it is females’ particularly favored word to say “yes”, a so called “female word”, in this internal monologue it is repeated over and over again illustrating vividly the psychological activities within the heroine, thus it is of great significance. In order to achieve TE of female image to the greatest possible degree, the corresponding Chinese “female word” has to be found out, which turns out to be “真的”, a much better word than “是的” which suggests little female taste. Thus we can enjoy a real “female” monologue full of “female words” with “female tint” :

“于是我用目光叫他再求真的于是他又一次问我愿意不愿意真的你就说愿意吧我的山花我呢先伸出两手搂住了他真的我把他搂得紧紧的让他的胸膛感到我的乳房芳香扑鼻真的他的心在狂跳然后真的我才开口答应愿意我愿意真的。”

Another successful version mentioned by Mr. Ma Hongjun in his book “Essays on Translation Criticism” also manages to retain the female flavor by selecting “female words”.

32): The Kiss (Thomas Moore)

Give me, my love, that billing kiss

I taught you one delicious night,

When, turning epicures in bliss,

We tried inventions of delight.

Come, gently steal my lips along,

And let your lips in murmurs move,---

Ah, no!---again---that kiss was wrong---

How can you be so dull, my love?

“Cease, cease!” the blushing girl replied

And in her milky arms she caught me---

“How can you thus your pupil chide?

You know ’t was in the dark you taught me!”

Written in an interesting and light-hearted manner, the poem vividly portrays the couple in love, impressing the readers deeply, especially by the heroine’s wording in the last section, which enables us to see in our mind the lovely and shy lass giggling playfully. Two Chinese versions for the last four lines are given :

a) “不许说，不许说！“羞红的姑娘含娇带啧，

用乳酪般的双臂一把将我抱紧---

“你怎能这样责备你的学生？

你知道你教的时候周围一片漆黑！”

b) “不干不干，我不干！”

By comparison it’s obvious the second successfully retains the “female tint” by finding out equivalent “female words” in the TL! Thus achieving TE at least with regard to the “female taste”.

Another distinctive difference is that in China it shows great concern and care if a senior female enquires about the personal affairs of others’, even in detail, which will definitely petrify the westerners! For instance, the prestigious writer Ru Zhijuan in her works “The Lily” (《百合花》)portrays a warmhearted middle aged female soldier becoming mature and strong-willed by experiencing the hard times of war. There is a dialogue between her and her town fellow, a 19 year-old lad. It goes like this:

33): “我立刻对这位同乡，越加亲热起来。

我又问：“你多大了？”

“十九。”

“参加革命几年了？”

“一年。”

“大军北撤时我自己跟来的。”

“家里还有什么人呢？”

“娘，爹，弟弟妹妹，还有一个姑姑也住在我家里。”

Sometimes names suggest subtle associations, revealing the character or something special f