On the Translation of Puns in Two English Versions of the Hong Lou Meng
Abstract: Pun is a rhetorical means containing dual or multiple meanings. In Cao Xueqin’s masterpiece Hong Lou Meng, puns play a very important role as a special culture unit. Its low translatability has drawn the attention of translators and researchers. This thesis assumes that all the translation problems on pun should have correspondent solutions, and tests Delabastita’s theory on translations of significant puns in the Hong Lou Meng, so as to spot the distinguished strategies and tendencies adopted by Hawkes and the Yangs in translating puns, as well as to comprehend the reasons behind the different approaches.
Keywords: the Hong Lou Meng, puns, translations, Delabastita, tendencies, reasons
红楼梦中双关语的两种翻译版
摘 要 双关是一种修辞手法，本身包含着双重或多重含义。在曹雪芹的巨著《红楼梦》中，双关语作为一个特别的文化单元，有着举足轻重的地位。其翻译的困难度引起了翻译家和研究者的关注。本文假设翻译双关语的所有问题都有与其相对应的解决方法，用《红楼梦》中具有代表性的例子来检验德拉巴斯替塔理论在汉语双关语英译中的适用程度。通过分析，从中识别霍克斯和杨宪益译本采取的不同翻译策略及倾向，以及其背后的原因。
关 键 词 红楼梦；双关语；翻译；德拉巴斯替塔；趋向；原因
Contents
Abstract 1
摘 要 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Chinese Pun Vs. English Pun 5
2.1 Chinese Pun 5
2.2 English Pun 5
2.3 Comparison of Chinese Pun and English Pun 6
2.4 Translatability and Untranslatability: Chinese Pun into English Pun 7
3 Methods of Translating Puns 9
3.1 Literature Review 9
3.2 Delabastita’s Methods of Translating Puns 9
4 Puns Translations in the Hong Lou Meng 12
4.1 Samples and Analysis 12
5 Possible Reasons for Different Tendencies of Two Versions 23
5.1 Different Patrons and Motives 23
5.2 Different Readers 24
5.3 Different Ideologies 25
6 Conclusion 26
References 27
Acknowledgements 28
