析严复译《天演论》

【摘要】嚴复翻译的《天演论》并不完全忠实于原文，导致其翻译评价具有争议性。本文在译者主体性视角的观照下，从翻译目的、译本选择、翻译方法和译文风格方面分析严复的翻译。

【关键词】严复；《天演论》翻译；译者主体性

Abstract：Yan Fu's translation of Evolution and Ethics is not completely faithful to the original， which leads to controversial evaluation. This paper tries to analyze his translation from the perspective of translators subjectivity in terms of translation purpose， decision of source text， translation method and style of the translated text.

Key words：Yan Fu， translation of Evolution and Ethics， translators subjectivity

1. Introduction

Translation is a creative activity. The performance of translator determines the merits of translation in a large degree and thus translator becomes the most active and vigorous factor. This paper probes into Yan Fus translation of Evolution and Ethic in the view of translators subjectivity. At present， a popular definition of translators subjectivity is like this： Translators， as translation subjects， in respect of translation objects， demonstrate subjective initiative in order to achieve purposes of translation. Its essential features are consciously cultural awareness， humanistic character， cultural and aesthetic creativity of translation subjects. （Zha Mingjian and Tian Yu） It reflects in translation purpose， decision of source text， translation method and style of the translated text.

2. Translation purpose

In the middle of the 19th century，the door of China was forced open by western great powers with gunboats. The national crisis had become increasingly serious since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Looking back on the backward， poor and ideological closed motherland， Yan Fu was deeply shocked. Therefore he concerned about the society and politics of western capitalism， exploring the way for China to be prosperous. He decided to make use of his command of English and Chinese to translate western literary works and spread the advanced western science and technology and philosophy to China's intellectual class， hoping to save the nation and people and revitalize our country.

3. Decision of source text

As far as translators concerned， they often unconsciously adapt to the cultural context of the time and find a translation object which is in accordance with their aesthetic tendency within its limits， playing their active role as much as possible. Based on his personal life experience， aesthetic appeal and knowledge structure， Yan Fu finally chose Huxleys Evolution and Ethics as the source text for translation. During Yan Fustudy in the United Kingdom， Darwin's ideas were being accepted and Spencer thought was at its heyday. After reading Evolution and Ethics， Yan Fu was greatly affected and agreed with the basic idea of “survival of the fittest in natural selection”. He recognized that the evolutionary history view is the source of Western progress and it could be a sharp weapon to change the philosophical view of Chinese people and advocate reform.

4. Translation method

As the subject of translation， Yan Fu gave full play to his subjective initiative under the premise of respecting the original work. He adopted free translation and changed the contents sometimes， including deletion， addition， adaptation and annotation. He called this translation method “DaZhi”. According to his own explanation， “DaZhi” means there is no need to constrain translation to the source text as long as the meaning doesnt contradict with it. There is also no need to translate word by word. Free handling is allowed if it is necessary.

5. Style of the translated text

There are many factors affecting the style of the translated text， including the mainstream cultural tendency of the time and the reader's reception psychology.

In Yan Fus time， ordinary people were illiterate except a small number of educated ones. Yan Fu didnt expect every person to read his translation. He positioned Chinese elite intellectuals as the target audience for his translation works. The most tough problem facing he was that cultivated feudal intellectuals were very arrogant and stubborn. It was basically impossible for them to read and accept Western ideology. Thus he needed a kind of language style to attract their attention immediately. Naturally he picked up the prose style of Tong Cheng School. Tong Cheng School was the most influential prose school in Qing Dynasty. It promoted the prose style of Qin， Han， Tang and Song dynasties which was elegant. Yan Fu conformed to the trend of the times.Just see part of the first paragraph of Evolution and Ethics：

It may be safely assumed that， two thousand years ago， before Caesar set foot in southern Britain， the who1e countryside visible from the windows of the room in which I write， was in what is called “the state of Nature.”

“赫胥黎獨处一室之中，在英伦之南，背山而面野。槛外诸境，历历如在几下。乃悬想二千年前，当罗马大将凯彻未到时，此间有何景物。”

By comparison it can be found that for the purpose of catering to the reading taste of feudal intellectuals， Yan Fu purposely chose the wording of “背山而面野”， “槛外诸境” and “历历如在几下”. The language is fluent and elegant and has a strong sense of rhythm when reading.

6. Conclusion

From the above discussion， a conclusion could be drawn that translators subjectivity helps to evaluate translation works more comprehensively. Completely faithful to the original text is no longer the only standard for translation. Yan Fus translation is undoubtedly successful. By using free translation and picking up the prose style of Tong Cheng School， he achieved the translation purpose to inspire Chinese people in times of national crisis.

【References】

[1] T.H.Huxley and Julian Huxley. Evolution and Ethics[M]. London： The Pilot Press， 1893-1943.

[2] 陈福康. 中国译学理论史稿[M]. 上海： 上海外语教育出版社， 2000.

[3] 王克菲. 翻译文化史论[M]. 上海： 上海外语教育出版社， 1997.

[4] 严 复. 天演论[M] // 王 栻. 严复集. 北京： 中华书局， 1986，5.

[5] 査明建， 田 雨. 论译者主体性[J]. 中国翻译， 2003（1）：19-24.

【作者简介】

胡秋（1985—），女，四川遂宁人，硕士研究生学历，四川职业技术学院助教，主要研究方向：翻译理论与实践、应用语言学。