《红楼梦》建筑翻译的修辞

马艺超

【Abstract】Rhetoric is an art of Communicating and writing. Rhetoric is used to make the expression livelier and more powerful. This paper takes the rhetoric of architectural translation in Chapter Seventeen as an example， researching the function of rhetoric， such as： metaphor， simile and hyperbole. At the same time， this paper will make a contrast of David Hawkes translation and the source text written by Cao Xueqin to analyze the difference between Chinese and English.

【Key words】Rhetoric translation； The Story of the Stone； Contrast

Chapter One Introduction

Translation itself is a process of comparison， because the translators try their best to find a balance between source language and target language. In order to reach the balance translators need to make sure the similarities and differences between the two involved languages.

Rhetoric is the art of discourse， wherein a writer or speaker strives to inform， persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice， rhetoric has played a central role in the European tradition. The five canons of rhetoric， which trace the traditional tasks in designing a persuasive speech， were first codified in classical Rome： invention， arrangement， style， memory， and delivery. Along with grammar and logic， rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric is a kind of way to express oneself. By using rhetoric， the text can become more vivid.

In The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes， there are a lot of rhetoric in the architectural translation， including： simile， metaphor and hyperbole etc. According to the rhetoric in this part， readers can see how luxurious the houses are in Jias mansion. According to the description of the architecture， it can be seen that the development of the Jias family.

Chapter Two Literature Review

The Story of the Stone is can represent the highest level of Chinese literature in five thousand years， while it is a condensed Chinese civilization and the essence of the brilliant classic. The whole book uses the sentimental stories in the Kang Qian period of Qing Dynasty as the baseline， displaying the whole society like an encyclopedia. The Chinese famous writer， Lu Xun said： The scholars of Confucian classics see the “Zhouyi”； Confucian moralists see prostitution； gifted scholars see romance； revolutionaries see anti- Manchu； and gossips see Palace secrets...

David Hawkes is a famous Sinologist. There are a lot of translation of The Story of the Stone， but the work of Hawkes is one of the most classical. There are a lot scholars who are interested in it. They did research in many kinds of aspects， for example： Feng Quangong from Zhejiang University focuses on the rhetoric of characters appearance； Ding Yi from Fujian Normal University does the research on body metaphor from English to Chinese； Wu Yanyan from Fujian Normal University does the research on the translation of the architecture names from the perspective of semantics and so on.

Cao Xueqin used a lot of rhetoric， like metaphor， simile and hyperbole when depicting the environment and the buildings. But in the translation of the Hawkes， some distinctions appears. Based on these theories， this paper focuses the difference between the rhetoric of translation and the source text.

Chapter Three Rhetoric in Architectural Translation

Rhetoric can be divided into to parts： First， about contents： metaphor， simile， hyperbole， euphemism irony etc； second， about language structure： antithesis parallelism repetition etc. Although they are different in nature， they can not be separated. So do they in The story of the Stone. In Chapter Seventeen， the writer Cao Xueqin used a lot of rhetoric. At the same time， David Hawkes used some strategies to translate it. So there are some difference between Chinese and English.

1. Simile or Metaphor

Simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another， in such a way as to clarify and enhance an image. It is an explicit comparison recognizable by the use of the words “like” “seem” “as if” or “as”. While metaphor is like a simile， also makes a comparison between two unlike elements， but unlike a simile， this comparison is implied rather than stated. Simile and metaphor are the most used rhetoric in a text. So do they in the architectural translation of Chapter Seventeen. When describing the miniature mountain， Cao Xueqin used the words and David Hawkes translated in following ways：

Rhetoric Cao Xueqin David Hawkes

Simile 白石崚嶒，或如鬼怪，或似猛獸 a great number of large white rocks in all kinds of grotesque and monstrous shapes

Metaphor 筒瓦泥鳅脊 a hump-backed roof of half-cylinder tiles

Metaphor 虎皮石 black-and-white striped stone

Metaphor 羊肠小径 a narrow， zigzag path

Simile 有几百枝杏花，如喷火蒸霞一般 several hundreds apricot trees， whose flowering tops resembled the billowing rosy clouds of some vegetable volcano

Simile 或實若丹砂，或花如金桂 some had blood-red berries， some had golden flowers

Simile 水如晶帘一般奔入 a crystal curtain of rushing water

Simile 一树西府海棠，其势若伞，丝垂金缕，葩吐丹砂 a weeping variety of Szechwan crab， whose pendant clusters of double- flowering carmine blossoms hung by stems as delicate as golden wires on the umbrella-shaped canopy of its boughs

Simile 此花红若施脂，弱如扶病 its rouge-like colour and delicate， drooping shape

It can be seen from the chart that Cao Xueqin used more simile than metaphor in Chapter Seventeen when describing the atmosphere. And at the same time， all of the metaphors are conventionalized， for example： “虎皮” in Chinese means not only the fur of the tiger， but also the stripes on something looks like the fur of a tiger. So do “筒瓦泥鳅脊” and “羊肠小径”. “筒瓦泥鳅脊” is a title that looks like loachs back， and “羊肠小径” is a path that as long and narrow as goats small intestine. But when Hawkes translated， he didnt use metaphor. They were all described objectively. “虎皮石” is translated into “black-and-white striped stone”， “筒瓦泥鳅脊” into “a hump-backed roof of half-cylinder tiles” and “羊肠小径” into “a narrow zigzag path”. He just used attributive adjectives in front of the noun. Cao Xueqin used simile in Chinese：“或如鬼怪，或似猛兽”， “其势若伞”， “水如晶帘一般” and “或实若丹砂，或花若金桂”， but in English， they are translated just in a way of description. It is more objective in English. While when Hawkes translated “如喷火蒸霞一般” “丝垂金缕” and “红若施脂”， he used simile. However “丝垂金缕” in Chinese is metaphor. There arent “like” or “as” in the sentence.

Because of the distinguish between Chinese and Western culture， the way that people think are different. So the translation and the source text are different. Whats more， we can see that Chinese rhetorical figures are broader and more exoteric. Everything from the life can be used in the rhetoric， such as： 羊肠，泥鳅脊and other things. English rhetorical figures focus on the language forms and use certain forms to express the rhetoric effects； Chinese rhetorical figures stress the language function to express the rhetorical effect.

2. Hyperbole

Hyperbole is to describe something by exaggerating. The essence could be highlighted and the emotion of the writer may be strengthened. Exaggeration can arouse the reader's imagination and strong resonance. In literature， exaggeration is the use of imagination and deformation， exaggerating some of the characteristics of things and write unusual language.

There are seven rules to use hyperbole： First， by using numerals； Second， make the meaning of the word go the the extreme； Third， by using adjectives and adverbs； Fourth， by using superlative adjectives and adverbs； Fifth， by using prepositional phrases； Sixth， by using nouns； Seventh， by using privatives. Beside these rules， when it was translated by Hawkes， some of the hyperbole is abandoned.

Cao Xueqin David Hawkes

石磴穿云 a stair of stone plunged to the brink

千百竿翠竹遮映 the hundreds and hundreds of green bamboos

一望无际 ×

插天的大玲珑山石 for a miniature mountain of rock

Hyperbole is used four times in Chapter 17 when talking about the architectural translation while half of them are about the number. The rest of them use nouns. But when in Hawkes translation， he omitted two of them. “一望无际” and “插天的” arent translated. So in these parts， it is not vivid in English as it in Chinese because of the absence of the rhetoric.

Chapter Four Conclusion

In the present paper， the author analyzes the rhetoric respectively at first. Then the author starts from two texts， aiming at finding out the distinguish between the source text and the target texts. At last， the author holds the view that The Story of the Stone is a perfect work in the history of translation.

One assumption implicit in the art of rhetoric is that people—even intelligent people—can disagree with each other. Sometimes they disagree with each other about deeply held beliefs. For any headway to occur in a debate， wise participants should begin through figuring out what assumptions drive each group. Usually， when two groups disagree， it is because they do not share certain assumptions. The rhetor must assess her audience and then figure out what assumptions operate in her own argument and then what assumptions operate in the arguments made by others.

Because there are quite a lot of difference between Chinese and English， it is really hard to do an outstanding translation. But David Hawkes really did a good job. The Story of the Stone is perfect. It spreads Chinese culture to the world. By reading it， people all around the world can know more about China and Chinese culture. They can also enjoy the interest of Chinese literal.

References：

[1]Cai J.蔡靜.英汉修辞格——比较研究与翻译[M].上海：华东师范大学，2006.

[2]Chen K.陈科芳.修辞格翻译的语用学探解[D].上海外国语大学，2006.