Chinese Translation Of English Satirical Prose Of 1700-1750-A Functional Equivalence Perspective

The English prose is a very important literary genre that has imposed great influence on the development of the English language. In its development, the 18th century was entitled by many scholars as the age of prose, and it witnessed the establishment of the leading English prose style—the plain and easy style. English satirical prose of 1700-1750 is extraordinarily outstanding and influential. In view of its great significance, this paper chooses it as the subject of study and analyzes its Chinese translation. When doing this study, the focus is put upon style reproduction of the original works. Therefore, the study of the development of the English prose style, the stylistic features of English satirical prose of 1700-1750, and theories of style translation are also involved in this paper. As about the perspective of analysis, this paper chooses Eugene A. Nida's theory of functional equivalence, for this translation theory, with emphasis on readers'response, can be used effectively to discuss style translation of the chosen English satirical prose. From that perspective, the author shows with vivid illustrations how the original style is reproduced in the Chinese versions, and at the same time proves that the perspective of functional equivalence is an effective translation strategy for reproducing style, and that the style of the chosen English satirical prose can be reproduced or recreated with the aid of proper translation strategies.