The C-E Translation Study From The Perspective Of Theme-Rheme Theory In SFL

Translation is translating meaning. Halliday classifies meaning into threefold pattern:ideational, interpersonal and textual. This classification helps readers understand the text thoroughly. The three patterns are an organic whole, and one should treat them alike. However it is discovered that the present researches have paid more attention to the ideational meaning and interpersonal meaning than to textual meaning. Both the ideational meaning and the interpersonal meaning are transferred through the text, so the textual function cannot be neglected.Textual meaning is realized through the textual function. Textual function is constituted by thematic structure, information structure and cohesion. This thesis tries to do a Chinese-English translation study from the perspective of Theme/Rheme theory, because Theme can act "as a point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse and thereby maintaining a coherent point of view, and as a point of departure by connecting forward and contributing to the development of later stretches"; Through the analysis of Theme-Rheme system, a translator can get the means of keeping cohesion and coherence, figure out the author's thought and seize the author's intention and methods of organization and development of a text.The research object of this thesis is the English version Selected Stories of Lu Xun translated by Ynag Xianyi and Gladys Yang. Lu Xun occupies a very important position in the history of Chinese literature. His works have spirited up many Chinese, and his stories are very popular overseas, so the translation study of his work has a practical significance. The language attainments of Yang Xianyi are very high and his wife is an English-speaker, so there are superior advantages for them to cooperate together. The language of their translation is more genuine and natural.From the persepective of Theme/Rheme, this thesis does a contrastive study of C-E thematic system on clausal and textual level with reference to Yang Xianyi &Gladys Yang's Selected Stories of Lu Xun. It attempts to answer the following two questions:(a) what're the similarities and differences of Theme on clausal and textual level in C-E Stories of Lu Xun? (b) In what ways are these similarities and differences of Theme dealt with by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang during the course of translation?After a thorough comparative study of C-E Lu Xun's stories, these two questions are answered. It is hoped that this study could enrich and develop the Theme/Rheme theory in translation and the translation principles, and the translation principles and methods adopted in Selected Stories of Lu Xun could provide a reference for C-E text translation.