A Corpus-based Study On The Similes In The English Version Of The Golden Lotus

This research adopts a target-oriented approach, which is rarely used in traditional studies. Gideon Toury first proposes the approach in his theory and uses it in the study of metaphor translation. Primary study shows that as the cultural differences exist between the target language and the source language, there may be some trouble in the reading process of the readers of target language. In order to avoid the problems caused by the cultural differences as much as possible and make it easy for the readers of target language to read the translated text and understand the culture of the source language, some of the similes in the target-text are translated from similes, while others are translated from other figurative speech. This kind of research method can not only help researchers find out the problems which are neglected by the traditional studies, but also expand the researching range and broaden the researching field of view.The above-mentioned occurrences also exist in Egerton’s translated version of The Golden Lotus, i.e. some similes are translated from similes, some from metaphors, some from other rhetorical devices and some even from the translator’s own creation. With the help of a self-built parallel corpus, the author of this uses Egerton’s English version as materials for this research. This thesis attempts to find out and prove the universality of this phenomenon so that the translation strategies adopted by Egerton can be identified on the basis of analyses of The Golden Lotus.The major findings of this thesis are as follows:1. Some of the similes in Egerton’s version are translated from similes, some from metaphors, some others from sense. Furthermore, some similes plus sense are translated from sense, some sense plus similes are translated from sense, and the others simply translated from zero through the creation of Egerton.2. A significant difference exists among Egerton’s translation strategies for simile, and the main translation strategy he adopts is to translate metaphor into simile.