A Study On The English Versions Of Government Work Reports From The Perspective Of Translation Ethics

With the continuous opening-up in China and increasing exchangeswith other countries, there is a soaring demand for the rest of the world tolearn more about China. Since annual government work reports(hereinafter referred to as GWRs) issued by the central government ofChina summarize the major achievements that have been made in theprocess of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and deploybasic state policies that cover economics, politics, people’s well-beingand so forth, GWRs are the most important and authoritative sources thathave attracted worldwide attention. English versions of GWRs representthe political, economic and social developments of our country in thecontext of the target language and enable target readers understand Chinafully and accurately. Thus, the quality of translation is of greatsignificance in maintaining a favorable international environment andcreating a good public opinion environment for China’s peacefuldevelopment. Any mistakes made in the translation of GWRs ormisunderstanding caused by unfaithful renderings may bring severepolitical consequences. Therefore, the translation is of profoundsignificance in establishing a good international image for China.From the perspective of translation ethics, this thesis makes a studyon the English versions of GWRs in2012and2013. By describing the features that shared by political materials and introduction ofChesterman’s translation ethics models, this theory is applied to analyzesome selected examples from the English versions of GWRs. After thesystematic analysis, the author further summarizes translation strategiesand concrete techniques used in the translation of GWRs. This thesis isaimed at providing a new perspective of GWR translation study so as toeffectively guide translation practice since only with the accuratetranslation of GWRs can Chinese society be perceived as truthfully aspossible by the international society. It is hoped that the present study canprovide useful information to the translation of GWRs and give furtherinsight into the application of translation ethics in translation studies andpractice.