A Translation Report On The First Four Stories Of New Stories From The Midwest

As a mirror of American history, Western stories have been reflecting American national characters and cultural values; thus it composes an indispensable ingredient of American society. For that reason, the report takes the first four short stories from the book New Stories from the Midwest as translation analysis. The four stories are rich in American Midwest elements, which mainly show how people take an honest look at what it means to be alive on this earth. So far, the Chinese version has not yet appeared. Therefore, translation of the four stories not only serves as a bridge for readers to understand America society, but provides a reference for future translation.The report constitutes two bodies: a translation of the first four stories and a translation report. In the course of translation, the translator takes Hans Joseph Vermeer’s Skopos Theory as the translation guidance and then exerts translation strategies such as extension of word meaning, conversion of word classes,amplification, division, positive and negative translation, preposition and postposition to make an exploration and conclusion of translation difficulties from vocabularies to sentences.In the course of translation, the translator finds out that words in American Western stories are apt to be abstract and fuzzy, and sentence structures appear comparatively different from Chinese. Hence, the exertion of extension of word meaning, conversion of word class and amplification can make original words more specific and plain in light of vocabulary. And renditions conform to the target language, to a certain extent, by means of division, positive and negative translation,preposition and postposition in terms of sentence.Through this report, conclusions of translation difficulties of vocabularies and sentences may offer guidance for future translation of American Western stories.Furthermore, translation of the first four stories of the book New Stories from the Midwest may serve as significant materials for understanding of America society.