A Study On Mather's English Version Of Shi-shuo Xin-yu—From The Perspective Of Toury's Norm Theory

China boasts a long history and splendid culture. In recently years, while making great strides in social, economic and military fronts, China begins to attach more importance to the development of "soft power" so that it can be better understood by the world. It is widely acknowledged that classical Chinese literature is the essence of Chinese culture. Thus, translation of classical works can be an efficient way for the introduction of Chinese culture into the outside world. Shih-shuo Hsin-yu: A New Account of the Tales of the World, by American sinologist Richard B. Mather, is one of the works produced with the aim of disseminating Chinese culture. It took the translator nearly twenty years to finish the translation and once it came out, its value has been widely appreciated by both Chinese literary scholars and foreign sinologists. Therefore, A New Account of the Tales of the World is exemplary in that it can provide guidance for and insight into the translation of other classical works of literature. Despite its undeniable significance, study of Mather's translation has received only negligible attention. In addition, most of the studies appear either in the form of anecdotal reviews and personal comments or in the form of introduction to the structure and features of the translation with hardly any in-depth and systematic studies carried out.Gideon Toury, a leading figure of Descriptive Translation Studies, proposes that translation is a norm-governed activity. Following this, he puts forward three translational norms influencing translation activity. These three norms are: initial norm,preliminary norms and operational norms. Close analysis and comparison reveals that translational norms are the governing factor during the whole translation process, from the selection of the work Shi-shuo Xin-yu, the choice of direct translation from Chinese,to translation strategies and skills adopted in the translation. First, the features of the original and the purpose of the translator determine that the overall translation should lean towards adequacy. Second, in the selection of work for translation, it is because of translation policy and directness of translation that Shi-shuo Xin-yu is chosen and Chinese is translated from. Thirdly, operational norms decide the translating behavior.Operational norms consist of matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms. Governed by matricial norms, the English version is a full translation with little information untranslated. In terms of textual-linguistic norms, such translation strategies and skills are adopted as addition, explicitation, repetition, literal translation, literal translation plus explanation, simplification, free translation and free translation plus transliteration. The adoption of these strategies and skills convey Chinese culture as much as possible on the one hand, and on the other hand conform to the English language conventions and target readers' reading acceptability. Under the theoretical framework of Toury's norm theory,this paper analyzes the English version of Shi-shuo Xin-yu, attempting to provide some guidance for future translation of classical Chinese literature.