Interpreting Long Sentences From The Perspective Of Theme-Rheme Theory

The system of theme and rheme is an important part of functional grammar,it was first put forward by Mathesius.Later,Halliday puts Theme-Rheme Theory into one of the three linguistic theories,which are ideational function,interpersonal function,and textual function.To study the structure of the theme is to know and to master the distribution of core information in a discourse,so as to make the interpreter know the purpose of speakers.Documentary is a special form of television programs,it presents the real picture and tells the real stories,not only to amuse the audience,but also educate the audience.With the development of the cross-cultural exchanges,a lot of excellent English documentaries have been introduced to China,and they provide a new version for Chinese to know the world and western culture.To make Chinese audience understand those documentaries easily,the interpretation of the documentary is necessary.Taking Interpreting material from the PBS documentary Great Cathedral Mystery,the author has simulated a consecutive interpreting practice.Based on the Theme-Rheme theory,the author will analyze the source text and solve the problem caused in the process of interpreting.In order to make preparations for further interpretation.The research is divided into five parts.The first part is introduction,the second part is related research and methodology,the third part is task description,the fourth part is case analysis,which is the most important part.The author will conclude two strategies of long sentences interpretation: reserving the thematic structure of the source text,and reconstructing the thematic structure of the source text.The final part is conclusion.The following conclusions are reached: 1)reserving the thematic structure of the source text is of a high percentage in the practice of interpreting long sentences and it is also frequently used method to ensure the coherence of target text;2)when interpreting long sentences,two methods are often used to reconstruct the thematic structure of the source text: changing the position of the theme and the rheme,and adding new theme;3)in the cases of reconstructing the thematic structure of the source text,it is easier to realize coherence of the target text if the long sentence is generally interpreted according to its original clausal sequence without major adjustments.Otherwise,the coherence of the target text will be affected.