A Contrastive Study On Non-literal Expressions In English Versions Of Hong Lou Meng

With the increase of China's international influence and the implement of the strategy of culture going out,the promotion of the external influence of cultural soft power has become an important part of development.In order to increase the influence of Chinese culture,the translation and dissemination of literary works is an essential aspect.As one of representative works of Chinese literature,Hong Lou Meng is one of the brightest stars of Chinese classical novels.It is highly praised by Mao Zedong as the epitome of China's society.As a result,the novel Hong Lou Meng has attracted wide attention from scholars at home and abroad.The language in the novel is rich in meaning,diverse in expression,and has a large number of non-literal expressions,such as: allegorical saying,euphemism,metaphor,metonymy,and exaggeration and so on.These non-literal expressions contain unique cultural connotations,including various information about language,culture and history.However,they bring a great challenge to translation.At present,although many scholars have studied the translation of metaphor,euphemism and allegorical saying in Hong Lou Meng,no one has put them into the category of non-literal expressions,and no one has made a comparative study on the translation of non-literal expressions in different English versions of Hong Lou Meng.This study takes the translation of three non-literal expressions of euphemism,allegorical saying and metaphor in Yang Xianyi's and Hawkes' s translations as the research objects,and uses the methods of quantitative analysis and contrastive analysis to explore their translation features The study mainly focuses on two questions: first,what are the differences between the two translators when they translate non-literal expressions?Secondly,which translation more accurately conveys the real meaning of non-literal expression? By comparing and analyzing the translations of non-literal expressions in Yang Xianyi's translation and Hawkes' translation,the study have found that there are some differences in translation strategy and methods: Hawkes' translation tends to adapt to the target culture.And he uses the translation strategy of domestication,which is specifically embodied in that when he translates non-literal expressions containing unique cultural connotations,he often uses free translation?alternative translation methods and word-adding.However,Yang Xianyi adopts the strategy of foreignization,and he uses the method of literal translation or the method of adding annotation in his translation.In addition,the study havealso found that non-literal expressions in the original not only imply profound connotation,but also imply the character's emotional orientation and cultural information.By comparing the translations of non-literal expressions in Yang Xianyi's version and Hawkes' version,it is found that Yang Xianyi's translation on certain non-literal expressions is easy to make foreign readers fall into the trap of literal meaning,which is especially reflected in the translation of sex euphemisms.However,Hawkes' translation not only accurately conveys the true meaning of non-literal expressions,but also closely reflects the emotional color hidden behind these non-literal expressions.As a result,Hawkes' translation is more integrated with the original text.Based on the English translation practice of non-literal expressions,this paper compares their translations on euphemism,allegorical saying and metaphor.It not only provides a new angle for the English translation of Hong Lou Meng,but also helps to promote the outward spread of Chinese culture to a certain degree.