A Report On E-C Translation Of The Sentence Is Death(Chapters 13-18)

This report is based on the English-Chinese translation practice of the detective novel The Sentence Is Death(Chapters 13-18),written by English author Anthony Horowitz.The source text is presented with a lot of dialogues and descriptions of details with strict logical reasoning.Based on these features,the translator chose Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory as the guidance and adopted corresponding translation strategies to convey concise meaning and evoke the feelings of target readers similar to those of original readers.The report is composed of five parts.The first part gives a brief introduction to the translation task,including background information,linguistic features of the source text and entruster’s requirements.The second part elaborates the process description.Adequate reading of the source text and relevant materials,preparations of translation tools and theory studies all helped the translator smoothly complete the task.The third part describes Translation Shifts Theory and its application in the practice.This part illustrates how translation strategies are flexibly applied so that both the information and linguistic style of the source text are conveyed to the target text as much as possible.The fourth part is case analysis.Under the guidance of Translation Shifts Theory,the translator applied translation strategies such as shifts of plural form,tense,part of speech,and passive voice in order to conform to the reading habits of target readers.The fifth part discusses the merits and defects of this translation practice,which helps the translator improve her translation ability in the future.