Translation Analysis Of Ritual And Etiquette Terms Of Zizhi Tongjian From The Perspective Of Fusion Of Horizons In Reception Theory

Zizhi Tongjian is a masterpiece of Chinese chronicle history with rich historical and literary value,which comprehensively summarizes the political wisdom of the past dynasties with a profound historical perspective and records the historical vicissitudes of 1,362 years from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the beginning of the Song Dynasty.Research has found that there are a large number of etiquette and ritual terms in Zizhi Tongjian,and their English translations are essential to reflect the cultural connotation of the source language.The reception theory of German scholar Hans Robert Jauss mainly emphasizes the social effects of literary works,attaches importance to readers’ active participation,and examines the creation and acceptance of literature from the perspective of interaction and communication.Moreover,it is the participation of the translator and the readers that gives the translation its unique characteristics and shortens the aesthetic distance between the source text and the target reader,thus realizing the fusion of horizons.This paper takes Jauss’ reception theory and fusion of horizons as the theoretical framework and the excerpt translation version of Rafe de Crespigny and Achilles Fang,famous sinologists,as the research object,and collects the three of five ritual and etiquette terms of Zizhi Tongjian,including marriage and funeral terms,sacrificial terms and social interaction terms according to the classification standards of the ancient “Five Etiquette”.Data collection and qualitative analysis are adopted to analyze the ritual and etiquette terms of Zizhi Tongjian.The main research contents are as follows.First,the author aims to explore whether the translation of ritual and etiquette terms has achieved fusion of horizons.Second,the author aims to analyze the translation methods employed to realize fusion of horizons.It is found that,first,both Rafe and Achilles Fang tend to retain the form and meaning of the source text with original cultural connotations and the foreign flavor to arouse the reader’s interest,lengthen their time of enjoyment and reproduce the source style and culture in the process of English translation of ritual and etiquette terms,therefore the fusion of horizons has been achieved in most occasions.Second,to achieve the fusion of horizons when translating ritual and etiquette terms,literal translation and descriptive equivalent are the dominated translation methods in order to retain the original form and meaning of the source text and make the foreign readers have a better command of Chinese culture.While using cultural equivalent and generalization,the translators may reduce the original flavor and cultural connotation for better acceptance and understanding.These translation methods are used to facilitate the understanding of readership so that greater acceptability can be achieved.In the process of ritual and etiquette terms translation,the translator sometimes has to sacrifice the deep cultural connotation of the source language so that target readers could understand and accept the text.Therefore,the author suggests that in the process of translating ritual and etiquette terms,translators should reserve the source culture to the maximum extent and employ various translation methods flexibly to reproduce the ritual and etiquette terms which are special and unique in Chinese culture.