A Report Of The E-C Translation Of Children’s Sci-Fi The Secret Lake (Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Reading has functions of both entertainment and education.Children’s Sci-Fi novels,by means of mysterious adventures and intriguing plots,enable children readers to experience another world,which can help readers broaden their horizons,cultivate their minds,and enrich their spiritual worlds.To translate and introduce excellent foreign science fictions into China is a good approach to enrich the Chinese market of children’s science fictions.The Secret Lake is a short children’s Sci-Fi novel by famous British writer Karen Inglis,which ranked the first in Best Sellers of Children’s Sci-Fi Books in 2021 in Amazon website.However,due to the limited knowledge,experience and cognitive capacity of the target readers aged 8-11,it is necessary for the translator to apply specific translation methods in translation to ensure the readability and educational function of the target text.Under the guidance of the three core concepts: reader-centered orientation,horizon of expectations and fusion of horizons in Reception Aesthetics,this report analyses difficulties in translating the British children’s Sci-Fi novel—The Secret Lake and explores some translation strategies and skills that can improve the readability of the target text and realize the educational function in the translation of children’s literature.It is found that the use of reduplicated words,interjections and other colloquial words,and the translation skill of splitting and reconstructing can make the text easier understood and accepted by children readers;appropriate use of unfamiliar or new phrases can facilitate children’s learning of new phrases in reading;the use of four-character phrases,which makes the target text concise and expressive,can also facilitate children’s language learning,especially idioms.This report summarizes some translation strategies and skills that can improve the readability of the target text and realize the educational function in the translation of children’s science fictions,which may serve as reference and suggestions for later research.