| This report analyzes and investigates the application of Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory to the English-Chinese translation of First Principles(excerpt).At present,there are plenty of translated works about first principles,but few of them expound the principle from the perspective of history.From the perspective of Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory,the author divides the translation practice into level shifts and category shifts,the latter of which are further subdivided into unit shifts,structure shifts,class shifts and intra-system shifts.Translating First Principles into Chinese version enables more Chinese readers to know American political history and understand first principles,which can also provide research materials for the fields of humanities and social sciences in China.Catford’s Translation Shift Theory analyzes the deviations from formal correspondence.According to this theory,case study is carried out mainly from level shifts and category shifts.The former is mainly analyzed and studied from the shifts of tense and number.In terms of category shifts,case studies are conducted from structure shift,class shift,unit shift and intra-system shift.Structure shift mainly involves passive-active shifts,shifts between post-modifier and pre-modifier,shifts between inanimate subject and animate subject;class shift comprises noun-verb shifts,preposition-verb shifts and adverb-adjective shifts;unit shift includes group-word shifts,group-sentence shifts and shifts between sentence and sentence groups;intra-system shift is mainly about the translation of English and Chinese idioms.Based on Catford’s Translation Shifts Theory,the translator,through translation practice and case study,found that in some cases multiple shifts methods are supposed to be adopted for sentences or phrases translation.As a result,she realized that in translation practice,translators should not stick to a single translation strategy or translation method,but should analyze specific situations and flexibly handle and improve various types of translated texts.In addition,this translation practice illustrates the applicability of Translation Shifts Theory to the translation of historical books.Therefore,this report can provide references for the English-Chinese translation of historical texts. |
