关于隐喻mataphor的英文论文.docx

关于隐喻mataphor的英文论文.docx

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关于隐喻mataphor的英文论文

1.Introduction

Thestudyonmetaphorhasahistoryofmorethantwothousandyears.SinceLakoffandJohnson（1980）exploreanewwayforthestudyonmetaphorfromtheperspectiveofcognitivelinguistic,manyChinesescholarsinvariousfieldshavemaderesearchesonthetranslationofEnglishmetaphor.SomescholarspayattentiontotranslationofEnglishmetaphorinliterature,suchasinplays,poems,novelsandsoon.SomescholarsareconcernedaboutthetranslationofEnglishmetaphorineconomyandpolitics.OthersfocusontranslationofEnglishmetaphorinscienceandtechnology.ThisthesisexploresthemethodsfortranslatingEnglishmetaphorbasedontheanalysisofdifficultiesexistedintranslatingEnglishmetaphor.TranslationofEnglishmetaphorwillbehelpfultoEnglishlearnerstounderstand,appreciateEnglishmetaphorsandflexiblyapplythemtodailylife.ItalsowillpromoteexchangeandcooperationbetweenChinaandtheforeigncountries.

1.1Definitionofmetaphor

Theword“metaphor”comesfromtheGreekword“metaphora”,“meta”means“change”and“pherein”hasthemeaningof“carry”,“metaphorsmeans“atransferofmeaning”.Thecombinedwordreferstoaparticularlinguisticprocess,throughwhichthecharacteristicsofacertainobjectcouldbetransferredtoanotherone,intheeffectthatthesecondobjectcouldbetakenasthefirstone（Lin,2007）.Oxfordadvancedlearner’sEnglish-Chinesedictionary（2009）definesmetaphoras“awordorphraseusedtodescribesomebodyorsomethingelse,inawaythatisdifferentfromitsnormaluse,inordertoshowthatthetwothingshavethesamequalitiesandtomakethedescriptionmorepowerful”.Inotherwords,metaphorisafigureofspeechthatreferstoacomparisonbetweentwobasicallydifferentobjectsbuthavesomethingincommoninsomeconnotations.

1.2Theessenceofmetaphor

Metaphorisoneofthemostcommonlinguisticphenomenons.Thetraditionalrhetoricregardsmetaphorjustasthetransferenceofawordfromonethingtoanother,whichbothwascomparison（Shi,2007）.Theirviewsareconcernedabouttheliteralmeaningofwords,notthesentences.Manyscholarsinwesternhavemaderesearchesonmetaphorfromvariousperspectivesandlevelssince1970s.Metaphorisnotonlyalanguagephenomenon,butalsoawayofthinkingofhumanbeings,andthatmetaphorsarepervasiveinoureverydaylife（Richards1936,p.72）.LakoffandJohnson（1980）exploreanewwayforthestudyonmetaphorfromtheperspectiveofcognitivelinguistic.Theybelievethatmetaphoristheprincipleandbasicmodeofhumanexistence.Andtheyclaimthatourordinaryconceptualsystem,intermsofwhichweboththinkandact,isfundamentallymetaphoricalinnature.（Lakoff&Johnson,1980,p.3）

Inshort,metaphor,asoneofthemostcommonlinguisticphenomena,isaveryimportantcomponentofEnglishlanguage.Itisacognitiveactivityofpeople’sinterpretingandunderstandingexperiencesinonefieldthroughthoseinanother（Shu,2000,p.28）.Therefore,itissignificanttoexploretranslationofEnglishmetaphorintoChinese.ThemethodsfortranslatingEnglishmetaphorcancontributetoEnglishlearnersinChinatounderstand,appreciateandusethemindailylives.Inaddition,theycanalsopromotesuccessfulcross-culturalcommunication.

2ThenecessityfortranslationofEnglishmetaphor

Metaphorisnotonlyafigureofspeech,butalsoakindofcognitivethinkingaswellasthebridgebetweenlanguageandcognition.Asaresult,translationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstounderstandEnglishlanguagebetter.Inaddition,manyEnglishmetaphorscarrytherichwesternculture,sotranslationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpustounderstandtheirculturebetterandmakeasuccessfulcross-culturalcommunication.

2.1TranslationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstoimprovetheirEnglishstudy.

Vocabulary,asaveryimportantpartoflearninglanguage,playsasignificantroleintheprocessoflearningEnglish.Englishmetaphor,asabondofEnglishlanguage,playsanindispensablepartintheprocessoflearningvocabulary.Therefore,translationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstoimprovetheirvocabularies,especiallytheEnglishbeginners.

InChina,mostofstudentsadoptthemethodoflearningbynotetolearnEnglishvocabulary,whichleadstobeunabletousevocabulariesflexiblyincommunicationorinwriting.Metaphorisacognitiveactivityofpeople’sinterpretingandunderstandingexperiencesinonefieldthroughthoseinanother（Shu,2000,p.28）.Fromthispointofview,metaphoristhemainmotivationforproducingmeaningsofaword,andisthemainsourceofpolysemyofawordaswellasthemethodsofincreasingvocabularies.Forexample,sheisawomanwithastoneheart,andJohnisamanwhoneverlosesheart.InEnglish,thebasismeaningofheartisanorganofbody,butinexample1and2,heartisextendedforheartlessandcourageaswellasconfidence.Theseextendedmeaningisassociationwithitsbasicmeaning.Therefore,intheprocessoflearningEnglish,Englishlearnerscanexploretheextendedmeaningofawordtoavoidlearningbynote.Asaresult,translationEnglishmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstoenlargetheirvocabulariesandunderstandvocabulariesbetter.

Thetraditionalrhetoriciansconsideredmetaphorasdecorativeinnature.Itisagraceoraddedpoweroflanguage（Richards,1936,p.5）.Asaresult,translationofmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstounderstandEnglishmetaphorsandapplytheminwriting,whichwillimprovetheirwritingskill.Shu（2000,p.113）claimsthatconcisenessisoneofthemostobviouscharacteristicsofmetaphorthatawordorwordscanoftenexpressaseriesofmeaning,whichcauseslistener’simageofalltherelativeeventsandcontexts.Inhisviews,metaphorcanstrengthentheeffectofexpressions.Therefore,applicationofEnglishmetaphorsbasedonunderstandingthemcanstrengthenexpressivepoweroftheirwriting.

TranslationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpEnglishlearnerstoenlargetheirvocabulariesandusethemincommunicationorwritingflexibly,whichwillimprovetheirEnglishstudy.

2.2TranslationofEnglishmetaphorcanimproveinternationalexchange.

English,asthecommonusedlanguageintheworld,playsanimportantroleininternationalexchanges.Englishmetaphor,asaveryimportantcomponentofEnglishlanguage,notonlyispervasiveinoureverydaylife,butalsoiswidelyusedinliterature,economyandscience.Withthedevelopmentofsocietyandeconomy,theexchangesamongcountriesbecomemoreandmorefrequent.However,intheprocessofeconomic,technologicalandculturalcommunicationbetweeneastandwest,weoftenmisunderstandwhattheysaybecausewecannotcompletelyunderstandsomeEnglishmetaphorsthatcarryculturaldifferencesinlanguage.Consequently,itleadstoambiguityinboththeirunderstandings,whichwillhindertheculturalexchangesamongcountries.Asaresult,translationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpustounderstandandapplyEnglishmetaphorininternationalcommunication.ManyEnglishmetaphorscarryrichwesterncultureincludinghistory,customs,andreligionandsoon.Ifwejustknowabouttheliteralmeaningoftheirexpressions,wecannotopenthedoortofurtherexchange.Forexample,aChineseadmiresawesternerandsaysthatheisadragon.Awesternerwillbeveryangrywhenhehearswhatyousaythat.Thisisbecausethatdragonisregardedasanominousanimalinwesternculture,whichisalwaysusedtodescribethebad-temperedpersonorcruelforces.However,dragoninChinesecultureisregardedasChinese,whichrepresentspowerfulandsuccessful.IfwedonotunderstandthecultureofEnglish-speakingcountriesbetter,itwillleadtoculturalconflicts.Therefore,sinceEnglishmetaphorsconveytheculturalconnotationofEnglish-speakingcountries,translationofEnglishmetaphorcanhelpustoknowtheirculturebetter,whichavoidculturalconflictsinconversationsandimprovefurthercommunication.

3ThedifficultiesexistedintranslationofEnglishmetaphor

Metaphorsarepervasiveinourdailylives.Conversationsarefullofmetaphorsinourdailylivesthatineverythreesentencesonaverage,thereisametaphorappearing.EnglishmetaphorsarecloselyrelatedtocultureofEnglish-speakingcountries.Consequently,weshouldpaymoreattentiontoculturaldifferencesintranslation.Inaddition,ChineselanguagealsoaffectsthetranslationofEnglishmetaphor,whichmakesitdifficulttotranslateEnglishmetaphorcorrectly.

3.1Language

Mostoffigurativelanguagesareproducedinourdailylives,resultedfromhumanbeings’understandingsoftheworldandtheirattitudetowardstheworld.Sincehumanbeingslivinginthesameworldsharethesameexternalenvironmentandexperiencethesimilarprocessofsocialdevelopment,theremustbesomesimilarfigurativelanguagesinbothEnglishandChinese.Forexample,timeismoneywhileinChinese,wewillsay“时间就是金钱”.Toeveryonenomatterwhatlanguagetheyspeak,timeisavaluableandlimitedresourcejustasmoney.

However,EnglishandChinesebelongtotwodifferentkindsoflinguisticsystems.SomewordsorphrasesinbothEnglishandChinesehavethesimilardenotativemeaningandtheyoverlapinconnotativemeaning,buttheyarenotcommon.TranslationofEnglishmetaphorwillbeaffectedbyChineselanguage,whichbringsdifficultyintranslatingEnglishmetaphors.

Firstly,thesamevehicleisusedindifferentmetaphors.Forexample:

1）Whenyoufail,youshouldnotloseheart.2）Heloseshishearttothatbeautifulgirl.Thesetwometaphorsadoptheartasvehicle,buttheirsensesaredifferent.Inexample1,hearth