Reading report : the border town
During this winter vacation ,I read an English rendering of an famous Chinese literary work Bian Cheng , and its translated name is The Border Town . I have already read the original work in Chinese when I was in the high school and in my view, it is an story full of esthetic feeling and it shows us how tranquil and simple life in the border town is . As the closest literary work to the Nobel Prize in Literature in the mainland ,Bian Cheng is not only a splendid novella, but also a comely ,elegant and woeful pastoral which expresses the writer's deep affection about his hometown—Feng Huang，a small frontier county in west Hunan Province．
So when I found this version in the school library , I borrowed it without any hesitation , I was so curious that l really can't believe how could such an typical Chinese novella being rendered into another language ? And how could the foreign translator grasp the essence of it and whether she can represent successfully the original aesthetic value in the work or even reproduce the tranquility and pathos are all great challenges for the translator．
But after reading a few chapters , I had to say this is a very good translation . The translator Gladys Yang (Dai NaiDie) reproduced the aesthetic connotations in the novel in terms of the beauty in the regional flavor and in the artistic conception as proposed by the translation aesthetics. Her successful work shows that in literature translation it is advisable to follow the principle of "seeking common ground while reserving small differences "or "seeking functional equivalence "in conveying the aesthetic connotations . Although l no little about literary translation or aesthetics ,I can sense the rhyme that Shen CongWen wanted to express in the version of Yang . This kind of rhyme not only add some aesthetic feeling to the original work but make the translated one closer to the connotations in the original . Shen Congwen presents the rhyme in the book mainly by using ballad or folk songs and proverbs , then how to reproduce the musical beauty in the translation is a challenging task ．For example ,in one chapter , Emerald (the translated name of the leading character CuiCui) sang a song to herself :
* Original work：
“且轻轻的无所谓的唱着：白鸡关出老虎咬人，不咬别人，团总的小姐派第一 ......大姐戴副金譬子，二姐戴副银钏王，只有我三妹没得什么戴，耳朵上长年戴条豆芽菜。”
* Translation：
"She chants softly：
The tiger eats the captain's daughter first [f?:st]；
Most girls have gold and silver for their hair [h]
Poor Emerald is the one who comes off worst [w?:st]
No trinkets,nothing but bean-sprouts to wear [w]!"
In this version ,the first line and the third line are rhymed [?:st],and the second and the last line are rhymed [].The rhythm is closely related to the speaker's mood．Because of Emerald's embarrassing condition in her family，she has no chance to wear those beautiml clothes，but to admire the dress of the daughter of the 1andlord.
And it is closed to the original work as well.
Though sometimes her translation is not so similar to the original work , it is also exactly expressed the meaning Shen . For example , some local dialects possess strong expressive force ,they bring intense aesthetic feelings to the story and cordial feeling to the readers . But when translated ,they are also not easy. But Yang did a good job ,she bypassed those complicated proverb, and used other concise ,simple and clear words instead .
For instance :
She used free translation not metaphrase, she reserved the essence of the text and made it easier for readers to understand.
Through the reading of this translated version ,I had an initial understanding of the literary translation and aesthetics .I came to know that translation was not an easy job , it is especially difficult when we want to reserve the essence and artistic conception of the original.