"怡红"还是"怡绿"?

"红"是中国古典小说《红楼梦》中的一个重要"眼目"。本文分析了"红"这个中华文化重要意象对表达《红楼梦》这部作品的主题思想所起的作用,以及霍克斯在翻译中改"红"为"绿"对原作意义造成的巨大损失,指出译者在翻译处理具有重大意义的文化词语及意象时,应该树立并实践"文化融合"观,以利于不同文化间的交流与融合。

"Red Happiness" or "Green Delight" ?

"Red" is one of the most important words employed by the author of Hong Lou Meng,one of the classic Chinese novels.Through the peculiar "redness" imagery formulated by the ubiquitous use of that word,Cao Xueqin successfully created a literary figure who has a "fondness of,cherishment in,and lament for,the red," a character and personality outstandingly different from common people.In this paper,the author first analyzes the significance of the important Chinese cultural imagery of "red" to the realization of the theme of Hong Lou Meng.Then he goes further to analyze the great loss caused by David Hawkes when he converted "red" into "green" in his translation of the novel.In the end,the author proposes that translators should abide by the principle of acculturation when handling significant cultural items and imageries in translating literary classics so as to promote the communication between and fermentation of different cultures for the purpose of harmonious cultural coexistence.