Abstract： This thesis attempts to do comparative study on Ba Jin ’s and Lin Huiyin’s Chinese versions of The Nightingale and the Rose from the perspective of functional equivalence. The Nightingale and the Rose was written by Oscar Wilde, the representative of aestheticism and it differed from the traditional fairy tales vividly. Many Chinese translators have translated it into Chinese over the past years. Therefore, the author considers it is of great value to do research on its translations. In this thesis, the author analyzes the two Chinese versions from the perspective of functional equivalence “Reader Response” and does comparative studies on two Chinese versions from the angle of sentence, including the syntactic analysis and rhetorical devices. Through the comparative study, the author finds both of Ba’s and Lin’s Chinese versions are in accordance with the original text. However, due to the differences of target readers, Ba Jin ’s version is easier to understand, while Lin Huiyin’s version is full of literature beauty. The author claims that, Lin’s creation style is similar with Oscar Wilde’s aestheticism. As a result, her version is more in line with the original work. Both two versions can meet the demand of functional equivalence. This thesis provides a new perspective to study on Chinese versions of The Nightingale and the Rose and it is also the practical demonstration of functional equivalence theory.

Key Words: Fairy Tales     Aestheticism     Functional Equivalence Translation

摘 要  本文尝试用尤金·奈达的功能对等翻译理论，分析巴金与林徽因译英国作家奥斯卡·王尔德童话《夜莺与玫瑰》。《夜莺与玫瑰》出自唯美主义代表人物奥斯卡·王尔德之手，与传统童话有着明显的区别，许多中国著名的翻译家都曾将其译为中文。因此对此童话的中译本的研究十分具有价值。作者从功能对等理论读者反应这一核心内容对两个中文版本进行解析，着重从句子层面，包括句法分析和修辞两个方面，对两个中文译本进行举例分析。通过比较研究发现，巴金和林徽因两个版本均符合原文大意。但由于目标读者的不同，巴金的译作更为简单易懂，而林徽因的译作更为优美。作者认为，由于林徽因本人的创作风格与奥斯卡·王尔德的唯美主义较为契合，故译作更为神似。两者均符合功能对等这一理论基础。此文为研究《夜莺与玫瑰》中译版本提供了新的视角，同时也是对奈达功能对等这一理论的实践论证。

关键词：童话     唯美主义     功能对等     翻译

Contents

Abstract i

摘 要 ii

Contents iii

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Significance of the research 2

Chapter Two Literature Review 5

2.1 Eugene Nida and functional equivalence 5

2.2 Oscar Wilde and his fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose 7

2.3 Ba Jin and his translation of The Nightingale and the Rose 10

2.4 Lin Huiyin and her translation of The Nightingale and the Rose 11

Chapter Three A Comparative study of Two Versions of the Nightingale and the Rose 13

3.1 Syntactic analysis 13

3.1.1 Sentence pattern 13

3.1.2 Word order 15

3.2 Rhetorical devices 17

3.2.1 Simile 18

3.2.2 Parallelism 20

Chapter Four Conclusion 23

References 25

A Comparative Analysis on Two Translations of The Nightingale and the Rose from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

 Studies on translation theories did begin at the end of the last century, and one of the most essential theories is Functional Equivalence put forward by American translators Eugene Nida. The debate between “literal translation” and “liberal translation” has been lasting for a long time. However, when Nida put forward “Dynamic Equivalence”,which is later turned into “Functional Equivalence”, this theory gained much attention and now is accepted by many Chinese scholars, making a profound influence in China and it is this theory that solved the long-time discussion in translation field. Since 1980s, translators began to put more emphasis on the reader response instead of the text form. “Receptors’ response” is the most essential concept and evaluation standard. According to Nida’s theory, evaluating a translation work needs the critic not to compare the text structure or the grammar between the source text and its translation text, but to compare “receptors’ response”. The understanding and appreciation of readers are more crucial. In the translation process, the translators should respect the characteristics of target readers’ languages, to meet the demand of the “naturalness” of the translation works. Through the development for almost thirty year, this theory tends to be more systematic and complex, which is often used to analyze many literary works. Eugene Nida’s theory is now seen as a good criterion to evaluate translation works.