瓦尔登湖文献综述

On Translation of the Color Words inWalden by Thoreau1 IntroductionAs a category of vocabulary, color words are widely used in daily spoken language. Moreover, they own sufficient expressiveness in literature and become a common means of rhetoric used by Chinese and English people in writing [1].As a result, no matter in poetry, prose and novels, in modern or ancient times, in China or elsewhere, color words are used constantly. However, due to the vast differences between Chinese and English about geographical location, historical background, religious belief, customs and so on, people of different cultural background are impressed differently by the same color word. Besides, the feelings readers have are also affected by the author’s emotion and mood. From Literature [2], for example, we know that “Henry David Thoreau is the 19th century American transcendentalist, writer and the pioneer of modern environmentalism.”He made good use of a great many color words to describe the scenery in Walden whose description is entertaining and detailed.Henry David Thoreau is the 19th century American transcendentalist writer and preservation thinker. At the age of 28, he went to Walden alone to have a seclusion life and stayed in a small shabby cabin for two years during which he brought up wasteland for cultivation, relied on his own efforts and threw himself into the embrace of Mother Nature [3].The simple and plain life brought him the joy from the bequests of the nature. Meanwhile he concentrated on the enlightenment the nature brings to the human being. Thoreau, a representative of transcendentalism, treated the nature as a kind of powerful spiritual enlightenment and thought the nature possess luxuriant symbolic significance. Just as it is shown in Literature [4], “he devoted a lot of space to praise the beautiful sightseeing and to express his aesthetic experiences he got from the harmonious coexistence with the nature of Walden.”On the other hand, Thoreau described the scenery of Walden in detail with the application of enormous color words, especially the lake water, animals, the plant and the flower. The description by Thoreau impressed the readers deeply and made them captivated. In short, from beginning to end what can be found easily is Thoreau’s adore and deep love for the nature. Therefore, the author’s mood and emotion should be taken into consideration for dealing with the color words.Then it can be said that the translation of color words relies heavily on the description of the original things. This paper, on the premise of Thoreau’s optimistic attitude towards life and the fascinating scenery he intends to describe, focuses on the category, common habit, collocation, and word class of color words, and aims to translate those words properly according to the existing translation methods.2 The Translation of words Terms2.1 The Translation of Basic Color TermsAll in all, basic color words are used most frequently. The theory about basic color terms is put forwarded by American linguistics Barents Berlin and Paul Kay [5]. Basic color terms, the reflection of spectrum definition, refer to the color words describing the color of different things, such as white(白色), black(黑色), scarlet(鲜红色的), etc. Considering the different frequency and the author’s personal motive, basic color words in Walden can be classified into the following four types from the perspective of their translation.2.2 The Translation of Object Color TermsAccording to Literature [13], object color terms refer to those objects that have striking color attributes and could be used as the color words for such properties. Color is an abstract concept. If associated with relevant things for analogy and imagination, the abstract color will become concrete, vivid and visual. Object color words, affected largely by natural environment, customs, social and cultural background, are capable of expressing the changes of color words flexibly. According to the word-formation, personally speaking, object color words in Walden can be divided into three categories:“image” + “hyphen” + “basic color term”or “colored (tinted)”, “image”+ the suffix “y”, and one word without regular composition. In Walden, although occurring not frequently, those words served an important purpose.As the use of object color words of strong objectivity is generally free from the author’s emotional factors, it will suffice the original to translate the meaning of the term itself based on usual theory. Moreover, according to observation, object color words in Walden own several different compositions altogether. So the focus in the following is to analyze features of composition so as to find some guiding rules for the translation of these color words.2.3 Translations of Color Words Modified by Degree WordsBy and large, according to their composition and words used to modify them, color words modified by degree words are divided into four kinds:color words modified by “deep”, “light”and “pure”, “color word”+ suffix “ish”, color words composed of two color words, and color words modified by “bright”, “vivid”… .Being similar to the above object color terms, the first three possess fixed composition and their meanings get little influence from author’s personal intention. As a result of that, the literal translation according to relevant theories has the function to express the original. Nevertheless, it has been shown from the last kind that Thoreau adopted new methods to describe the natural scenery in order to present the natural beauty and prosperity more vividly, and the source text impresses readers deeply. In consequence, it is necessary for the translation of the last kind-color wordsmodified by “bright”, “vivid”, to take the author’s motive into account and the fixed means of translation owning the corresponding function should be found.Then what will be introduced are the respective analyses of the four kinds of color words modified by degree words.3 Names with a structure of “basic color words + hyphen + noun”Last but not least, this kind of words consisting of a unified structure of “basic color words + hyphen + noun”, occur commonly in Walden. According to the context, those words usually play a role to introduce names of plants, animals or other things. Thus as to the creature whose names are also known in China or can be found in dictionary, they can be substituted immediately in Chinese; the rest, whose names can’t be found in dictionary, normally need to be translated literally by the greatest extent in line with Chinese habit .4 ConclusionsThis paper first introduced the background of the book and the author, as well as the author’s thought, feeling, so that the bright pattern of translation can be defined. With that guideline, two most common kinds of color words-basic color terms and object color words were analyzed. Then came the color words modified by degree words. The similarity they share is that they are all classified into smaller parts according to the compositions, modifiers, frequency, effects and so on. The last kind of words, composed of color words and other words, but used to name something, also exist frequently. After the analyses of color words’ translation with examples, it can be seen that in order to find relevant theory and cope with the color words in Walden, besides Thoreau’s own thoughts and feelings, features of those color words, such as composition, modifiers, frequency, need to be attached much more importance.References[1] 何冰. 浅谈颜色词的翻译[J]. 职教和成教学校，2002（2）:122.[2] Chang Yao-xin. A Survey of American Literature[M]. Tianjin: Nankai University Press,2003:69.[3] 朱岩岩. 索罗和《瓦尔登湖》[J]. 文苑奇葩，2006(3):17-19.[4] 余陈乙. 索罗与迷人的《瓦尔登湖》[J]. 宁波大学学报, 2008,21(5):47-50.[5] Berlin, B and Kay, P. Basic Color Terms [M]. California: Berkeley University of CaliforniaPress, 1969.[6] Henry David Thoreau. Walden and Other Writings [M]. 上海：上海三联书店, 2008.[7] Henry David Thoreau. 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