《政府工作报告》英译文本的语言特征与文本效果研究——一项基于语料库的研究

A Corpus-based Study of the Linguistic Features and Textual Effect of the English Translation of the Government Work Report

本文采用语料库方法,依据批评话语分析理论,从高频实义词、第一人称代词"we"以及情态动词等典型词汇应用的角度切入,并与美国国情咨文进行对照,分析2000—2016年《政府工作报告》英译文本的语言特征及其文本效果,即英译文本所塑造的关于说话主体的看法或印象。研究表明,《政府工作报告》英译文本中,高频实义词和we的应用成功描写了中国政府奋发图强、脚踏实地和积极有为等特征。我们认为,《政府工作报告》英译文本所塑造的关于中国政府的上述印象是译者翻译策略与方法应用和中国政府的作为等因素影响的产物;《政府工作报告》及其英译应当尽量少用高量值情态动词和无主句,以缩短中国政府与民众之间的心理距离。

In light of critical discourse analysis, this paper, using corpus methodology, investigates the linguistic features and textual effect of the English translation of the Government Work Report （2000--2016）. The investigation shows that the Chinese government is shaped as an enterprising and hardworking government as a result of the use of high-frequency content words and high-frequency collocations with ＂we＂, but the frequent use of high value modal verbs has enlarged the psychological distance between the Chinese government and the readers of the Government Work Report. It is argued that the above impression of the Chinese government may be attributable to such factors as the impact of the source text, and the translator＇ s use of translation strategies and methods. It is suggested that the use of high value modal verbs be avoided as much as possible in the Government Work Report and its English translation.