接受美学视角下的《背影》英译对比研究

A Contrastive Study of the English Translations of The Sight of Father’s Back from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics

摘要: 本文从接受美学理论视角出发，对朱自清散文《背影》的两种英译本——张培基译本与杨宪益、戴乃迭夫妇译本——进行了质性对比研究。文章运用接受美学中的“期待视野”和“召唤结构”两个核心概念作为分析框架。研究发现，张培基的译本主要采用归化策略，语言简洁地道，并对原文中的情感空白进行了显化与补充，其预设的目标读者更偏向于英语学习者。相比之下，杨宪益与戴乃迭的译本更侧重异化策略，保留了原文的句式结构与语义空白，旨在向外国读者传播原汁原味的中国文化。这说明，译者的翻译策略受到其对目标读者审美期待的预设影响，翻译是在选择性保留与动态调整中进行的一种跨文化交流活动。

Abstract: From the perspective of reception aesthetics, this study offers a qualitative comparison of two English translations of Zhu Ziqing’s classic prose The Sight of Father’s Back—one by Zhang Peiji and the other by Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie. The article uses the two core concepts of “horizon of expectations” and “appeal structure” in reception aesthetics as the analytical framework. The study finds that Zhang Peiji’s translation mainly adopts the domestication strategy characterized by concise and accurate language, and a tendency to explicitate the implicit emotions in the source text. Its assumed target readers are more inclined towards English learners. In contrast, Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie’s translation focuses more on the foreignization strategy, preserving the original syntactic structures and semantic openness of the original text to convey the original flavor of Chinese culture to foreign readers. This indicates that the translation strategies of translators are influenced by their preconceived aesthetic expectations of the target readers. Translation is a cross-cultural communication activity carried out through selective retention and dynamic adjustment.