Abstract
Categorization, as an important theory in cognitive linguistics, refers to humans1 mentalprocess of classification under interaction of objective elements and subjective psychology.
With profound psychological basis,categorization has certain theoretical and practical valueto translation study. Taking Shuihuzhuan and its two English versions as corpus data,thisthesis intends to study lexical re-categorization and translation from the perspective ofcontemporary categorization theory.
Dating back to Classical Theory put forward by Aristotle, prototypical category theory isgradually molded in the development of categorization with the point-making such as “familyresemblance” and “foci”. Prototypical categorization theory holds that there exists a prototypein each kind of category.
There are three levels of category: basic level category, subordinate level category, andsuperordinate level category. Compared with the other two levels, basic level category gets arelatively central position, which is more common in our perceptional process.
Based on the notion claimed by cognitive linguists that words have cognitive andpsychological foundation, the nature of words translation is a process containing the switchingof cognitive categories between languages. Drawing materials from Shuihuzhuan and itsEnglish versions respectively by Pearl Buck and Dent-Yang,this thesis mainly studies thetransfer of lexical category in English and Chinese. Lexical category in the thesis principallyincludes three types: general category like color terms, sound imitation, unit terms, actions;culture-specific category as ecologicalculture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and linguistic culture; and alsocategory extension, containing metaphor and metonymy. In addition to these, lexical categorycan be used as a textual cohesive device. Langacker's S,T scanning model is referred toexplain the four translation outcomes of Pearl Buck and Dent-Yang,which can be concludedas: S>T（overtranslaion）； S<T（undertranslation）； S=T（equivalent translation）； S 幸T（mistranslation）。
The thesis has studied the translation difference of the lexical categories betweenDent-Yang's work and Pearl Buck's based on the qualitative and quantitative comparison. Theoutcome shows that Pearl Buck has done a relatively better job in terms of the lexicalcategories translation with higher frequency of equivalent translation and lower frequency ofovertranslation and undertranslation. However, there are certain inadequacies in Buck'stranslation with a higher frequency of mistranslation and non-translation. The differenceresults are mainly due to the different understandings to the source text and the differenttranslation strategies' adoption.
ABSTRACT
This interpretation report is concerned with the English-Chinese simultaneousinterpretation program of the attributive clauses in Barack Obama's 2013 State of theUnion Address. It targets to improve the author's practical skills of interpretation.
Barack Obama's 2013 State of the Union Address is a personal political addresswith formal language and personal presentation style. In the presentation, Obama usedmany attributive clauses to give information. However, the attributive clauses are verydifficult for simultaneous interpretation. Because of the huge differences in linguisticstructures between Chinese and English, it is tough for interpreters to finishinterpretation and maintain logic regularity simultaneously. In detail, it is difficult totranslate the very long attributive clauses into adjectives. And it is tough for interpretersto translate the attributive clauses located in the middle of the sentence as well as theattributive clauses at the end of the sentence, which costs much time in simultaneousinterpretation and may influence the interpretation of the following text.
According to Peter Newmark, semantic translation attempts to render, as closely asthe semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allows, the exactcontextual meaning of the original （Newmark, 1982:41）。 This report adopts PeterNewmark's Theory of Semantic Translation to overcome the different structuresbetween two languages and interpret the whole information contained in the originaltext. It puts forward four methods for attributive clauses interpretation: segmentationonce,segmentation twice, syntactic linearity and synthesization. So,the interpretersdon't have to translate the linguistic structure and ensure the following text will beinterpreted.
This program explores the simultaneous interpretation methods for attributiveclauses in Barack Obama!s 2013 State of the Union Address, pointing out thedifficulties and methods of attributive clauses interpretation, which may improve theauthor's ability of interpretation and help other interpreters to deal with similardifficulties in the future.
Abstract
Based on the framework of Bandura's social learning theory and Edward T. Hall's inter?cultural communication competence theory, this thesis discusses the potential effect ofindividual's cognitive cultural, behavioural and environmental aspects on inter-culturalcommunication, postulating cultural intelligence （CQ） as a key driver of cultural adaptationand team performances among culturally diverse students.
Throughout an empirical case study of 7 post-graduate programmes at Imperial CollegeBusiness School, the thesis observes, investigates and analyses 322 international participantsin seven-month time. Drawing upon 5 different components, i.e., self-efficacy, contactapproach, cultural intelligence, diversity and team performances, 4 sets of measurement itemsproving by researchers in relevant fields were adopted to assess and compare the potentialimpact of target group's cognitive, motivational and behavioural CQ changes throughoutexperimental education over time, as well as their effects on team collaboration andperformance. SPSS is adopted to justify the validity and reliability of collected data, while apath map analysis has been generated with coefficients, variance and correlations explained indetails.
The five hypotheses have been justified, illustrating 3 significant findings: Self-efficacyand contact theories are positively connected with cultural intelligence development;Cognitive and motivational cultural intelligence are directly related to positive teamperformances; while behavioural cultural intelligence is connected with team performancethrough the mediation of perceived team-efficacy; Culturally diverse student teams cannotperform as well as culturally homogeneous teams at the initial stage, but the performancegrowth rate and long-term competitive advantage are eventually greater than less diverseteams with the help of cultural intelligence. The result can have two-fold implications. Forstudents, learning cultural differences and improving language capability is far from enoughto work efficiently in culturally diverse contact, new skills and contact approach should alsobe acquired for both cultural adaptation and communication. For educators, such experientialeducation as Imperial College Business School is worth following since it might work betterand more efficient in students' cultural intelligence development than the traditionalknowledge based cultural education. Limitation of the analysis as well as suggestions forfurther study is also discussed in the final part.
Abstract
Middlemarch is a representative work of George Eliot's mature novels, connecting theprevious Romantic tradition with modern novel in the history of English literature and hasaroused interpretations and analyses from different angles. With the subtitle of provincialstudy, Victorian women and women questions reflected in Eliot's Middlemarch cannot beneglected. Although some scholars have already studied Middlemarch from the feministperspective, a concentrated study on Victorian women and women questions as well asGeorge Eliot's distinct feminist views as reflected in the novel is still needed. This thesisconcentrates on Victorian women represented by Dorothea and their women questions asresearch objects via the employment of Elaine Showalter's gynocritic theory. Firstly,according to the theories of the three phases of female writing proposed by Showalter, thethesis focuses on the first phasethe feminine phase represented by Eliot. By studying onfeminine characters, male characters and writing features in this phase,the text intends to digout the writing tradition of feminine writers. Secondly, by the help of Eliot's biography andletters, the thesis defines women questions in Middlemarch as problems feminine charactersencounter in the patriarchal-dominant family,the patriarchal-controlling community and theisosexual group. The study on these questions, moreover, is carried out by combining twoimportant ideas proposed by Eliot~sympathy and self-development. Concentrating on therepresentative Victorian womanDorothea as our research target, the study intends toexamine the fiinctions and limitations of the aforesaid two ideas via the analysis of Dorothea'schange and growth in her two marriages, in Middlemarch community as well as in theisosexual group of Victorian women. After a deep study of the novel, the thesis comes to theconclusion that Eliot is not a radical revolutionist on women questions. Her feminine idea ofsympathy represents Victorian women's positive attitudes to tackling women questions, whichdoes not refer to martyrdom but enables feminine characters to make self-sacrifice so as toimprove their self-awareness. When it comes to women's self-development, she,affected bythe contemporary Victorian ideas,is confined to the awakening of feminine consciousness.
Although Victorian women like Dorothea have their feminine voices heard in the novel, theirself-development is still suppressed by the patriarchal authority, which reflects Eliot'spessimistic outlook on an overall self-development of Victorian women.
