摘 要

《安德的游戏》是一部获得科幻小说最高荣誉雨果奖和星云奖的美国优秀科幻小说。近年来随着国内科幻行业的快速发展，相关研究也逐渐被重视起来。《安德的游戏》相关研究多从电影艺术、儿童教育、人性思考、政治安全等角度出发，缺少翻译研究。本文试图基于德国学者弗米尔的翻译目的论对《安德的游戏》做翻译研究，在翻译目的论三原则的指导下，分析得出翻译目的是满足中国读者畅想未来的娱乐需求、传述本书的多角度积极思考、尊重原作者认为本书应该简明易读的要求；还通过中英对照分析总结出译者运用的部分技巧，如词的翻译技巧词性转换、增词、删词、重复，句的翻译技巧如语态转换、语序转换、拆译法、合译法，并给予原文与译文中对应的例子。

关键词：安德的游戏；翻译目的论；科幻文学；小说翻译

Abstract

Ender's Game is an excellent American science fiction novel that has won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. In recent years, with the rapid development of science fiction industry in China, relevant research has been paid more and more attention. The related studies of Ender's Game are mostly from the perspectives of film art, children's education, human nature thinking, political security, etc., and lack translation studies. Based on the skopos theory of translation proposed by Vermeer, a German scholar, this paper attempts to study the translation of Ender's Game. Under the guidance of the three principles of skopos theory, it is concluded that the purpose of translation is to meet the Chinese readers’ entertainment needs to imagine the future; to convey the positive thinking of various aspects of the works; to follow the original author's intention that the works should be concise and easy to read. Some of the techniques employed by the translator, such as the word translation techniques – conversion, amplification, omission and repetition; and the sentences translation techniques – voice change, inversion, division and combination. They all are given with examples corresponding to the original text and the translation.

Key Words: Ender’s Game; spokos theory; science fiction; translation of novel

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 Studies on Skopos Theory 3

2.1.1 Skopos Theory 3

2.1.2 Related Research Abroad 3

2.1.3 Related Research in China 4

2.2 Studies on Ender’s Game 4

2.3 Studies on Translation of Science Fiction based on Skopos Theory 5

3 Analysis 7

3.1 Skopos (or Purpose) of the Translation of Ender’s Game 7

3.2 Analysis of Word Translation Based on Skopos Theory 8

3.2.1 Analysis of Translation of Contents 9

3.2.2 Analysis of Conversion in Word Translation 13

3.2.3 Analysis of Amplification in the Translation 13

3.2.4 Analysis of Omission in the Translation 14

3.2.5 Analysis of Repetition in the Translation 14

3.3 Analysis of Sentence Translation Based on Skopos Theory 15

3.3.1 Analysis of Voice Change in the Translation 16

3.3.2 Analysis of Inversion in the Translation 16

3.3.3 Analysis of Division in the Translation 17

3.3.4 Analysis of Combination in the Translation 18

4 Conclusion 19

References 21

Acknowledgements 23

Study of the Translation of Ender's Game Based on Skopos Theory

1 Introduction

Ender’s Game, a winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, is a military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The story takes place in the future. At that time, the earth had twice been attacked by the Buggers, and the second time was especially tragic. However, a legendary man, Mazer Rackham, turned the war around and the earth barely survived. The international fleet believes that only by looking for gifted children around the world, sending them to a space station dedicated to training children ("combat schools") and shaping them into military wizards can human beings have the hope of survival. Many children were eliminated, including Ender's brother and sister. Ender, a rare military genius, was chosen at the age of six, and was subjected to a brutal round of simulated combat. In just a few weeks, he grew from a recruit to a leader. However, the fighting school is a grotto for children. In order to inspire his ability, the instructor deliberately changed the rules of the game and constantly pushed him into danger. But Ender won the trust of his teammates and the respect of his opponents with his strength. He bravely challenged his physical and psychological limits again and again. Finally, in a "game training", he led his team to eliminate the Bugger queen and ushered in a rebirth for mankind.

While Ender’s Game was published as a short story in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, it has got onto the Nebula ballot and the Hugo ballot. So, it’s not surprising so much that Ender’s Game was recognized as “best novel” by the 1985 Nebula Award and the 1986 Hugo Award in the genres of science fiction and fantasy, after Card rewrote it at novel length and published it on January 15, 1985. The book is so popular that it has been translated into 34 languages, and it has a film adaptation of the same name, which was released on October 2013.

On September 1, 2003, the Chinese translation of Ender’s Game by Li Yi was published by Sichuan Science and Technology Press. Maybe because science fiction was too niche in China at that time, Ender's game did not cause a strong sensation in the market, but it still accumulated a good reputation in the science fiction readers group. With the release of Ender's game movie in various countries in January 2013 and in China in January 2014, Ender's game has attracted more readers and publishers. In November 2013, Guangxi Science and Technology Press published Ender’s Game. It is worth noting that Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem (translated by Liu Yukun) got the nomination of Nebula Award and won Hugo Award in 2015, which really caused a sensation in China. The readership of Chinese science fiction has greatly expanded, driving the development of the Chinese science fiction industry. In 2016, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House published Ender’s Game.

All those publishing houses use Li Yi’s translation. But Li Yi didn’t become famous or earn a reputation. There is no more introduction except “translated by Li Yi”. Every reader knows Ender’s Game is translated by someone named Li Yi, but no one exactly knows who Li Yi is. I sent an email to the editor of Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House to ask for Li Yi's information, but even after asking his editor friends of Sichuan Science and Technology Press, he couldn’t get Li Yi's information. By chance, I found the clues obtained by netizens on the Internet. Li Yi's online name is bestof21cn. He first started translating Ender's Game in the Dragon Sky Forum in 2002, and he also served as the forum's moderator of science fiction reasoning section. In 2004, he had a post saying that he majored in computer software and he was a senior programmer. (coincidentally, Liu Yukun, the translator of The Three Body Problem, also has the identity of a programmer.) The reason behind the situation is that the translators of science fiction didn’t get enough status and attention. However, the deeper reason is that the whole science fiction industry was struggling desperately. At that time, writers and translators of science fiction were part-time amateur; the press and its editors sustained with difficulty, but they all plunged into science fiction with great passion, even unknown to the public. It is not a regret of Li Yi, but a regret of the times.

The development of Chinese science fiction still has a long way to go. It lags behind western science fiction for historical reasons. For many years, science fiction has become an important channel for Western ideology input and culture input, until the great success of The Three Body Problem achieved a certain degree of ideology and culture output, and improved the soft power and cultural confidence of national culture. However, the development of Chinese science fiction still needs more people like Liu Cixin to make up for the gap and hold this cultural position. Science fiction research is of vital importance.

This thesis focuses on the translation study of Ender's game based on skopos theory, hoping to fill in the blank in science fiction research to a certain extent, help absorb the essence of western culture, remove the dross, and enhance the cultural soft power of our country.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Studies on Skopos Theory

2.1.1 Skopos Theory

The theory first appeared in an article published by linguist Hans Josef Vermeer in the German Journal Lebende Sprachen, 1978. Hans Vermeer coined the technical term “Skopos” from a Greek word defined as “purpose” to represent the aim of translation (Nord, 2018).