2. Literature Review

2.1 Brief review of euphemism

Euphemism is originated from the Greek. Its prefix #8220;eu#8221; means good, sounding well, and its root #8220;pheme#8221; means speech or saying. The emergence of euphemism is related to religion. At the very beginning, in Greek, people used indirect things to call the Gods in order to avoid irratating them by calling their name, for example, they called Jupiter #8220;the Thunderer#8221;. Also the emergence of euphemism is related to language taboo. It exists in every society, every culture and different society and culture has different language taboos.

In the early 80s in 18^th century, an English writer George Blunt first quoted euphemism in English and defined it as #8220;a good or favourable interpretation of bad word#8221;(Deng amp; Wang, 1999, p.139), which is considered to be the earlist definition and application. Now euphemism is the #8220;substitution of mild or vague or roundabout expression for harsh or blunt or direct one#8221;(Concise Oxford Dictionary, 7^th edition, 1982).

Generally, euphemism adds more elegance and politeness into people#8217;s communication, which makes it indispensable in our daily life. And what is more, according to different criterions, euphemism can be divided into diffenent groups. For instance, positive euphemisms tend to help to avoid direct irritation or sadness, while negative euphemisms always serve govermental agencies in order to cover political affairs like damage or crimes.

2.2 Review on previous researches on Hawkes#8217; translation of euphemisms in The Story of the Stone

Translation, as an activity of intercultural exchanges, is becoming more and more usual under the background of cultural globalization. Translation of literary works such as novels, short stories, plays, poems, etc. is considered to be an important ways of exchange of cultural information.

Hongloumeng, written by Cao Xueqin, has been considered one of four famous novels in China. It has been translated by many translators into English, Spanish, and so on and has a great influence in passing Chinese culture to the world. Therefore, the translations of Hongloumeng draw many scholars#8217;and writers#8217; attention both nationally and internationally. Studies on Hongloumeng and its versions have became very popular for many years.

2.2.1 Studies at home

The story of the stone, translated by David Hawkes, is one of the famous versions of Hongloumeng. Mostly, scholars in China tend to make comparisons with other famous versions on many aspects such as the translation of idioms, adage, polite address, poems, etc.or the principles and techniques of translating Hongloumeng from different points of view. Of course, there are many scholars focus on the translation of euphemisms in The story of the stone.