This paper aims to conduct a further study in the readability of English to Chinese translation of conceptual metaphors in news. The definition of “conceptual metaphor” is first put forward by Lakoff and Johnson in their masterpiece Metaphors We Live By[1]. The metaphor has been traditionally considered as a specific language phenomenon and a rhetoric device for a long period of time. The publishing of Metaphors We Live By[1] marked a milestone in terms of the metaphor research, to be more exact, shifting the research orientation to the cognitive approach. As Lakoff and Johnson point out in their book, “metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action”. In other words, they propose that metaphor is not just a matter of words alone, it is cognitive in nature. This innovative concept greatly contributes to the further development of the understanding and application of metaphor, particularly in the translation of English news which contains many metaphors. Under such a circumstance, many scholars, at home and abroad, began to explore a better way to translate the conceptual metaphors in news from cognitive perspectives. Among those previously published papers, many of the researchers only focus on the expression and explanation of specific words and difficult sentences, limiting the related studies within specific translations or effects of several kinds of conceptual metaphor. Compared with the few articles about the readability of translation of news, researches on the readability of translation of conceptual metaphors in English news are even fewer. It is also worth noting that a large number of previous researches are confined to many old-fashioned examples. These examples, such as job-hunting, PK and bull market, do have their typicality. Yet, in the current world economic climate, they cannot best reflect the latest application of conceptual metaphors and thus cannot be taken as suitable examples to analyze their effects and readability in translations. Therefore, this paper focuses on the study of the readability of English to Chinese translation of conceptual metaphors in news with the case of latest versions of English news and data from Financial Times.

Metaphor is pervasive in people’s lives and we often apply this device to writings. It is regarded as an important tool, with which people can reconstruct their deeper understanding of the physical experience. Based on this point, this paper tries to study the metaphorical phenomenon from the perspective of the readability of the translation of conceptual metaphor. The significance of the paper has both theoretical and practical values:

Firstly, this paper theoretically discusses the readability of translation of conceptual metaphors in news from three main aspects: vocabulary and syntax, style and statement, and reading effect, thus enriching the previous study of conceptual metaphor and providing a new perspective for the future study.

Secondly, through a study of English to Chinese translation of conceptual metaphors in the news from the perspective of readability, it is expected that the different effects of ways of translation on the readability of news, particularly in vocabulary and syntax, style and statement, and reading effect could not only bring some enlightenment on ESP (English for Specific Purpose) teaching and learning activities, news writing and translation, but also raise the public awareness of accuracy and readability of the news via translation of news in English.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

This paper mainly focuses on the readability of the translation of conceptual metaphors and theirs different effects in different contexts based on the bilingual news taken from Financial Times.

Based on the conceptual metaphor theory and the readability principle on the basis of translation, this paper intends to analyze the effects and readability of the translation of conceptual metaphors in news, emphasizing the significance of readability together with faithfulness in the translation of conceptual metaphors in English news. To achieve this purpose, this paper adopts the conceptual metaphor theory as theoretical foundation, and articles from Financial Times as corpus and conducts a systematic research and both quantitative and qualitative analysis on the readability of the translation of conceptual metaphor in three main aspects: vocabulary and syntax, style and statement, and reading effect so as to illustrate the significance of readability in the translation of conceptual metaphor and summarize some applicable ways to translate the English news with conceptual metaphors into Chinese as conclusion. In addition, classification is also applied to visually demonstrate translations of different kinds of conceptual metaphors and their respective readability in different contexts.

[1]Lakoff, G. amp; Johnson, M. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.

[2]Lakoff, G. What Is A Conceptual System? The Nature and Ontogenesis of Meaning, (1994)：41-90.

[3]Dong-Mei L U. A Study on the Explanation of Conceptual Metaphor in English Business News[J]. 海外英语(上), 2017(8):211-212.

[4]胡小婧. A Study on the Translation of Metaphor in English Economic News from a Cognitive Perspective[D]. 2015.