【正文】 只有這樣，他們能打造出更為完善的翻譯作品。 Gao E with its English versions by Yang HsienYi amp。（第五回， P132，下劃線為筆者所加） Beyond this archway was a palace gateway with the inscription in large character: Sea of Grief and Heaven of Love. The bold couplet flanking this read: Firm as earth and lofty as heaven, passion from time immemorial knows no end。不免賈母又傷感起來(lái)，因說(shuō)：“我這些兒女，所疼者獨(dú)有你母，今日一旦先 舍我而去 ，連面不能一見(jiàn)，今見(jiàn)了你，我怎不傷心！”（第三回， P67，下劃線為筆者所加） All the talk now was of Daiyu’s mother. How had she fallen ill? What medicine had the doctors prescribed? How had the funeral and mourning ceremonies been conducted? Inevitably, the Lady Dowager was most painfully affected. “Of all my children I loved your mother best,” she told Daiyu. “Now she has gone before me, and I didn’t even have one last glimpse of her face. The sight of you makes me feel my heart will break!”（ Chapter Three, P68, underlined by the author of the dissertation） SL Device Function CP PP Basis Chinese Lexical Taboo Violation Adaptation Context TL Device Function CP PP Basis English Lexical Taboo Violation Adaptation Context 15 As is mentioned in Chapter Two, death is a taboo in munication. In order not to mention this affair directly, grammatical device is employed here to achieve the pragmatic function. “Gone” refers to someone’s death, which has the equivalent “去 ” in ancient Chinese. Also, the speaker says that she couldn’t see her daughter and didn’t have the last glimpse. So we can infer the person’s death from this context. With contextual factor as the dominant role, the translator tries to carry the message from the source text to the readers of the target text. Here literal translation contributes to a successful message transfer, which is acceptable in this situation. Sample Two: 轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)牌坊，便是又一座宮門，上面橫書(shū)四個(gè)大字，乃是：“孽海情天”。 關(guān)鍵詞 : 英語(yǔ)委婉語(yǔ) 語(yǔ)用功能 文學(xué)翻譯 iii CONTENTS Chapter One Introduction............................................................................................ 1 Background Information……… ..…………………………………………… ..1 Research Questions…………… ..…………………………………………… ..1 Organization of the Dissertation……… ..…………………………………… ...2 Chapter Two Literature Review .................................................................................. 3 Definitions of English Euphemism ................................................................... 3 Formation of English Euphemism .................................................................... 3 Phoic Device ...................................................................................... 4 Lexical Device ........................................................................................ 4 Grammatical Device ............................................................................... 4 Figurative Device .................................................................................... 4 Pragmatic Device .................................................................................... 5 Euphemism and Pragmatic Functions ............................................................... 5 Taboo ....................................................................................................... 5 Avoiding Vulgarity .................................................................................. 6 Beautification .......................................................................................... 6 Concealing .............................................................................................. 6 Humor ..................................................................................................... 7 Principles of Using Euphemism........................................................................ 7 The Cooperative Principle ...................................................................... 7 The Politeness Principle .......................................................................... 9 Chapter Three Research Methods ............................................................................. 12 An Analysis of Various Sources ...................................................................... 12 Case Studies and Contextual Analysis ............................................................ 12 Research Process ............................................................................................. 13 iv Chapter Four Case Studies and Discussion............................................................... 14 Case One: A Dream of Red Mansions ............................................................. 14 Case Two: Pride and Prejudice ...................................................................... 20 Results and Summary...................................................................................... 22 Summary of Pragmatic Functions ......................................................... 22 The Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle ....................... 23 Summary of Factors in Translating Euphemism ................................... 23 Suggestions for Translating Euphemism............................................... 24 Chapter Five Conclusion........................................................................................... 25 Summary ......................................................................................................... 25 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 25 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 26 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 28 1 Chapter One Introduction Background