【文章內容簡介】 teral translation. Translation of short versionOne of the most prominent features in Shui Hu Zhuan is that at the beginning of every chapter or following certain stories, there tends to be a short version wrote by the author for the purpose of delivering his own ments, summarizing circumstance or forecasting the following text. Through the bination of language style and meaning that are conveyed, it can bring the original readers an exquisite refinement of literature. English and Chinese as two different cultural carriers, they have their own distinction and features, which cannot be pletely translated into anther language. For example, at the beginning of the book, Shi Nai’an summarizes the whole story with the version as follows:Original:紛紛五代亂離問，一旦云開復見天。草木百年新雨露，車書萬里舊江山。尋常巷陌陳羅綺，幾處樓臺奏管弦。人樂太平無事日，鶯花無限日高眠。General idea:After five dynasties’ warfare, people once again live a peace life. Peaceful circumstance and abundant products allow them to do what they want. Translation:After Five Dynasties’ turmoil and strife, The clouds dispersed and revealed the sky,Refreshing rain brought old trees new life, Culture and learning once again were high.Ordinary folk in the lanes wore silk, Music drifted from mansions and towers,Under the heavens all was serene, Men dozed off at noon midst gay birds and flowers.Shapiro translates the eightsentence version into English in order to introduce the target readers the historical and social background of the original text. However, it turns out that the translation only conveys the contain meaning and totally loses its feet and literary tinge. In functional equivalence theory, “nicety” and “art” are considered as two factors to judge the quality of a piece of translation. The translation should be correct and natural enough for its target language readers to accept. Due to this point of view, the translation above cannot be considered as “satisfactory”.On the contrary, versions in most of other chapters have been leaved out dimply. In chapter thirtyseven, a paragraph describes a man called Li Jun, “家住潯陽江浦上，最稱 豪杰英雄。眉濃眼大面皮紅。髭須垂鐵線，語話若銅鐘。凜凜身軀長八尺，能揮利劍霜鋒。沖波越浪立奇功。廬州生李俊，綽號混江龍”. In the above sentences, the author explains the character’s ancestral home, appearance, feat, and nickname. However, in the book Outlaws of the Marsh, Shapiro gives up translating them。 it causes the image of the character in his translated work not as vivid and visual as the original text. Such phenomenon can also be seen in many other translated works. It is not because those translators cannot find out suitable words and expressions to convey the original meaning。 it is because they are afraid that their translation would cause the reduction or disappearance of the original meaning and aesthetic feelings. of language style with principle of functional equivalence Translations of the idiom An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meanings of the words that form it. (Ding Wangdao, 1994: 20) Idiom can be regarded as the pick of the basket in language. It tends to be concise and prehensive, visual and vivid. Of these characters, it has the function of reflecting the distinct cultural features of a nation like a mirror. Most of the idioms originate from history authorities, mon usage, convention, religion, or chef oeuvres. When translating the idioms, Shapiro fully considers their cultural meaning and to the full extent of possible to make the target readers gain the contain meaning and cultural connotation. For example:Original: 五谷豐登，萬民樂業(yè)，路不拾遺，戶不夜閉。General idea: Getting a bumper grain harvest, people are satisfied with their work. People do not covet articles lost by others and are never afraid to be stolen even leaving their doors unlocked at night.Translation: Grain harvests were large, the people are happy at their work。 no one kept articles lost by others on the road, doors were left unlocked at night. Original: 樂極生悲，否極泰來。 General idea: Extreme joy begets sorrow. Out of the depth of misfortune es bliss.Translation: Ecstasy begets tragedy。 from misery good fortune springs. Original: 冤各有頭，債各有主。 General idea: It is better to aim at the one who takes the responsibility when disposes business.Translation: The culprit must pay for his wrong, the debtor for his debt. “Language only exists in and through society, so that it is a shared set of verbal habits and can only be understood in terms of the specific culture of which it is integral part”. (Nida, 2005: 20). Idioms are bound up with culture. Therefore, as to some of them which contain certain cultural connotation, it is impossible for the translators to achieve absolute equivalence. For example:Example 1 赤口上天，白舌入地。 Red lips rise to the sky, while tongue enters the earth. Example 2 屁滾尿流 To fart with terror and piss in one’s pantsExample 3 蕭墻禍起 Here es trouble.In Example 1, “赤口”, “白舌” means “dispute”, and “上天”, “入地” only take an effect of exaggeration. Through the English translation, it is difficult for the target readers to understand what the idiom means. In Example 2, “屁滾尿流” means “a man is extremely scared like a drowned mouse”. Reading the phrase, people who do not know much about Chinese culture may misunderstand the original meaning. Compared with Example 1 and 2, the latter one conveys the meaning however loses the cultural connotation. “蕭墻禍起” originates from an ancient Chinese story and means “trouble arises within the family”. In Example 3, Shapiro only tells the readers that there es the trouble. However, he does not realize that “蕭墻” means “family”. Although there are some unsatisfactory translations existing in the work Outlaws of the Marsh, most parts of it are translated successfully. Even if some of cultural connotations are not fully conveyed, it at least transmits the basic meaning. That is “minimal level of equivalence” defined by Nida. (Nida