【正文】 items can be divided in terms of parts of speech, function and so on. In terms of parts of speech, Chinese lexical items, especially words, can be divided into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, etc. In terms of function, Chinese lexical items can fall into ordinary words, proper words, technical terms, and so on, as well as sayings, including idioms, set phrases, proverbs, allegorical sayings, etc. Answer to Question 2 ? Actually any unit of a Chinese text can serve as the bearer of Chinese culture and constitutes part of the Chinese culture, but Chinese lexical items, in a sense, embody the Chinese culture more typically than others, at least seemingly more typically. For example, for years, we have introduced English sentence patterns into the Chinese language so that when we say “如果你不來，我們就不給你留位子了 ” ， we cannot say for sure that it is a typical Chinese sentence free from any English influence, Answer to Question 2 (continued) ? for the English translation would be, to some extent, structurally a Chinese equivalent: If you do not e, we will not keep the seat for you. Such sentential similarities can be easily located in both languages. However, when it es to a Chinese personal name, a Chinese place name, a name for a Chinese utensil, a name for a Chinese architecture, a Chinese idiom, a Chinese set phrase, a Chinese proverb, Answer to Question 2 (continued) ? a Chinese allegorical saying and so on, such similarities can hardly readily be found, and all these items cannot be fully understood without referring to the Chinese culture. For example, when we say 四合院， it will conjures up a picture different from an English flat. In terms of value, in de Saussre”s sense, the Chinese 叔叔 is not worth as much as the English uncle. Answer to Question 3 For translation of lexical items from Chinese into English, there are such mechanisms as sound translation, meaning translation, soundmeaning translation and so on. Occasionally, people add notes to the translation of Chinese lexical items or stretch the translation to a prolonged length to include the cultural or social meaning of a particular Chinese lexical item. However, no matter by what mechanism, we cannot always, if we can on some occasions, revive the meaning of the original pletely. Answer to Question 3 (continued) The reason perhaps is that behind the lexical items of a language, there stand the textual grid of that language and cultural grid or the social grid relevant to the language, in Basset’s terms. In de Saussure’s term, the value of a word is determined by the value of relevant words in the same semantic field. In translation of Chinese lexical items into English, we cannot translate the textual, cultural or social grid or even the semantic field relevant to the lexical items, Answer to Question 3 (continued) though we can by other means introduce some ideas of the grid or the semantic field. As for which of the mechanisms to choose, it much depends on the inclination of the translator, though on the translation situation as well. Take the translation of the personal names of A Dream of Red Mansions for example. Some use pinyin while others turn to meaning translation and still others turn to a bination of pinyin and meaning translation. And the pinyin users can be divided into those who use the pinyin that can be witnessed in putonghua and those who use the code system of Webster. Answer to Question 3 (continued) ? Note that in the above discussion, we used sound translation instead of transliteration, as often used by some Chinese translation theoreticians, because we believe that transliteration literally means letter for letter translation and it is often, if not always, employed by Western theoretician accordingly. Answer to Question 4 For university students, translation mainly means rendering the original into the target by choosing proper lexical items and proper sentence patterns. Generally speaking, they are not expected to transplant the seed as we do in translation of a Chinese poem into English or the other way round, nor are they expected to do anything more sophisticated than to translate a passage of prose, real or fictional. It is in this sense that we say that translation of lexical items from Chinese into English is a demanding task for university students. For others, however, the statement may not apply. Answer to Question 4 (continued) ? Another account for the statement may lie in the fact that lexical items are extremely closely related to the differences of the two cultures that take the two languages as their code systems, as was discussed in the above answer. Answer to Question 5 We firmly believe that it is the inherent defect of translation. Take translation of the three names of 賈寶玉 、 林黛玉 、 薛寶釵 for example. Due to the fact that Chinese and English are totally different languages that transliteration cannot apply in this case, the normal practice for translation of the three names is by pinyin. However, in the form of Chinese character, Jia Baoyu may be considered as a cross cousin of Lin Daiyu on the one hand and a cross cousin of Xue Baochai on the other. Answer to Question 5 (continued) Also, the Chinese character 黛 tells the Chinese reader that Lin Daiyu may probably be a female and the Chinese character 釵 also tells the Chinese reader that Xue Baochai may probably be another female. And Baoyu is honorific reference of a stone, usually used to name males. Answer to Question 5 (continued) In the Chinese culture of the time, cross cousins of defferent sexes can fall in love with o