A journalist friend who has been living in New York for many years writes a column for a Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong on cultural subjects, and Chinese and Western traditions, recently touched on the question:why translation of novels by well-known contemporary Chinese authors do not sell well abroad ?

　　Quoting a mainland source, Dong Dingshan revealed that in France, which probably”has the finest tastes for art and culture in the world, ”only 10 copies of translated works by Lu Xun and Ba Jin were sold in 1994.

　　The poor sales are a reminder that contemporary Chinese literature has yet to secure a place on the world stage as commensurate with its achievements.

　　One explanation is while many Chinese authors nowdays take great pride in having their works translated into foreign languages, few have any idea how much their novels would be understood, not to say enjoyed, in foreign countries. Another is those who have the power to select works for translation are guided entirely by their own very subjective standards rather than the taste and interests of foreign readers.The two interrelated but both show a lack of understanding of the foreign readership.

　　However, What seems to be the greatest difficulity to Dong on the translation of literary works for foreign consumption is rendering the distinctly different styles of Chinese prose(散文) writing. Whereas Chinese writer like to heap adjectives and decorative words, such descriptions are apt to be meaningless or annoying to foreign readers. Especially in the case of news writing, clarity is supreme and useless words only distract from a story’s readability.

　　In view of this, translation of lyrical(抒情的) works is often a thankless job. Dong believes essays and prose stand a much better chance of success. As for novels, success depends on whether foreign readers can follow the stories which are developed in circumstances with which they are entirely unfamiliar.

　　It is seldom realized that successful translation of Chinese novels is invariably the co-creation of the author and translator. With a good command od Chinese writing skills,the translator is ideally also someone who writes good, decent English, not just correct sentences.

　　The Chinese translator who relies on a dictionary every step of the way is unlikely to produce translations that can interest for readers, Dong believes.

　　There is a great deal of sense in Dong’sbelief that Chinese novels are ideally translated by native speakers of English,as did Professor Jeffrey Kinkley who recently translated Imperfect Paradise by the contemporary Chinese writer Shen Congwen. Kindly tood note in the preface of his traslation that word translation only hurts the original credo(信條) heard often enough among translation circles in China but which is much easier said than done.

　　1. The passage is mainly about

　　A) translation of lyrical works

　　B) improper translation

　　C) understanding of the foreign readership

　　D) achievements of Chinese literature translation

　　2. Dong Dingshan’s attitude toward contemporary Chinese literature translation can be best summarized as

　　A) unsatisfactory

　　B) cheerful

　　C) hopeful

　　D) indifferent

　　3. Translations of novels by well-known contemporary Chinese literature translation can be best summarized as

　　A) translted novels do not meet foreign readers’ taste and interest

　　B) novels being translated are best ones by famous writers

　　C) most translated works have distorted the originals

　　D) foreign readers’s taste have changed a lot

　　4 According to Dong Dingshan, what is the difference in prose writing between Chinese and foreigners?

　　A) Chinese prose is too political.

　　B) There are more adjectives and decorative word in Chinese prose.

　　C) There are more philosophical ideas in foreign prose.

　　D) Foreign prose is very personal.

　　5 All the following can be implied from the passage EXCEPT

　　A) A good translation of Chinese novel is the co-creation of the author and translator

　　B) A excellent translator should have a good command of Chinese and foreign language

　　C) Dong Dingshan believes that Chinese translator can do better job in translating Chinese novels into English

　　D) Word-for-word translation may hurt the original

　　Answer：b,a,a,b,b

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