Metaphorical words are usually the key to understanding the whole passage and they carry more messages than the words themselves。 “However, we often encounter problems when trying to translate English metaphorical words because cultural differences are embedded in them” (Zhouyi, 2004: 36)。 Besides, metaphorical words are countless and updating, which makes it difficult to compile all the metaphorical words。

“Some people would extremely think that each language is so distinctive that there is no effective way to translate one language into another。 But in fact, at least ninety percent of the fundamental structures of all languages are quite similar, and language universals far outweigh the pergences” (Nida, 2001: 106)。 Likewise, metaphorical words can be effectively translated。 The only problem is how to translate them both faithfully and effectively?

Five methods are introduced in this thesis and they are literal translation, free translation, filling-up translation, simile-converted translation and proverb-converted translation。 Different contexts should take different translating methods。 In order to fully grasp these five translating methods of metaphorical words, this thesis will make a thorough analysis on the basis of The Economist。 

The Economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science as well as technology and is considered as one of the most genuine English journals。 This thesis chooses typical metaphorical words in The Economist from 2010 to 2015，mainly covering the topics in economy, politics and society。 For example, “storm” is a typical metaphorical word and it means turmoil or unrest。 Therefore, a better translation of the phrase in The Economist “such as the one causing a storm in Wisconsin” (March 5, 2011: 56) should be “在威斯康辛州,这一点还引起过一场风波。” The translating method taken here is free translation。

II。 Literature Review 

2。1 Studies Abroad

Menaehim Dagut is regarded as the first one who takes metaphorical words into translation field。 He published a paper entitled Can Metaphor be Translated, where he believes that metaphorical word is an inpidual flash of imaginative insight, which is against the traditional language expression。 Metaphorical word is equipped with rich cultural uniqueness, giving readers a sense of astonishment and aesthetics (1976: 22-23)。 In Dagut’s opinion, metaphorical word is more than a rhetorical device to color language, but also a process of linguistic creation。 He believes that no general rule can be used to translate metaphorical words。 He declares that the meaning of metaphorical word is culture-specific。 The translation of metaphorical words means more than transference of language, but also transference of cross-culture。

Raymond Van den Broeck (1981: 77) issues an essay entitled The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Translation, in which he claims that the metaphor adoption is related to its functional relevance to the communicative situation。 He proposes three standards for metaphorical word translation: literal translation; substitution; and paraphrase。

Snell-Hornby (1988:58) claims that metaphorical word translation is a kind of cross-cultural activity。 Metaphor has a close relationship with perception and cultural value。 Translation is not only transference of language, but also transference of culture; not only a process of decode, but also a process of communication。 Therefore, metaphorical word translation cannot be decided by a set of rules, but must rely on the function and structure of the specific metaphor within the context concerned。文献综述

Menacere declares when dealing with metaphorical word, flexibility and sensitivity should be taken in account。 He suggests two tips be considered when translating metaphorical words: understand the metaphorical meaning within the language context; find the similar expression that is equivalent in meaning and function in target language。 (Menacere, 1992: 567-572)。