Abstract English proverbs, along with the literary words, began to appear in various literary works. Parts of English proverbs come from the written literature, mainly from Greek and Roman myths, fables, Shakespeare’s plays and a number of famous works. This thesis will analyze and explore the characteristics of English proverbs and their translation methods from the three aspects of lexical devices, syntactical devices and phonetic devices.69716

Key words: English proverb; rhetorical characteristics; translation methods

摘要流传于民间口语中的谚语，伴随着文字的产生，开始出现在各种文学作品和文化典籍中。英语谚语有一部分来自书面文献，主要出自希腊罗马神话、寓言故事、莎士比亚戏剧以及一些名家作品中。本文从英语谚语词义的修辞格、结构的修辞格及语音的修辞格三方面分析和探讨英语谚语的各种特点及其翻译方法。

毕业论文关键词：英语谚语；修辞特点；翻译方法 

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Rhetorical Features 2

3.1 Lexical devices 2

3.2 Syntactical devices 4

3.3 Phonetic devices 5

4. Translation of English Proverbs 6

4.1 Literal translation 7

4.2 Free translation 9

4.3 Equivalent translation 10

4.4 Annotation 12

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction 

The definition of English proverb in Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary is popular with short suggestion and warning epigram. There has long history for English proverbs. It is people’s experience of life against nature. The feature of the English proverb is concise and comprehensive.

English proverbs can be easily understood for the use of simple words, easily recited for harmonious rhyme and impressed deeply on people with vivid comparison and description. As Russell said: “A proverb is one man’s wit and all men’s wisdom”, and also Francis Bacon said: “The genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs”. The contents of the English proverb include many aspects: politics, society, geography, national custom, history and culture. It is the valuable key which helps us understand English-speaking countries. Some proverbs contain philosophical truth of human life, eg: “Life is long if it is full”(生活充实，生命长久). Some proverbs are connected with learning, eg: “If you lie upon rose when young, you lie up on thorns when old”(少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲). Some proverbs are connected with interpersonal relationship, eg: “Better die standing than live kneeling”(宁愿站着死，不愿跪着生). And others are connected with family and society, eg: “He who keeps company with a wolf will learn to howl”(近墨者黑). English proverbs not only contain many philosophical theories, but also considered as the Jewel House of language and rhetoric art. This thesis explores rhetoric involved in English proverbs and summarizes corresponding translation approaches.

2. Literature Review文献综述

The famous English writer Professor Wang Zuoliang advocates studying and researching the rhetoric in the early fifty years ago. Since the 1980s, the vigorous development of English rhetorics has achieved a lot of new progress in China. For instance, Feng Cuihua studies English rhetorics on the basis of the theory and practice. English Rhetorical Options of Feng Cuihua is pided into five types: Syntactic means, lexical means, the mean of speech rhythm, rhetoric, allusions and quotations. It improves great help for future generations to learn figures of speech. A Concise Course of English Rhetoric by Li Shude and Feng Qi describes the detail of simile, personification, hyperbole, parody, palindromes and more than 22 kinds of rhetoric methods. It exposes the definition, origin, expression technique and rhetoric effect about each English rhetoric from a new angle. It makes readers have a new understanding of English rhetoric. In addition, some scholars classify figures of speech in English and Chinese proverbs by analyzing the relationship between rhetoric and translation. They discuss the translation method from perspective of rhetoric. For example, Zeng Zili, who has been studying English proverbs for a long time. The book of An Overview of English Proverbs published in 1983. In his book, Mr. Zeng lectures on the definition, origins, classification and translation of English proverbs. His book achieved high popularity and it set an example in English proverbs study. Another book, written by Wang Dechun, entitled Proverbs and culture in Chinese and English, was published in 2003. The author in this book discusses in detail the origins, cultural implications, language features and social function of Chinese and English proverbs. The book is unique in that it pays due attention to cultural difference and common points by comparing Chinese proverbs with English proverbs, which offers a new perspective in proverbs study.