A New Textbook for English Translation of Chinese Classics

The paper introduces compiling concepts,main contents and features of the newly-compiled textbook for undergraduate students majoring in translation. The author proposes that the general principle for English translation of Chinese classics be "conveying the spirit and transmitting the meaning of the original".The paper also discusses the basic principle for translating different text types such as classical prose,poetry,drama,and fiction.The author argues that in selecting materials for the textbook due attention should be paid both to the multiple equivalence between source text and the translated text and to facors such as the society and culture of the target text,purpose of translation,the request of readership,etc.When enough background knowledge is provided to students,a selection of somewhat difficult passage translation exercises taken from famous Chinese classics is not only feasible,but also highly necessary.At the end of the paper,the author puts forward his suggestion as to how to further improve the quality of the textbook.