ToForeignizeorToDomesticateAbstract1：Domesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationaretwodifferenttranslationstrategies.Theformerreferstothetranslationstrategyinwhichatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedinordertominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,whilethelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatargettextdeliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignessoftheoriginal.ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?Dotranslatorstendtouseforeignizingmethodsordomesticatingones?Whatarethefactorsthataffecttheirdecisionmaking?ThispapertriestofindanswerstothequestionsbylookingintothetranslationofEnglishmetaphorsintoChinese.Keywords:domesticatingtranslation;foreignizingtranslation;metaphor;targetlanguagereader1.IntroductionDomesticatingtranslationandforeignizingtranslationarethetermscoinedbyL.Venuti(1995)todescribethetwodifferenttranslationstrategies.Theformerreferstothetranslationstrategyinwhichatransparent,fluentstyleisadoptedinordertominimizethestrangenessoftheforeigntextfortargetlanguagereaders,whilethelatterdesignatesthetypeoftranslationinwhichatargettextdeliberatelybreakstargetconventionsbyretainingsomethingoftheforeignessoftheoriginal(Shuttleworth&Cowie,1997:59).TherootsofthetermscanbetracedbacktotheGermanphilosopherSchleiermacher#39;sargumentthatthereareonlytwodifferentmethodsoftranslation,eitherthetranslatorleavestheauthorinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmovesthereadertowardshim;orheleavesthereaderinpeace,asmuchaspossible,andmovestheauthortowardshim(Venuti,1995:19-20).ThetermsforeignizationanddomesticationmaybenewtotheChinese,buttheconceptstheycarryhavebeenatleastforacenturyattheheartofmosttranslationcontroversies.LuXun(鲁迅)oncesaidthatbeforetranslating,thetranslatorhastomakeadecision:eithertoadapttheoriginaltextortoretainasmuchaspossibletheforeignflavouroftheoriginaltext(Xu,inLuo,1984:315).ButwhatisthetranslationpracticelikeinChina?RecentlyIhavereadtwoarticleswhichshowcompletelyconflictingviewsonthisquestion.InhisarticleentitledChineseandWesternThinkingOnTranslation,A.LefeveremakesageneralizationbasedonhiscomparisonofChineseandWesternthinkingontranslation,WhenChinesetranslatestextsproducedbyOthersoutsideitsboundaries,ittranslatesthesetextsinordertoreplacethem,pureandsimple.Thetranslationstaketheplaceoftheoriginal.Theyfunctionastheoriginalintheculturetotheextentthattheoriginaldisappearbehindthetranslations.(Bassnett&Lefevere,1998:14)However,FungandKiuhavedrawnquitedifferentconclusionsfromtheirinvestigationofmetaphortranslationbetweenEnglishandChinese,OurcomparisonofthetwosetsofdatashowedthatinthecaseoftheEnglishmetaphortheimageoftenthannotretained,whereaswiththeChinesemetaphors,substitutionisfrequentlyused.OnereasonperhapsisthattheChineseaudiencearemorefamiliarwithandreceptivetoWesternculturethantheaverageEnglishreadersistoChineseculture.(Fung,1995)TheaboveconflictingviewsarousedmyinterestinfindingoutwhethertheChinesetendtodomesticateortoforeignizewhentheytranslateaforeigntext.InwhatfollowsIshallnotcomparetranslationbyWesternandChinesetranslators,butratherlookintothetranslationofEnglishmetaphorsintoChinese.2.WhatisMetaphor?TheRandomHouseUnabridgedDictionary(secondaddition)definesmetaphorasafigureofspeechinwhichatermorphraseisappliedtosomethingtowhichitisnotliterallyapplicableinordertosuggestaresemblance.WhileaccordingtoBBCEnglishDictionary,metaphorisawayofdescribingsomethingbysayingthatitissomethingelsewhichhasthequalitiesthatyouaretryingtodescribe.PeterNewmarkdefinesmetaphorasanyfigurativeexpression:thetransferredsenseofaphysicalword;thepersonificationofanabstraction;theapplicationofawordorcollocationtowhatitdoesnotliterallydenote,i.e.,todescribeonethingintermsofanother.Metaphorsmaybe#39;single#39;-viz.one-word-or#39;extended#39;(acollocation,anidiom,asentence,aproverb,anallegory,acompleteimaginativetext(1988b:104).Snell-HornbyrejectsNewmark#39;sconceptoftheone-wordmetaphorinfavourofWeinrich#39;sdefinitionthatmetaphoristext(1988:56).Shebelievesthatametaphorisacomplexof(atleast)threedimensions(object,imageandsense),reflectingthetensionbetweenresemblanceanddisparity(1988:56-57).Thispaperwillfollowtheideathatmetaphoristex