Abstract: Poetry translation is one of the most difficult jobs in the field of translation, especially the classical poetry translation from Chinese to English. As the golden treasury of Chinese history and culture, the Chinese poetic language is extremely terse and implicit, and bears beauty in meaning, sound and form. Many years’ translation practice in the field of poems enables Professor Xu Yuanchong to form his unique theory of translation aesthetics, which is constituted of “meaning beauty”, “sound beauty’’ and “form beauty”. The thesis discusses the translatability of the classical Chinese poetry and holds that importance must be attached to the reproduction of the original beauty in meaning, sound and form based on the “three beauties” principle put forward by Professor Xu Yuanchong.

Key words: the classical Chinese poetry, image, rhythm, form

摘要: 译诗难，翻译中国古典诗词尤其难。中国古典诗词是祖国几千年历史文化的珍贵遗产，语言高度含蓄、凝练，兼有意美、音美和形美的特征。许渊冲教授在多年的诗词翻译实践中形成了独特的“意美”、“音美”和“形美”的翻译美学理论。文章从古典诗词可译性入手，结合许渊冲先生提出的古典诗词翻译的“三美”原则，探讨中国古典诗词英译的意美、音美和形美再现问题。

关键词: 中国古典诗词，意境，音韵，形式