Abstract

News headline is a significant part of news. It is the brief summary of the content of news event. An accurate, concise and elegant translation will quickly attract the readers, and lead them to keeping on what follows. To better translate English news headlines, translators should understand the similarities and differences between English news headlines and Chinese news headlines first. And then, they should master some translation strategies, of which American translator Eugene A. Nida’s functional equivalence theory provides an effective way for English news headlines translation. While applying functional equivalence theory to translate English news headlines, the use of equivalent words, the use of addition and adaption, and the flexible translation of rhetorical devices are three effective methods to get the ideal expressive effect.

Keywords: English news headlines; similarities and differences; functional equivalence; translation

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Researches on the Translation of English News Headlines-1

1.2 Existing Problems of Current Researches-2

1.3 Purpose of the Research-2

1.4 Structure of the Thesis-3

2. The Comparison Between English and Chinese News Headlines-4

2.1 The Functions of News Headlines-4

2.2 Similarities and Differences Between English and Chinese News Headlines……-4

2.2.1 Similarities Between English and Chinese News Headlines-4

2.2.2 Differences Between English and Chinese News Headlines-5

3. Theoretical Foundation in Translating English News Headlines-6

3.1 A Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory-6

3.1.1 The Evolution of Functional Equivalence Theory-6

3.1.2 The Definition of Functional Equivalence-6

3.2 The Features and Principles of Functional Equivalence Theory-7

3.2.1 The Features of Functional Equivalence Theory-7

3.2.2 The Principles of Functional Equivalence Theory-7

3.3 Feasibilty of Functional Equivalence Theory in English News Headlines Translation-8

4. The Application of Functional Equivalence Theory in the Translation of English News Headlines-10

4.1 The Use of Equivalent Words-10

4.2 The Use of Addition and Adaptation-10

4.3 The Flexible Translation of Rhetorical Device-11

5. Conclusion……-13

References-14