英语论文Features and Translation of English News Headline.pdf

毕业论文 1 abstract with the development of globalization, china needs more and more exchange with the outside world in many aspects, such as culture, economy, technology and education. both chinese people and western people are eager to know the world and each other. a large quantity of information is transmitted by all kind of media, especially the english news. english news plays an important role in the information communication between east and west, as well as in our daily work and life for it can bring us a great deal of latest information of the world covering almost every field of life. and the english news translation is becoming a bridge for the transmission. generally speaking, news is usually divided into three parts: the headline, the lead and the body. as the essential part of news, the headline is like a window for people to gain information about the world. the development of the world is becoming faster and faster, so there is no enough time for modern people to read the news paper completely. most of them have to gain as much information as they can in the shortest possible time. therefore, the translation of english news headline is equivalent to opening a convenient and fast window. the translation of english news headline is difficult, because it has nosystemic theories and methods. for this reason, it is very important for the translator to get a summary and guidance. this paper is holding the purpose to sum up the theories and methods from different scholars, in order to provide the translators with systemic guidance. this paper is composed of three parts. the first part introduces the definition, requirements, types and functions of english news headline. in the second part, it 毕业论文 2 makes a comprehensive expatiation of the features. the last part, also the most important part of the paper, summarizes the translation requirements, principles and methods by citing examples. the translation of headline is a vital stage in the process of news translation. based on the analysis and discussions above, this paper aims at enriching the principles, method choice and language use of headline translation. from the paper, we can get a conclusion that english news headline translation is not an easy task, and we need more study and practice to make it better. key words:news headlinefeaturestranslation 毕业论文 3 摘摘要要 随着全球化深入发展，中国在与外部世界在各个方面的接触交流日益频繁， 如文化，经济，科技和教育。中国人和西方人都需要更多地了解世界，更好地沟 通彼此。其中有大量的信息是通过各种各样的媒体进行传递，特别是英语新闻。 在中西方的交流和人们的日常生活中，英语新闻扮演着重要的角色，因为它为人 们带来了关于世界和生活各方各面的最新资讯。总体来说，新闻分为三部分： 标 题，导语和正文。作为新闻中的重要部分，标题是让能人们迅速获取资讯，了解 世界的窗口。在世界高速发展的今天，人们很少有足够的时间从头到尾去阅读新 闻，大部分人都是在最短的时间内获取最多的信息。因此，英语新闻标题的翻译 等于为人们打开一扇便捷的窗口。 本文分为三个部分，第一部分介绍了英语新闻标题的定义，要求，类型和功 能，第二部分全面地阐述了英语新闻标题的特点，第三部分也是最重要的部分， 通过引用众多的例子，总结了英语新闻翻译的要求，原则和方法。 在新闻翻译的过程中，标题的翻译占有举足轻重的地位。文章在上述的分析 和讨论的基础上，对英语新闻标题的翻译标准和方法进行总结，结合实例，旨在 丰富英语新闻标题翻译的原则、方法选择和语言使用。 关键词关键词：新闻标题特点翻译 毕业论文 4 features and translation of english news headline 1. introduction.5 2. definition, type and function of news headline.6 2.1definition of headline.6 2.2types of news headline.7 2.3 functions of news headline.9 3. language features of english news headline.10 3.1 lexical features of news headline.11 3.1.1 noun.11 3.1.2 midget words.12 3.1.3abbreviative and acronym words.12 3.1.4 vogue words.14 3.1.5 numbers.14 3.2 grammatical features of news headline.15 3.2.1 tense. 15 3.2.2 syntax.16 3.2.3 voice.17 3.3 rhetorical features of news headline.18 3.3.1assonance.18 3.3.2 metaphor.18 3.3.3 hyperbole.19 3.3.4 pun. 19 3.3.5 parody.19 3.3.6 irony.20 4. translation of english news headline.20 4.1significance of english news headline translation.21 4.2 requirements of english news headline translation.22 4.3 principles of english news headline translation.23 4.4 methods of english news headline translation.24 4.4.1 literal translation.25 4.4.2 free translation.26 4.4.3addition.27 4.4.4 omission.27 4.4.5 standing out rhetoric devices.28 4.4.6adaptation.28 4.4.7 translation of punctuation.31 4.4.8 translation of non-finite verbs.32 4.5 choice of language style in english news headline translation.34 5. conclusion.35 references.37 毕业论文 5 1. introduction with dramatic development in scientific technologies, media are playing a significant role in peoples daily life, which cross the barrier of time and space to provide people with the latest news in the world. living in the midst of information age, newspaper reading has become a daily habit for many people, because it is very convenient for people to learn the outside word and fresh things everyday. moreover, news reading promotes the communication among different countries, including culture, economy, and technology, etc. for chinese people who are interested in english, news reading can not only serve as a way to widen their scope of knowledge, but also can help them to catch the changing of english. all these tell us that journalistic english has played a crucial role today, both in peoples daily life and public affairs. therefore, translation of english news headline would shorten the distance between both the english-speaking and the non-speaking countries. in the composition of news, headline is the part and parcel. owing to the feature that put the most important things in the most beginning of news, the influence of headline deserve peoples attention. as the english proverb says that a good beginning is half the battle, an excellent headline can attract people and move them. it is quite difficult for translators to achieve the goal. in an effort to present a better understanding of english news headline, thereby helping to find ways to develop the principles and criterions of headline translation, then deal with the actual problems effectively, this paper introduces the definition, types and functions of english news headline, 毕业论文 6 provides a comprehensive expatiation on the features of english news headline from lexical, grammatical, rhetorical devices and form. on the basis of analyzing a great number of examples, the paper also summarizes the translation criterion and methods of english news headline translation, intends to guide translators to reproduce a good headline with conciseness, originality and attractiveness by translating. moreover, methods discussed in this paper serve to help translators to use them effectively in translation practice, and then enhance the cross-cultural communications and publicity of different readers to the outside world. 2. definition, type and function of news headline 2.1definition of headline in order to get a better study of the headline, first of all, we should make a clear understanding of the headline. then what is a headline? in the following there are some collected definitions of news headlines: (1) “a short summary of the most important items of news, read at the beginning of a newsprogrammeontheradioortelevision.”(oxford advancedlearners english-chinese dictionary, 6thedition, 2004: 812) (2) “新闻工作术语。报刊上新闻和文章的题目，通常特指新闻的题目。制作标 题是新闻编辑的主要工作程序之一。报纸编辑部用标题来概括、评价新闻的内容 毕业论文 7 帮助读者阅读和理解新闻。 ” （ 辞海 ，1980：1280） （journalistic jargon. headline is the title of news and articles on newspapers. headlining is one of the main processes of news editing. it is used to summarize and appraise the content of news for helping readers to read and understand the news.） (3) “the title or caption of a newspaper article usually set in large type.” (net.1) (4) “an important or sensational piece of news. often used in the plural.” (net.1) (5) “a line at the head of a page or passage giving information such as the title, author, and page number.” (net.1) from the definitions above, we can get the impression that a headline is an important part of news which is printed in large or different type and used to summarize and comment the content. 2.2types of news headline flush left headlines: all lines in head flush leftward. for good appearance, each line should fill at least three-quarters of its column. (1) sea route to taiwan opens in quanzhou steamer or banner headlines: across the top of the front page or the sports page in order to rate the important story. (2) rockets win fourth straight 毕业论文 8 drop headline: it is composed of two or three lines with each line indented a little rightward. （3）lebanese battle in heavy shelling as talks proceed centered head: three lines, and the first line and the last line sharing the same length. (4) kids crusade to save our stream inverted pyramid head: it looks like an inverted pyramid. (5) heavy losses are reported in fighting in south lebanon andalong the coast except the format differences, news headlines also can be distinguished from manners. in the following, some simple examples have been given. intuitionistic headline: it is a short and direct statement simply telling the main topic of the story. (1) bullish stock market hits historical high (2) plans ensure adequate grain supply question headline: it is a form of a question to arouse readers interest or articulating newspapersattitude. 毕业论文 9 (3)top brands or not? (4) will kids sit quietly? (5) sex: was it virtually good for you? quotation headline: it directly quotes the word of related people in the news to enhance news immediacy and truthfulness. (6) sino-african summit a historic event, hu says (7) gaddafi: no ignorance of eu plan on mediterranean union 2.3 functions of news headline at a time when the speed of life is becoming faster and faster, news headlines provide people with rich information as soon as possible. therefore, the function of news headlines can never be undervalued. a good headline must possesses these functionsto sell the story, to capture the essence of the event and to beautify the page appearance. the determining factor whether the story can be read or concerned by readers is the headline. when readers read a newspaper, the first thing that catches their eyes is also headline. good heads are excellent advisements for the stories. they can arouse interest and catch the readers attention at the first sight. in such a competitive media world, headlines help to sell news and newspaper, if they are fine. time is precious for modern people. by reading newspapers, readers are able to enjoy much convenience, and save large amount of time, because they have no time to allow them to read the news from end to end. to present and pass the news effectively, 毕业论文 10 headlines have to sum up news content to satisfy the readers. in addition, headlines should catch up with the development of time and world. headlines are described as the “eye” of news, so there is no doubt that the newspaper would be more attractive if the “eye” is more beautiful. like packing the product, headline will beautify news pages with varied fonts, sizes, colors and structures. good-looking headline often enhance the appetite for news reading. news headlines fulfill the informative function and expressive function. “the core of the informative function of language is external situation, the facts of a topic, reality outside language, including reported ideas or theories.” (newmark, 2001: 40) the informative function of news headlines is made up of two parts: first, it shows the readers basic facts or information about the news; second, it involves the editors comments more or less. “the core of the expressive function is the mind of the speaker, the writer, the originator of the utterance. he uses the utterance to express his feelings irrespective of any response.” (newmark, 2001: 39) in news headlines, expressive function exclusively refers to the editors emotions or feelings through news. 3.languagefeaturesofenglishnews headline comparing with standard english, english headline is more flexible and vivid. in order to fulfill the special requirements, words using of heads employ a large 毕业论文 11 number of noun words, midget words, abbreviative words, new words and numbers to save space. besides, special grammar is used to meet the needs of news style, for example, present tense, non-finite verbs, omission and active. meanwhile, varied rhetoric is used to make the heads lively. these language features bring great challenge for translating. 3.1 lexical features of news headline 3.1.1 noun the noun has strong ideographic function with large information content. meanwhile, noun which is provided with comprehensive grammaticality can serve as varied part of speech, such as adjective, verb, adverb and so on. integrated syntax concept can also be expressed by contracted modality, thus noun takes a majority of words using in english news headlines. moreover, compound noun is used wildly in headlines. for example: online social networking new lifestyle“在线社交网”热潮席卷全球 subprime is linguists word of yearsubprime 当选美国 07 年度词汇 life on mars?火星上有神秘“女郎”？ official jailed for bribe-taking高级官员因受贿罪而被判入狱 zhu visited flood-hit regions朱镕基慰问受洪灾区 the boy with the billion-dollar secret怀有赚取亿万美元之秘诀的男孩 毕业论文 12 3.1.2 midget words general speaking, headline space is valuable. usually, there is no enough room for the headline of english news headlines, so using midget words has the advantage of avoiding changing lines. short words are often used to replace long ones. they are named “synonyms of all work (万能同义词).” the following are some of the most frequently used midget words by journalists. ace = champion aid = assistance blast = explosion body = committee crash = collision fake = counterfeit fete = celebration glut = oversupply snag = unexpected difficulty 3.1.3abbreviative and acronym words abbreviative and acronym words are employed frequently in news headlines for saving room and balancing sentence structure. abbreviation is the shorten form of certain words of many letters. acronym is made of the first letter of many words instead of the whole word. some abbreviations used in headlines are listed below: ad. = advertisement 毕业论文 13 dorm. = dormitory flu. = influenza gym. = gymnasium sci-film. = science-fiction expo. = exposition interpol. = international police motel = motor hotel rain, colder temps move in wednesday (temps. = temperatures) acronyms used in news headlines can be divided into three types. (1) names of organizations unesco = united nations educational, scientific and cultural organizations imf = international monetary fund wto = world trade organization plo = palestine liberation organization ioc = international olympic committee (2) names of common object abm = anti-ballistic missile pc = personal computer pr = public relations sdi = strategic defence