本文是一篇英语翻译学论文，在翻译《阿育王》（摘录）之后，作者意识到文化缺省是一种普遍现象，无论文本类型如何。没有翻译补偿，就不可能实现文本信息的对等。目前，关于文化缺省和翻译补偿的研究还不成熟，也不规范。在翻译《阿育王》（节选）的过程中，作者根据奈达的文化分类对文化缺省现象进行分类，并采用不同的翻译补偿方法来突出隐藏的信息，为目标语读者提供相关的文化背景知识，使他们对文本内容有更深的理解。然而，在某些情况下，翻译损失即使得到补偿也无法得到补偿。
Chapter One Translation Process
1.1 Pre-translation
It is vital to make a full preparation before translation. It is known to all that wellbegun is half done. In the pre-translation stage, the author does three things. First ofall, the author has to select the proper translation material as quickly as possible. Inorder to ensure the originality of the translation, the author had better avoid foreignworks that have already been translated into Chinese. Due to the interest in ancientIndian culture and Buddhism culture, the author pays attention to related books. Aftercareful consideration, the author finally chooses the book Ashoka the Great as thesource text. The reasons for the choice are as following, first, because of itsunpopularity, Asoka the Great so far has not been introduced into China, which meansrepetition can be avoided; second, this book involves in all aspects of the MauryaDynasty in ancient India, so its historical value and literary value can not be ignored;third, the book belongs to the historical fiction, whose content involves religion,philosophy and other ancient Indian culture. Cultural default is a obviousphenomenon in the source text, which brings many difficulties in the process oftranslation. So it has translation value to explore translation skills of the same kind oftext. After reading the whole book, the author decides to select book 3, from Chapter1 to Chapter 9 as the source text. There are totally 9 chapters with more than 20,000words. After the translation material is determined, the author should formulate aspecific translation plan. The first five weeks is to intensively read the original text,search for relevant background information, and clear the original text. Only in thisway can the translator understand the writer’s writing purpose more easily, cantranslation be much more faithful. After plenty of reading relative backgroundknowledge, the author begins to translate the source text into target text, which takes about six weeks to complete the first draft of the translation. After that, with the helpof teacher, the author should revise the translation carefully three times. Finally ittakes two weeks to adjust the format and confirm the final translation. The wholeprocess lasts four and a half months. After all, full preparation before translation is themost basic and important step to finish the translation well.
1.2 While-translation
After reading the whole book three times and referring to a large number ofrelated books and documents, the author has a general understanding of the contentand background knowledge of the text. Therefore, the translation begins. Thetranslation process consists of two stages.
In the first stage of translating Ashoka the Great, the author has to consult thedictionary and related books to determine the exact meaning of the new words andfind the corresponding Chinese words for equivalent translation. Then the author findsit difficult to translate this book. Because the historical setting of the book is theMaurya dynasty, which was about 322-185 BCE. As a result, the relevant informationis quite lack in China. In addition, this book has a lot of content, involving all aspectsof society during the Ashoka period of ancient India, including material, architecture,food, clothing, etc. There are also social titles, time epochs, etc. The most abstract oneis spiritual religious words and cultural customs. The religious ideology and culture ofJainism, Hinduism and Buddhism are all reflected in the original text. Differentcountries and nations have formed their own unique material and spiritual cultures inthe long history, which are not possessed by other nations or areas. For example,Veena, the oldest stringed instrument, is unique to India. If one do
