1 Introduction
1.1 Pre-translation Process
The report is based on the translation practice of the excerpted parts from achildren literature (CL) book The Borrowers written by Kathleen Mary Norton. Thereason why choosing this book as the translation text is that it is a celebrated CL workall over the world. As the unique branch of the general literature category, despite ofthe general characteristics of literature, it has its own distinctive features. As a matterof fact, translation of CL is as difficult as, if not more difficult than, that for adults.How to gain vividness by simple sentences and easy words as well as to interst thereaders is a challenging job which deserves further study.The classic of English children’s literature The Borrowers has won so muchpopularity among Chinese readers. There is no wordplay or mock poems in the story.However，the adventure and pleasure in the book are typical features of the literaturefor children today. The text for this translation project is excerpted from chapter two,chapter eight and chapter nine of the book. Chapter two is the beginning of the storyin a narrative way. Chapter eight and chapter nine are the climax of the whole bookand abundant in dialogues between the hero and heroine. These three parts share boththe common features of the book and own their own features. So they can beconsidered a representative of the whole book.
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1.2 Translation Process
The whole translation process can be divided into 3 steps. The first version of thetranslation was done from September, 2013 to October, 2013, during which the textmainly followed the principle of faithfulness. In addition, those marked places whichwere made in the pre-translation would be put a large focus on. The second versionwas completed in December, 2013. For this step, the author paid special attention torefining the words and sentence structure. What’s more, those uncertain places werecoped with by using translation strategies and searching for further information. FromJanuary, 2014 to February, 2014，the third version regarded the text as a whole part,making corrections for the incoherent places, modifying for the simple, concise, vivid,and musical language, conveying the writer’s opinions and providing pleasure andhumor.Since children tend to bring more imagination to illustrations than adults, so thekey points and the most difficult part of the translation project were how to convey thechildren’s taste to the readers. In order to do a good job in this respect, the authorsearched quantities of materials on children’s literature, such as the definition,classification of children’s literature, as well as children’s psychology and languageabilities. Meanwhile, a lot of detailed strategies were of great help. In the process, theauthor imagined herself as the heroine and was experiencing the adventure thatArriety was facing. In the world, the stamps were transformed into portraits hangingon the wall; the lacquer trinket box became the Pod’s settle, while the stand-by wasmade of match boxes. The author of the report also paid much attention to strengthening the aesthetic effect and making good use of rhetorical devices, namelysimile, hyperbole and metaphor to produce the original vividness. However, rhetoricaldevices should be based on the images that children familiar with and rhythms theylike. Besides, to adding reduplicated words, interjection and onomatopoeia flexiblywas helpful to make the text more life-like and present the picture of the images.
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2. Features of The Borrowers
2.1 About the author
Kathleen Mary Norton (1903-1992), a world-famous CL writer, was born inBedfordshire, UK. Most of her childhood experience was in the countryside whichoffered the story background of her works. After graduating from the convent school,she became a veteran actress of the Old Vic Theatre acknowledged for stagingShakespeare’s plays. Marry Norton married Robert C Norton in 1927. During theSecond World War, her husband served in the n
