Abstract: The Secret Garden is a well-known children’s novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Based on Toury’s Norms Theory, this thesis analyzes the functions of translation norms in the process of translating though analyzing the two Chinese versions of The Secret Garden translated by Li Wenjun and Zhang Runfang. This thesis discusses how Toury’s norms theory embodies and influences the translation and process of translation from the perspective of preliminary norms, initial norms and operational norms. The adoption of Toury’s Norms theory provides a panoramic view of translation studies on The Secret Garden, and it enriches the translation study of children’s books. 

Key words: The Secret Garden; Toury’s norms theory; preliminary norms; initial norms; operational norms

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 About The Secret Garden-1

1.2 Purpose and Significance-2

2. Literature Review and Theoretical Basis-3

2.1 Literature Review-3

2.1.1 Previous Studies on The Secret Garden-3

2.1.2 Deficiencies of Previous Studies-6

2.2 Theoretical Basis-6

2.2.1 The Development of Translation Norms Theory-6

2.2.2 Toury’s Theory of Translation Norms-7

3. Analysis on Two Chinese Versions of The Secret Garden from Norms Theory-10

3.1 Preliminary Norms-10

3.1.1 Social Background-10

3.1.2 Translator’s Individual Factors-11

3.2 Initial Norms-12

3.2.1 Adequacy in Translation-12

3.2.2 Acceptability in Translation-14

3.3 Operational Norms-15

3.3.1 Matrix Norms-15

3.3.2 Text Linguistics-17

4. Conclusion-18

References-20