由于翻译不仅受到共时性双语文化背景差异的障碍，还会受到历时性双语文化背景差异的障碍，因此从某种意义上来讲奈达提出的 “读者反应论”只能是译者理想中追求的目标。

德国功能派翻译理论家汉斯•威密尔（Hans Vernieer)摆脱了以原语为中心的等值论的束缚，大胆创立了功能派的奠基理论：翻译的目的论(Skopos theory) 。他根据行为学的理论提出翻译是一种人类的行为活动，而且还是一种有目的的行为活动。翻译时，译者根据客户或委托人的要求，结合翻译的目的和译文读者的特殊情况从原作所提供的多源信息中进行选择性的翻译。威密尔还特别强调因为行为发生的环境置于文化背景当中，不同的文化又具有不同的风俗习惯和价值观，因此翻译也并非一对一的语言转换活动。以的论”为代表的功能派给德国翻译理论研究带来一场新的革命，因为它试图把翻译从原语的奴役中解放出来，从译入语的新视角来诠释翻译活动。

将威密尔提出的翻译的目的论应用于《红楼梦》的翻译，对我们深入探讨《红楼梦》服饰外表的翻译会产生积极的指导意义。事实上，目前海内外存在的一些《红楼梦》简译本的译者的翻译思想与威密尔的观点是不谋而合的。在他翻译的《红楼梦》的序言中公开声称他只翻译了《红楼梦》65%的内容，他认为对于一般读者而不是对于专门研究 《红楼梦》的人来说，翻译这么多就可以了。结合《红楼梦》服饰外表翻译的具体实例，他讲的的确很有道理。因为每当遇到类似与《红楼梦》 服饰外表翻译这类翻译问题，即使译者想全翻也是不大可能的。下面我们先来阅读一下杨宪益先生和霍克斯先生翻译的我们前面列举的关于王熙凤服饰外表的描写。

杨译：

Unlike the girls，she was richly dressed and resplendent as a fairy.

Her gold-filigree tiara was set with jewels and pearls. Her hair-clasps，in the form of five phoenixes facing the sun，had pendants of pearls. Her necklet，of red gold，was in the form of a coiled dragon studded with gems. She had double red jade pendants with pea-green tassels attached to her skirt. Her close-fitting red satin jacket was embroidered with gold butterflies and flowers. Her turquoise cape，lined with white squirrel，was inset with designs in coloured silk. Her skirt of kingfisher-blue crepe was patterned with flowers.

She had the almond-shaped eyes of a phoenix, slanting eyebrows as long and drooping as willow leaves. Her figure was slender and her manner vivacious. The springtime charm of her powdered face gave no hint of her latent formidability. And before her crimson lips parted，her laughter rang out.

霍译：

Even as she wondered，a beautiful young woman entered from the room behind the one they were sitting in，surrounded by a bevy of serving women and maids. She was dressed quite differently from the others present, gleaming like some fairy princess with sparkling jewels and gay embroideries.

Her chignon was enclosed in a circlet of gold filigree and clustered pearls. It was fastened with a pin embellished with flying phoenixes，from whose beaks pearls were suspended on tiny chains.

Her necklet was of red gold in the form of a coiling dragon. Her dress had a fitted bodice and was made of dark red silk damask with a pattern of flowers and butterflies in raised gold thread.

Her jacket was lined with ermine. It was of a slate-blue stuff with woven insets in coloured silks.

Her under-skirt was of a turquoise-coloured imported silk crêpe embroidered with flowers.

She had，moreover, 

eyes like a painted phoenix, 

eyebrows like willow-leaves, 

a slender form，

seductive grace ； 

the ever-smiling summer face 

of hidden thunders showed no trace； 

the ever-bubbling laughter started 

almost before the lips were parted.

与原文对照，我们发现霍、杨都有不同程度的漏译。例如，霍没有翻译“裙边系着豆绿宫绦，双衡比目玫瑰佩”和类似于“八宝”、“五凤”、 “三角”等细节描写，杨也没有翻译“八宝”、“缕金”、“洋缎”、“洋绉”等细节描写。由此可见翻译时如果遇到太多的双语之间的历时和共时的文化障碍时，译者完全可以根据翻译的目的从原作的多元信息中选取重要的信息进行翻译。就我们目前讨论的这个例子时言，如果作为大众性文学读物，霍克斯完全可以将“裙边系着豆绿宫绦，双衡比目玫瑰佩”删去不译，因为对不熟悉中国古代服装的现代英文读者来说，他的译文比杨译更容易理解，更容易产生好的文学效果。但是对于专门研究中国历史或中国服饰的英文读者来说，当然杨宪益的译文更有参考价值。因此翻译的确是一项由译者做选择的目的性活动。翻译时如果不摆脱原作的束缚，总是从忠实、等值出发,有时翻泽理论对翻译 实践就很难发挥真正意义上的指导作用。

当然我们强调以译作为中心并不意味着译者可以随心所欲地篡改、改写原作，如果这样做就违背了译者的职业道德。众所周知，翻译工作者的神圣职责是为来自于不同文化背景操不同语言的人们架设互相理解、互相交流的桥梁，因此他们在翻译中不得已对原作所做的更改应该只能是为了促进这种交流而不是阻碍这种交流。

责任编辑：admin