严复中英文简介

用近世 利俗文字。则求达雅。往往抑义就词。毫厘千里。审择于斯二

者之间。夫固有所不得已。 岂钓奇哉。

……

Translation has to do three difficult things

：

to be faithful

，

expressive

，

a nd

elegant

。

It is difficult enough to be faithful to the original

，

and yet if a

translation

is

not

expressive

，

it

is

tantamount

to

having

no

expressiveness should be required too……The Book of

Changes says that the first requisite of rhetoric is truthfulness. Confucius

says that expressiveness is all that matters in language

。

He adds that if

one`s language lacks grace

，

it won`t go three qua lities

，

then

，

the

criteria

of

good

writing

and

，

I

believe

，

of

good

translation

besides

faithfulness

and

expressiveness

，

I

also

aim

at

elegance.I strive for elegance not just to make my translations travel far

，

but

to

express

the

original

writer`s

ideas

better

，

for

I

find

that

subtle

thoughts

are

better

expressed

in

the

vocabulary

and

syntax

of

pre-Han

prose

than

those

of

the

vulgar

writings

of

today.

Using

the

latter

often

leads to distortion of

meani ng

，

which

，

< br>however slight

，

results in vast

misunderstanding. Weighing the pros and cons

，

I opted for the former

，

as a matter of necessity

，

not trying to be

different.……

Yan Fu

(

simplified Chinese

:

严复

;

traditional Chinese

:

嚴復

;

pinyin

:

Yá

n Fù

;

Wade

–

Giles

:

Yen Fu

;

courtesy name

:

Ji Dao

,

幾道

;

8 January 1854

—

27 October 1921)

was

a

Chinese

scholar

and

translator

,

most

famous

for

introducing

western ideas, including

Darwin

's

natural selection

,

19th century.