Bacon’s Of Studies is a classical prose of foreign literature. In prose translation, only the translator equipped with rich literary attainments are able to fully understand the precise meaning of the words and sentences. Of Studies is an essay with ample content, reflecting the practicality and funs of reading. Focusing on the two Chinese translation versions of Wang Zuoliang and He Xin, this thesis attempts to explore how the two translators transplant the eco-environment of the source text and reproduce the original style and flavor in the target text.

2. Literature Review 文献综述

2.1 An Overview on Eco-translatology

Eco-translatology is a marriage between translation and ecology, which has introduced ecological holism and Darwin’s theory of evolution into translation studies. Based on the natural theories, it attempts to create a new translation theoretical system and to comprehensively probe into the process of translation. The word “eco-translatology” was firstly put forward by Michael Cronin, director of the human science department at Dublin City University, making prominent contributions to the development of interdisciplinary research and the exploration into new scientific translation. In succession, scholars at home and abroad have been doing analogical studies on ecological translation. Daniel Gile, a French professor from Paris Higher Translation School, 源:自/751-·论,文'网·www.751com.cn/discussed the ways of adapting to the translational eco-environment in his paper On Adaptation to the Translating Environment in Research on Translation. Looking further into eco-translatology, Professor Hu Gengshen at Tsinghua University proposed that translation is a consequence of “natural selection” and is also an activity adapted and selected by the translator in his “translational environment” in his book Translation as Adaptation and Selection. Then, Professor Xu Jianzhong comprehensively analyzed the evolution of translation from the perspective of eco-translatology. In 2013, Professor Hu’s Eco-Translatolgy: Construction and Interpretation was published by the Commercial Press, which stands for the formal establishment of the new perspective in translation study. Although ecological translation studies have been carried out for many years, continuous exploration and perfection are still in need. According to previous studies, few integration researches have got involved and the research object is still limited. Therefore, further study on the isomorphism with natural ecological system should be added.