1985

[Orwell, George]. Yi jiu ba si. Dong Leshan yi. [ID D31725].
Dong remarks in his preface that the novel is a truthful warning to mankind. But the judging criteria vary from writer to writer, from critic to critic, and from translator to translator. Dong's version is a conservative one in that it adopts familiar expressions in Chinese, which can be found in a translating dictionary, to render those in the original. Dong's translation is in general a truthful representation of the original in terms of language and style. The need of extra localization may not a priority at all for Dong. He clearly states in the preface, that Orwell had written the novel to warn us of the unimaginably terrible outcome of totalitarianism if we were ever so ignorant as to let a tyrant ascend to such powers.