[Abstract] Sports is an eternal theme in people‘s daily life; sports is a symbol of social civilization. With the rapid development of technological communication and mass media, sports have attracted more and more attentions from sports lovers all over the world. As a kind of news reports, English sports news with its distinctive characteristics, aims at catching the eyes of the readers with vivid, authentic and objective reports about what happen in the sports field or anecdotes before, during and after the match. The English sports news can be characterized by lexical, syntactic and rhetorical characteristics. As a result, mastering the language characteristics and translation strategies of English sports news can help readers understand English sports news easily and smoothly. Meanwhile, reading English sports news can arouse readers‘ strong interest and curiosity in reading and enrich their relevant sports knowledge, and have a better appreciation of English sports news.[Key Words]English sports news; characteristics; translation1. IntroductionSince the first broadcast of a sporting event took place on 11 April 1921, English sports news has become a part in people‘s daily life. With the further development and increasing popularity of sports, English sports news has become one of the effective ways for people to know what is happening in the sports field at home and abroad. Reading sports news is a part of sports lovers‘ life. Sports undertaking are also thriving in China, especially after the big success of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Accordingly, more and more English sports news is printed on newspaper sports news has occupied a very important place in our daily life and takes up almost, one quarter of the newspaper, and a fifth of the country‘s news reporters are assigned to sports —more than any other beat (Song Yuxiang, 2006:1). It is suppose to catch the eye of the readers by reporting the lastest competions in vivid and colorful language, so as to leave deep impression on the readers. It can show new, direct, timely and effective information to the people around the world.The Oxford Advanced Learner: English-Chinese Dictionary defines news as ―new or fresh information; reports of recent events; person, thing, event, etc. that is interest ing enough to be reported as news‖. The typical news definitions of western journalism include: ―news is a report of all event, containing timely(or at least hithertounknown)information which has been accurately gathered and written by trained reporters for the purpose of serving the reader, listener or viewer; what happens and what men think, do and feel about it—this is the first concern of the press‖(Fedler, 1997:174-175). Sports news is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.As a variety of journalistic English, English sports news has its own characteristics and strategies of translation. This thesis consists five parts. It begins with a brief introduction, which is followed by the second part concerning the function of English sports news, and the third part discussing the language characteristics of English sports news. The fourth part will discuss translation strategies of English sports news, which is followed by a conclusion bringing the thesis to an end.2. The functions of English sports newsEnglish sports news has the following functions: informative function, expressive function, aesthetic function, vocative function and entertaining function. 2.1Informative functionAccording to Newmark, the informative function of language is featured with the external situation as its core. By saying external situation,Peter Newmark means the facts of a topic, reality outside language, including reported ideas or theories (Newmark, 2001:40).The informative function of English sports news is shown on its role to help readers to know the facts and relevant information of sports. These information may include: news genre, events referred to in the news and the main plot of the news. Thus the audience and readers can share happiness of sports anytime and anywhere.2.2 Expressive functionThe core of expressive function is the mind of the reader and the writer, their originator of the utterance. The language with expressive function is normally self-expressive, creative, figurative and subjective(Ibid.:39). The expressive function of English sports news is to set tone of the news thus to create either a touching,horrifying or exciting effect on the reader and audience.2.3 Aesthetic functionThe language designed to please the senses, firstly through its actual or imagined sound and secondly through its metaphors. The rhythm, balance and contrasts of sentences, clauses and words also play their part. Their sound-effects consist of onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, rhyme, meter, intonation, and stress (Ibid.:42).English sports news gives aesthetic function in the way to provide the reader and audience aesthetic enjoyment through colorful words containing rich connotations and beauty through the application of rhetorical devices.2.4 Vocative function―The core of the vocative function of language is the readership, the addressee‘‘(Ibid.:41). Newmark uses the term ‗'vocative'‘ in the sens e of‖ calling upon the readership to act, think or feel, in fact to react in the way intended by the text‖(Ibid.:41).Taking this explanation for reference, we can conclude that a piece of good English sports news can also call upon the reader and audience to focus on the affair.2.5 Entertaining functionEnglish sports news usually uses creative language, flexible sentence patterns and various rhetorical devices to make reports vividness. Sometimes, reporters use many of the same techniques used by literary writers such as novelists. The sentence of English sports news is sometimes composed of rhetorical devices like hyperbole or metaphor. English sports news presents a vivid picture to readers or audiences. It enriches sports culture and satisfies the needs of audience.3. Language characteristics of English sports news3.1 Lexical characteristics3.1.1 Initials and acronymsAcronym means a word formed from the initial letters of a group of words"(Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong: 2002:99). It is in need to suit for the high speed development and the requirement of modern society."1) With the approval of the IOC the Beijing 2008 Wushu Tournament isco-sponsored by the BOCOG, IWUF and CWUA," said the Wang Xiaolin, the secretary general of IWUF. (Zhang Hailin, 2009:127)From the sentence above, there are 28 words, and acronyms and initials appear 4 times. IOC stands for International Olympic Committee, BOCOG for Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, IWUF for International Wushu Federation, and CWUA for Chinese Wushu Association.2）NBA is North America‘s premier professional men‘s basketball league, composed of thirty teams from Canada and the USA. It is an active member of USAB, which is recognized by the IBF as the NGB for basketball in the US ( Zhang Hailin, 2009:127).This sentence uses 4 acronyms and initials to introduce NBA. NBA is for National Basketball Association, USAB for United State of America Basketball, and IBF for International Basketball Association and NGB for National Governing Body.Initials and acronyms are convenient for reporters to write and remember and for readers to read and remember. And it‘s too boring to tell the whole name of them. People adapt this kind of form little by little and they also use initials in other English words, so they are widely used in nowadays sports English.3.1.2 TerminologyTerminology refers to the set of technical words or expression used in a particular subject. It is easy for us to find that there are many professional sports words. For example:3) While Nowitzkis' ninth seas on wasn‘t his highest scoring, it was his most accurate. He set career highs in shooting percentage on field goals (50.12%), 32 pointers (41.16%) and free throws (90.14%); no other player in the league topped 50, 40 and 90 percent (Xu Taili, 2007:101).In the sentences above, it is known to all that ―season‖ means any of the four main periods of a year when a particular activity happens. ―Field goal percentage‖ in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG. A ―three-point field goal‖ (also known as three-pointer) is a field goal in a basketball game, made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc radiatingfrom the basket.3.1.3 SynonymsSynonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meaning. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. In the figurative sense, two words are often said to be synonymous if they have the same connotation.The following are three different ways to express the same meaning "victory."4) Vince Carter scored 32 points against his former guide the New Jersey Neys to a home victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday and into first place in the weak Atlantic Division ( Xie Ying, 2008:112).5) While Arsenal recorded its first league victory in three weeks by rallying past rallying past Tottenham 5 – 4 ( Wu Wei, 2006: 121).6) American goalkeeper Kasey Keller, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur; was the emergency starter for Southampton and helped defeat Portsmouth 2 -1( Wu Wei, 2006: 121).Besides the expressions given above, "trash, conquer, oust, dispose of, thump, prevail over, triumph, outclass, outplay, brush aside, win over, overpower, crush, etc are all synonyms of success.3.2 Syntactic characteristicsDifferent from English in other fields, sports English has its unique sentence features. These sentences help to achieve vividness and glamour of sports. The following sentence patterns are frequently used and seen in articles about sports.3.2.1 Declarative sentenceA declarative sentence simply states a fact or an argument, without requiring either an answer or action from reader or listener. A declarative sentence usually ends in a period. The declarative sentence is one of the most important type in English sport news. It is used more often than any other type. Declarative sentences often appear in the detail reports and articles of sports news. Thus, readers will know details about of the matches clearly through reading these long sentences.For example:7) As well as serving aces in her 6-1, 6-2 victory against Maleeva, Hingis felt sufficiently relaxed that she watched Amanda Coetzer‘s match on a neighboring court during the changeovers (Xu Taili, 2007:102).3.2.2 Imperative sentenceImperative sentence or command is primarily used to instruct somebody to do something. An imperative sentence gives a direct command to someone.Imperative sentence usually can be seen in the comments in order to grasp readers‘ attention and leave reader s in the meditation of a sports incident.For instance:8) "Take Your Base, Coach Bill." actually refers that coach Bill should have achieved something with his team (Xu Taili, 2007:102).3.3 Grammatical characteristicsIn order to give more information and transmit clear information to readers, a large number of attributive clauses, appositive clauses and complex sentences are used in sports news.3.3.1 Attributive clausesTake this for example:9) Swedish veteran Henrik Larsson, who has just joined Barcelona after his country's Euro 2004 campaign, is also likely to make the trip to China ( China Daily,Aug. 10, 2004).If the attributive clause "who has just joined Barcelona after his country's Euro 2004 campaign" is omitted, readers have no way to learn that Henrik Larsson has just joined Barcelona. More information carried by these sentence patterns make reader largely informed.3.3.2 Appositive clauses10) Portugal, defeated in the 1984 and 2000 European Championship semis and in the last four at the 1966 World Cup, will play the Czech Republic or Greece in Sunday‘s final in Lisbon (Xu Taili, 2007:101).Readers may know more information about Portugal from the news report.3.3.3 Present tenseAs usual, based on the characteristics of the English sport news, past tense and present tense are the most frequently used tenses. Present tense is usually seen in commentary. The sports interpreters introduce what they are watching and what is happening in scene of competitions. Thus, present tense is their first alternative.Commentaries like:11) "F inal seconds… Pierce puts it up, for the win…Knocks it down!‖ and off the dribble from the perimeter…Ilgauskas goes to the floor, at seven-foot-three (7‘3‘‘) and eleven years in the league…Lebron down the lane, Oh…"( Li Sa, 2008:230).The verbs appeared in the all use present tense.3.3.4 Past tensePast tense usually appears on newspaper. It is objective and conventional to use past tense on sports.For example:12)Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were terrific for three quarters, then good enough at the end to carry San Antonio to a 108—100 victory over the upstart Utah Jazz on Sunday (Xu Taili, 2007:102).The whole paragraph use past tense to describe how Spurns won the game.3.3.5 The mood of sentencesReaders of the sports news, reports and articles are not all professionals, sports fans, but also a mass of nonprofessional readers. Therefore, introductive and declarative mood is not unfamiliar. Take this paragraph for example:13) Weight lifting is an Olympic sport consisting of two lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. Each competitor is allowed three attempts in each lift. The sum of the lifter's best snatch and best clean and jerk is the lifter's total (Xu Taili, 2007:102).The mood of this paragraph is introductive and declarative, whose purpose is to introduce the weight lifting to readers.3.4 Rhetorical characteristicsRhetoric is a technique making it possible to apply reason to imagination, for the better moving of the will. According to Charles Bazerman, rhetoric is "The study of how people use language and other symbols to realize human goals and carry outhuman activity."(Charles Bazerman, 1998.6)3.4.1SimileThe word "simile" derives from Latin word "Similis", meaning "like". In rhetoric, simile is a figure of speech by which two concepts or two dissimilar things are imaginatively and descriptively compared because they have at least one quality in common or in resemblance. Here should be two things involved in simile –the primary term (tenor) and the secondary term (vehicle).Its chief function is to draw sharp pictures in the mind through comparison, to give deeper insight into things, persons and ideas through suggestive association, or to explain abstract terms. (Zhuang Xiuguo, 2005:158).14) The coach exhorted his payers like an evangelist.In this sentence, the tenor is players, the vehicle is evangelist.3.4.2MetaphorThe word "metaphor" derives from the Greek word "metaphora", which means "transference, carrying over". It is a very common figure of speech in English. Metaphor uses words to indicate something different from their meaning. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson claim in Metaphor We Live By―Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.‖ They point out; metaphor is "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature."15) It will mean another European disappointment for the Red Devil (Du Siming, 2009: 106).―Red Devil‖ refers to Manchester United, b ecause Manchester United is often called ―Red Devil‖ by fans and reporters. In this sentence, reporters use "Red Devil" to refer to Manchester United, which vividly embodies the power of Manchester United.Evidently, metaphor is often used to add forcefulness. Forcefulness has close relation to sharpness comes from detailed description, and detailed description has to resort to concrete words and expressions(Zhuang Xiuguo, 2005:163 ).Therefore, metaphor often becomes our last resource in conveying our thought.3.4.3HyperboleHyperbole means "a throwing beyond, or excess". As Geoffery N. Leech defines in his Principle of Pragmatics, "Hyperbole refers to a case where the speaker‘s description is stronger than is warranted by the state of affairs described" (Geoffery N. Leech, 1983: 36). Hyperbole aims to describe something and make it more than it really is. The function of using hyperbole in English sports news is to intensify emotion, to elevate a person or thing to heroic or mythical status, or to make fun at or to ridicule.16) Red card rain disgraces Real‘s 3-2 hard to win. ( Wu Wei, 2006: 121).The sentence shows the referee brought forth a large number of red cards to the players.。
