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ic effectiveness” (Holman, 1980).
Along with the concept of Antithesis being clarified, many translation theorists and practitioners developed theoretical approaches to the Chinese translation of Antithesis. A group of them hold the view that Antithesis is the equivalent to the Chinese figure of speech Duiou. However, most theorists are of the opinion that Antithesis is not equal to Chinese figure of speech Duiou in many senses, whose commonalities and differences will be introduced in detail in the following part.
2.3The Similarities Between Antithesis and Duiou
Let us first look at their definitions. Antithesis is defined as “a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness ”, while Duiou can be conceived as “the opposing or related ideas expressed by sentences with similar structures”. “one term against another” can be seen equally as “the opposing ideas” and “a balancing” can be seen equally as “ sentences with similar structures”. In this sense, it is evident that Antithesis and Duiou share something in common. They can both express an opposing meaning by two similar language structures, that is, two sentences with similar grammatical forms and contrasted semantic relations. Antithesis and Duiou have similar figurative effects. Both of the two figures of speech can create a sense of beauty due to their symmetrical form and make an obscure philosophical truth more understandable.
2.4The Differences Between Antithesis and Duiou
2.4.1 The Differences in Semantic Relations
From the definition of Antithesis we can see that the two language units composing the Antithesis have to meet two qualifications, i.e to be opposite in semantic relations and similar in structures to achieve a sense of symmetry and balance, which is the so-called the opposite of balance, for example, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not your country can do for you: Ask what you can do for your country”. (J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address)
2.4.2 The Differences in Forms
The differences in forms between Antithesis and Duiou are more obvious. Some people consider that Antithesis is very similar to Fandui – one kind of Duiou. In fact, they are only similar in semantic relations, but their forms are quite different from each other in the following three ways.
A. Ways of Connection
In Duiou, the two parts are usually joined together by punctuation such as comma and semicolon without any joining constituents, which embodies the “Parataxis” character of Chinese structure. This means that in Chinese we pay more attention to the semantic relations of the sentences rather than the form
B. Syntactic Level
In Duiou, the two language units are always at the same syntactic level , for example, “两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天。 ” （杜甫《绝句》）The two sub-clauses in the example are balanced in syntactic level.
C. Wording and Phrasing
In Chinese figure of speech Duiou, the same word in one part should be avoided to appear in another part, especially nouns and verbs. e.g. 溪云初起日沉阁，山雨欲来风满楼。 (许浑《咸阳城东楼》)
3.0 The Chinese Translation of Antithesis
3.1 Various Chinese Translation Methods on Antithesis
As a widely used figure of speech by a number of political orators, poets and essayists, Antithesis is frequently employed in English poetry, essay, proverb, motto, speech and newspapers. In the process of the research on Antithesis, a lot of Chinese translation methods of Antithesis have been summarized in many works by a number of