Translation is here conceived primarily as a process of intercultural communication, whose end product is a smooth and acceptable text in specific situation and culture. So decision-making of translation depends on the specific context and respective culture background.
3. 1 Literal translation
Literal translation, also called word-for-word translation by Cicero, Horace and virtually everyone thereafter[13]，is a notion which has been at the heart of most translation controversies for many centuries. As a translation strategy, literal translation clearly has its uses. Here, the precise words and word order are followed and translated into the target language wherever possible. And this strategy involves the same meaning for a source language expression and brings about the same impact on the target reader and it can also provide language learners with useful insights into the structure of the target language. Surely, literal translation can be employed in the pretext of not causing misunderstanding. For example:
(1)好容易熬了一天，这会儿瞧见你们，竟如死而复生的一样。真如古人说一日三秋，这话再不错的。
（曹雪芹《红楼梦》）
But I survived it somehow, and now that we’re together again I feel as if I’d just risen from the dead! “One day apart seems three autumns. ”—How true that old saying is. [14]
(2)-- 咱那面红旗呢？
-- 叫吴淑兰掂了啦
-- 哪个吴淑兰？敢情是有三头六臂？
（王汶石《新结识的伙伴》）
-- What happened to our red flag?
-- Wu shulan has captured it …
-- What Wu shulan? Don’t tell me she has three heads and six arms! [4]
As stated above,“一日三秋” or“一日不见，如隔三秋” expresses that a day’s separation seems as long as three years. It is literally translated into “one day apart seems three autumns”, which not only retains the original meaning but is understandable and readable to the target reader. It is the same in the case of “三头六臂”，originating from the Chinese ancient myth about the superhuman, Nezha. Thus, in the example (2), translating it literally into “three heads and six arms” will give people an expression of vividness and powerfulness. Generally speaking, some idioms and proverbs can be translated practically according to the translatability of the source language, to such an extent that the people of target language can assimilate them to fertilize their culture. And, hence it also can retain some of its diversity through literalism and engender a view of translation in which the target language in specific cultural context is paramount.
(3) I love Ophelia, forty thousand brothers
could not (with all their quantity of love)
make up my sum…
我爱奥菲利亚，四万个兄弟的爱
加起来也休想抵得上我的分量…[15]
(4) Putting two and two together, as the saying is, it was not difficult for me to guess who the expected Marquis was.
(W.Thackeray, The Newcomes)
正如二加二等于四那么简单，我不难推断出还没来的侯爵是谁了。[14]
The English people like to employ forty or forty thousand to indicate a large quantity, just as the sentences listed in the example (3). We can still understand its meaning even if it is translated into“四万个”. And “putting two and two together” means “guess the truth is very easy from what one sees, hears, etc”. So, even if it is translated to the expression above, it is still readable and understandable.
3. 2 Free translation
Free translation is a type of translation in which more attention is paid to producing a naturally reading target text than to preserving the source text wording intact. It is also known as sense-for-sense translation. And according to different texts, different techniques are employed in translation.
3. 2. 1 Omission of numbers
In the course of translating, sometimes we find it difficult or impossible to translate literally to get equivalence between the source language and the target language, due to the diversity of the cultural backgrounds and the expressions. In English and Chinese language, some idioms or idiomatic usages with numbers carry particular cultural connotations, which have no identical or similar characters in another language. This means the necessity, in order for the intercommunication to be realizable in practice, of free rendering in both source language and the target language. For example:
(1) 七碟子八碗摆了一桌。
He laid out an elaborate spread. [12]
(2) 一听说他又要来,她七窍生烟。
When she heard he would come again, she fumed with anger.
(3) 阿Q候他略停，终于用十二分的勇气开口了。 （鲁迅《阿Q正传》）
Ah Q waited for him to pause, and then screwed up his courage to speak. [16]
The set phrase “七碟子八碗”is a dialect, used to describe a substantial meal. And, “七窍”refers to seven apertures in the human head, i.e. eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.“七窍生烟”means very angry. And the translation above is appropriate and acceptable to the English people.
(4) Seventy times seven did I take counsel with my soul.
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