Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

BuildingaParallelCorpusoftheFourChineseClassicsandTheirEnglishTranslations:ProblemsandSolutions, by ZHU Hong & Liu Zequan, p. 13

A review of both the English translations of the four classical Chinese novels and the studies of the translations identifies some major problems in such studies. To tackle these problems, it is advisable to set up a parallel corpus and web-based search grid which consists of both source texts of the four novels and the English translations. It is hoped that such an initiative will serve to renovate, digitalize and consolidate the valuable resources of the novels and their translations for future research, including comparative, quantitative, descriptive translation studies. After an introduction of both the measures and procedures whereby the prospective project should possibly follow, the paper predicts potential difficulties researchers might encounter in the process of the project and offers solutions.

ACorpus-basedStudyoftheUseofPassiveConstructionandItsMotivationinChinese-EnglishConferenceInterpretation, by LI Xin, p. 18

Based on the Chinese-English Conference Interpreting Corpus (CECIC 2.0), the paper investigates the use of passive construction in Chinese-English press conference interpretation texts as opposed to the English original press conference texts and the translated English texts of government work reports. The result shows that the occurrence frequency of passive construction in the interpreted English texts is significantly higher than that of the other two. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, this paper claims that the frequent use of passive construction in Chinese-English conference interpretation results from the grammatical differences between Chinese and English, coupled with the constraint of interpreting process.

ACorpus-basedStudyoftheModalParticleBainTwoChineseVersionsofShakespeare’sPlays, by LI Hongrui, p. 24

The present paper, based on the parallel corpus of Shakespeare’s plays, conducts a quantitative and qualitative study of the modal particleBain two Chinese versions of Shakespeare’s five plays translated by Zhu Shenghao and Liang Shiqiu. The research shows that the two versions have both similarities and differences in their use ofBa. This paper explores the motivations for such uses in the two versions from the perspective of pragmatic functions, the interpersonal meanings it bears, and the different translation purposes of the two translators.

CollegeEnglishTeacherEvaluationandProfessionalDevelopmentundertheNetworkEnvironment, by WANG Xuemei, p. 28

This paper attempts to probe into the relationship between multi-dimensional evaluation and professional development under the network environment, analyzes the application of different ways of evaluation, with the purpose of improving the quality and capability of college English teachers, and promoting their professional development.

TheValidationofCooperativeLearningBasedonI-CAREStrategyTraining, by LONG Yufei & BAI Xueqing, p. 32

The paper makes an experimental study on cooperative learning with the purpose of finding out the effects of cooperative learning strategy training on learners’ language proficiency and the degree to which cooperative learning may help improve students’ language use. The experimental results show that cooperative learning strategy training can help students improve their language proficiency, and that cooperative learning can help develop students’ ability to use English, especially in speaking, and that cooperative learning attaches particular importance to the central position of students and the leading role of teachers in students’ learning process.

L2SpeakingSpanTestandItsPredictivePowerofL2OralFluency, by JIN Xia, p. 36

Speaking Span Test is one of the paradigms widely employed to measure working memory capacity, but it fails to tax the simultaneous information-processing and information-maintaining capacity of working memory as it claims. This paper argues that a Composite Speaking Span, which takes processing accuracy, processing efficiency and saving capacity into account, can better measure working memory capacity, especially that of L2 learners, and provides empirical evidence to show that the Composite Speaking Span is a better predictor of L2 oral fluency.

FlowTheoryandForeignLanguageTeaching,byZHANGWeilei, p. 41

This paper gives a brief introduction of flow theory , a promising foreign language teaching learning theory. Flow as an experiential state is characterized by intense focus and involvement that leads to improved performance on a task. As an optimal experience, flow can exert positive influences on learners. Through the combination of flow theory and foreign language teaching, researchers can construct a flow model of foreign language teaching, which would shed light on the design of curriculum and learning materials including electronic digital learning materials and computer educational games.

BETSY’sPrinciplesandItsApplicationinAutomatedEssayScoring, by TANG Jin, p. 44

In the present study, principles of BETSY were analyzed and effects of BETSY in AES were quantitatively studied on the basis of the 987-sample training set and 200-sample validation set. The statistics showed that a strong correlation was observed between human rating and BETSY rating. In addition, factors affecting measure precision and measure results were analyzed.

ASpiritualTragedy:TheFamilyinMourningBecomesElectrafromthePerspectiveofSpiritualEcology, by LIU Yongjie, p. 48

MourningBecomesElectrais an play by Eugene O’Neill, the “Father of Modern American Drama”, in the middle phase of his writing career. It borrows from and surpasses the ancient revenge tragedyOrestiaby Aeschylus, and is a tragic and sublime presentation of modern family and spiritual problems. In the play the husband Mannon oppresses his tenderness toward his wife Kristine, while the wife is disloyal to the husband; the son Orin is incestuously bonded to his mother, the daughter Lavinia is full of insatiable desires. The spiritual problems of this family have destroyed others and themselves. This is an alarm for modern men in similar spiritual dilemma.

TheThemeoftheDisciplinaryPowerinOates’IntheRegionofIce, by WU Chunchun, p. 53

This paper tries to interpret Oates’ short story “In the Region of Ice” with Foucault’s power theory. It intends to find out the model of disciplinary society and describe how modern society dominates people by means of disciplinary power. This perspective may make a contribution to our understanding of modern society by analyzing the techniques of discipline. People in modern society seem to live in an enormous prison and suffer from a kind of omnipresent surveillance and trial. However, a disciplinary society does not necessarily mean a disciplined society. Even though the disciplinary power can be found everywhere, there always exists the resistant power.