1.3　Research methodology

The recent theoretical and methodological fruits in the cognitive sciences have provided the research on cognitive approach to image-G actualization with more possibilities.In general,the present research is an integrated one,with several research methods applied.The major one is qualitative research methodology.The others are literature research method,introspection method,comparative analysis approach,and a method combining description approach and explanation approach.

At first,in the literature research,the mainly adopted methods are theorization analysis,systematic analysis and inductive summarization,on which the research objective and theoretical orientation are put forward.To be precise,the research begins with the review of and comments on the merits and drawbacks of the previous studies on image translation and image-G actualization and puts forward the basic starting point of this research,i.e.to take a interdisciplinary approach to the cognitive paradigm of image-G actualization.

With respect to the construction of theoretical mode for translators'cognitive operation in image-G actualization,problem analysis,logical reasoning and theoretical hypotheses are used to account for cognitive constructive model of image-G construal and image-G construction in translators'cognitive processing.To be precise,it proposes a systematic subject-object correlative mode of image-G actualization within the framework of descriptive translation studies.Special emphasis is placed on translators'embodiment,cognition,Gestalt perception of image-G and its linguistic representation,which lay the cognitive basis for the theoretical mode for translators'mental cognitive processing.(https://www.daowen.com)

With respect to the development of cognitive translation strategies of image-G actualization,textual analysis,introspection method and both the description approach and the explanation approach are used to account for cognitive translation strategies adopted by translators in image-G actualization and their cognitive motivations.On these premises,by analyzing textual discourse of ST and TT,describing the original image-G in ST and translators'construction of the original in TT and explaining translators'translation intention in image-G actualization,it probes into the underlying mechanism of translators'cognitive operations in translation process with the aim of proposing several effective cognitive translation strategies of image-G actualization.

The approaches of case analysis and comparative analysis are used to test the validity of cognitive translation strategies of image-G actualization,on which corresponding criteria are established.These criteria are adopted to assess and evaluate the application effect of five cognitive translation strategies in translators'practical operation,which is conducted based on a parallel contrastive analysis of the realization degree of image-G actualization in three translated versions of a classic Chinese poem“Jiangxue”.

As for data collection,Xu Yuanchong's translation of classical Chinese poetry is applied in the present research.For one thing,classical Chinese poetry,as a bright jewel in the treasure of Chinese literature,is famed for its exquisite language expression,flexibly polished style,lyric artistic conception and vividly poetic image.Every piece of classical Chinese poetry is an organic Gestalt whole bearing great aesthetic value.For another,as a famous translation master in modern China,Xu Yuanchong is best known for the great accomplishments and profound attainments he achieved in the translation of classical Chinese poetry.It is well acknowledged that his translation of classical Chinese poetry keeps semantic coherence and aesthetic consistency to the way authors organize information and texts structure,which maximally reproduces the stylistic features,emotional connotation,aesthetic characteristics and artistic styles of the original.