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Hans J．Vermeer has gone further studies to

bridge the gap between theory and practice.Similarly,Vermeer also thinks

translation is more than primarily a linguistic process，and linguistics itself can not tackle all the problems．According to Vermeer,firstly,translation is a type of transfer where communicative verbal and non-verbal signs are transferred from one language into another(other types would include the transfer from pictures to music，or from a blueprint to a building．)；in addition,translation is a type of human action,that is，an intentional，purposeful behavior that takes place in a given situation；finally,since situations are embedded in cultures，any evaluation of a particular situation,of its verbalized and non-verbalized elements，depends on the status in a particular culture system．

In Vermeer’s approach,translation is a form of translational action based on a

source text,which may consist of verbal and non-verbal elements，Other forms of translational action may involve actions like a consultant giving information．In Vermeer’s words，any form of translational actions can be conceived as an action with a certain aim or purpose，and this is the reason why Vermeer calls his theory Skopostheorie，a theory of purposeful action．In the framework of his theory,one of the most important factors determining the purpose of a translation is the

addressee，who is the intended receiver or audience of the target text with their culture-specific world-knowledge，their expectations and their communicative

needs．Therefore，Vermeer defines that to translate is ' to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances”． (Vermeer,1987a：29) 、

We can see that,in Vermeer's approach,the status of source is much lower

than in equivalence-based theory．The approach lays a foundation for a general theory oftranslation,embracing both specific languages and culture ‘'Skopos'’is a Greek word for“purpose”．Accordingto Skopostheorie(the theory that applies the notion of Skopos to translation)，the prime principle determining anytranslation process is the purpose(Skopos)of the overall translation action．Besides the term‘'Skopos'’，Vermeer presents several related words‘'aim’：‘'purpose’：“intention”and‘\’.“Aim”is the final result an agent intends to achieve by means of an action．‘'Purpose’’is a provisional stage in the process of attaining an aim．Also．‘'function\intended to mean from the receiver's point of view,and“intention'’is conceived as an‘‘aim-oriented plan of action'’on the part of both the sender and the receiver, pointing toward an appropriate way of producing or understanding the text．(Nord， 2001：28)

As a general rule，Vermeer considers the above technical terms to be

equivalent,subsuming them under the generic concept of Skopos．However,in many cases，they are not strictly identical．Thus，as Nord presents，‘‘intention'’is defined from the viewpoint of the sender,while‘‘function'’is from the viewpoint of receiver．An action has an“aim”．while a translation text has‘'purposes”． SKOPOS RULE

Similar to the concept of equivalence，Skopostheorie claims to be a general

and universal model of translation．Functionalist approaches focus on the functions of texts and theirtranslations，or in German language，the skopos of the translation． According to Skopotheorie as presented by Vermeer,there are three major rules in the Skopostheorie，namely,the Skopos rule，the Coherence rule and the Fidelity rule．

SKOPOS RULE

Since the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose over the overall translational action,the top-ranking rule for any translation is the Skopos rule，which says that a translational action is determined by its Skopos；that is，”the end justifies the means”(Reiss and Vermeer,1984：101)．Vermeer explains the Skopos rule as follows： Each text is produced for a

given purpose and should serve this purpose．The

Skopos rule thus reads as follows：translate\\interpret\\speak\\write in a way that enables your text\\translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use it and precisely in the way they want it to function (Vermeer,1989a：20)．

In translation,there may exist three kinds ofpurposes：1,the general purpose aimed at by the translator in the translation process(e．g．‘'to earn a living\，②the communicative purpose aimed at by the TT in the target situation(e．g．‘'to instruct the reader’，)and3.the purpose aimed at by a particular translation strategy or procedure(e．g．‘'to translate literally in order to show the structural particularities of the source

language”)，Nevertheless，the term skopos usually refers to the

purpose of the TT(Nord,2001：27·28)，which is decided by the initiator of the translational action．

The Skopos rule is intended to solve long-term dilemma between free

translation and faithful translation,dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence，

good interpreters and slavish translators eto．Translator can decide a particular translation strategy,a free translation,or a faithful translation,or any alternative

between these two extremes，but a good translation has to take target culture mto account．

COHERENCE RULE

Another important rule of Skopostheorie,the\”,specifies that the target

text'must be interpretable as coherent with the target text receiver's situation(Reiss and Vermeer1984：1 13)．Here,being\‘part of the receiver's situation．In other words．the target text must be translated in such a way that it is coherent for the target text receivers，given their circumstances and knowledge(Jeremy Mundy 2001：79)．That is,the target-text rearers should be able to understand the target text and

interpret it as being sufficiently coherent with their own communicative situation and culture． FIDELITY RULE

The Fidelity rule merely states that there must be coherence between the translator and The source text or,more specifically,between:

·the source text information received by the translator； ．the interpretation the translator makes of this information：

·the information that is encoded for the target text receiver&(JeremyMundy2001：79-80) Since the text is produced according to the information offered in the source text,there should exist intertextual coherence betwem source and target text．

Intertextual coherence is considered to be subordinate to intratextual coherence,and both

are subordinate to the Skopos rule．If the Skopos requires a change of function,the standard will no longer be intertextual coherence with the source text but adequacy or appropriateness with regard to the Skopos(Reiss and Vermeer 1984：139)．And if the Skopos demands intratextual incoherence(as in the theatre ofthe absurd)．the standard of intratextual coherence is no longer valid(Nord 200l：331．

In a word,the Skoposthcorie injects the new blood and energy into the translation theory,

and gives the translators and researchers a newer and broader perspective of doing research on translation practices，especially for that of the practical texts．