1 .Introduction

Nowadays, people live in a world full of different kinds of colorful advertisements. In a short and simple sentence, advertisements are able to show the products′ charm and achieve business goals, featured by their great variety and interesting originality. As one of the most creative means of rhetoric, puns are excessively used in advertisements to strengthen the publicity effect. However, the translatability of puns arouses a lot of debates in translation circle. It is hard to translate the double meaning of puns in English advertisements because of different languages, cultures and habits of expression. Yan Fu’s translation theory, on the basis of loyalty and smoothness, trying to make the sound preservation of the taste and shade of the original, provides a novel perspective for Pun Translation.

1.1 Research Background

With the continuous development of economic globalization, international trade has further promoted the development of advertising industry. English advertising translation has become an important topic in the translation field. Currently domestic and foreign scholars have done extensive researches on the translation of puns in English advertisements, giving their translation methods by analyzing a lot of fresh examples. But so far the translation skills of pun still need to be specified and systematized .Moreover, some businesses are done for the purpose of quick and big profits so that the translation of English advertisements could be shoddy. Therefore, it is urgent to understand the characteristics of puns in English advertising and develop the translation strategies of puns in English advertisements.

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1.2 The Significance and Purpose of the Thesis

Since China is connected with the world closely, more business opportunities

are brought to china. In order to understand the puns translation in advertising English in the commodity economy better, I will study it from the perspective of Yan Fu 's Three-Word translation principle, analyzing it with specific examples and summarizing more thorough translation methods so that the translation of puns in English advertising can be further improved and refined , helping consumers better understand the meaning of advertising and identify deceptive advertisements effectively.

1.3 The Structure of the Thesis

This paper consists of five parts as following:

Chapter one is the introduction which illuminates the research background, purpose and significance of the topic.

Chapter two is a brief survey about the definition and classification of puns and its important role in English advertising.

Chapter three mainly presents the three translation principles of Yan Fu ,introducing the definition of “Faithfulness” ，“Expressiveness” and “Elegance” respectively.

Chapter four is the main part of this paper. It mainly discusses the application of Yan Fu＇s Three-Word translation theory in puns translation. The first half part is a brief introduction about the advantages applying Yan Fu’s translation theory to translate puns in English advertisements. The second half part is about some specific translation skills under the main guiding of “Faithfulness” 、“Expressiveness” and “Elegance” principles are adapt to the translation of puns in English advertisements.

The fifth part is a conclusion, in which the author makes a conclusion of the whole thesis and puts forward some suggestions of puns translation in advertisements in the future.

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2. Brief Survey to Puns in English Advertisements

In today's fast-paced society, people pursue a life of high efficiency and convenience. As a result, short and easy remembered advertisement is a trend in today's media life. For the sake of making a concise and impressive advertisement, advertiser may often resort to all kinds of rhetorical devices. Among all the rhetorical devices, Pun has the feature which can catch people's eyes easily and quickly. With dual meaning, Pun acts as a small carrier, while having plenty of connotations. As a result, it is very effective and lucrative to the advertiser. In this chapter, three significant aspects of puns will be illustrated to strengthen the understanding of puns in English advertisements.

2.1 Definition of Advertisements and Puns

According to the Free Dictionary, the word “advertisement” is first derived from

the Latin word “advertere”, which means to pay attention, to induce, and to spread. During the Middle English period, the word “advertere” evolves to “advertise” and the meaning accordingly changes into “to make sb. notice something”, or “to inform someone of something and attract the attention of others”. Nowadays, advertising is generally considered as a form of communication for marketing to convey information to the public, using persuasive language and exciting images to encourage people to buy a product or service or believe in an idea. Advertising has broad and narrow sense. The broad advertising includes non economic advertising and economic advertising. Non economic advertising refers to the profit for the purpose of advertising, also known as effect advertising, such as announcement, notice and statement making by governmental administrative departments, social institutions and individuals, whose main purpose is to spread information. The narrow sense of advertising also known as commercial advertising aims at the pursuit of pure profit. It is an important means for the producers, operators and consumers to exchange information, or an important form for the enterprise to occupy the market, promote

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sales and provide labor services. The main purpose of advertising is to reassure the employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful, enhancing the economic benefits of a company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising).

Pun originates from the word “paronomasia” in Latin, relating to the employment of a polysemous word which contains two or more meanings, commonly literal meaning versus figurative meaning or the use of homonyms .In other words ,it means different words which look or sound the same but have different meanings. Nowadays, the meaning of puns has further developed. Generally speaking, pun is a form of word play in a certain context that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous and rhetorical effect. A pun is composed of three conditions: double context, hinge (multiple meanings of words or similar-sounding words) and the trigger (the key element that forms a pun). With puns the advertising language can become more concise

so

puns

are

commonly

used

in

English

advertisements

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun).

2.2 Classification of Puns in English Advertisements

Generally speaking, puns can be classified into two major types according to its definition .They are Phonetic Pun and Semantic Pun. The Phonetic Pun, a common type, includes puns having the close sound and the same sound, which are words sound alike or the same but not synonymous, while the Semantic Pun often exploits words or expressions which possess different meanings in a certain context (Xu Zhang 99).

In English advertisements, there is another way to categorize puns more specifically. Homophonic Pun, Homographic Pun, Grammatical Pun, and Parody Pun, these four types of pun are actually expanded from the above two classifications. Homophonic Pun is equal to the Phonetic Pun, referring to words which are of the similar or same sound. Homographic Pun, Grammatical Pun, and Parody Pun are actually three branches of Semantic Pun. Homographic Pun means that words with

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