-4-ChapterOneIntroductionBusinessEnglishcontractsarecommontextsthatarewrittentospecifytherulesobservedbyenterprisesandorganizations.Thekeytargetofsuchtextsistoprovideinstructionsforcooperationbetweendifferententerprises.Atpresent,theeconomicglobalizationincreasesthefrequencyofbusinesscommunicationamongenterprisesfromdifferentcountriesandinternationalbusinesscooperationhavebeenincreasing.Suchcooperativeactivitiesarebasedonthebusinesscontractsthatthepartiesinvolvedsignedbeforethecooperation.Hence,businessEnglishcontractsarepaidgreaterattentionincross-culturalbusinesscommunications.Incorrectorunprofessionaltranslationofbusinesscontractswillbringnegativeinfluenceoncross-culturalcooperationbetweenenterprisesfromdifferentcountries.Thatiswhythetranslationofbusinesscontractsischosenasthemajorconcernofthisresearch.Inordertoprovidedetailedanalysisofthemethodstotranslatebusinesscontracts,tworesearchmethodsareemployedinthisresearch,includingmaterialanalyzingmethodandcasestudyapproach.Thefirstmethodmeanstocollectvariousmaterialsrelatedtobusinesscontractsandtheprimarytranslatingstrategiesfromvariousresourcessuchastheinternet,libraryandbookstores.Thosematerialsaretobereadcarefullytoensurethattheresearchercouldgainfullunderstandingofthelanguagefeaturesofbusinesscontracts.Bymeansofcasestudyapproach,theresearcherwillchoosesomeprofessionalbusinesscontractstoanalyzethelanguagefeaturesofsuchtextsandtosummarizethemostimportantprinciplesandmethodstobeapplicableintothetranslationofbusinessEnglishcontracts.Suchanalysisissignificantandhelpfulduetothefollowingreasons:firstly,theanalysisofthelanguagefeaturesofbusinessEnglishcontractscouldhelpreadersgaincluesabouthowtoensureprofessionaltranslationofbusinesscontracts.Secondly,theexplanationforthemostimportantprinciplesandmethodstotranslatebusinesscontractswillhelpreadersgetenlightenmentonhowtotranslateformaltextslikebusinessEnglishcontracts.ChapterTwoOverviewofSkoposTheoryInthefollowingsection,thedevelopmentoftheSkoposTheoryandthecontentofthistheorywillbeintroducedindetails.2.1CoreConceptsofSkoposTheoryThistheorywasputforwardbasedonaterminphilosophicalstudies,“skopos”,whichmeans“thetargetsorpurposesofhumanbehaviors”.Then,thistermwasintroducedintotranslationstudiesbyaseriesoftranslators,suchasGermantranslatorHansVermeer,whoheldthatthemostimportantfactortoaffecttranslationwasthepurposesoftranslation.However,VermeerwasnotthesoletranslatorwhocontributedtothedevelopmentoftheSkoposTheory.Thereweremanyotherprofessionaltranslatorswhoputforwardtheirconceptsabouttranslation.2.2ThreeRulesofSkoposTheoryAsmentionedinthesectionabove,theSkoposTheoryiscomposedofthreerules,includingSkoposRule,CoherenceRuleandFidelityRule,whichistobeintroducedindetailsasfollows.2.2.1SkoposRuleTheSkoposRuleisthefirstandmostimportantruleinthistheory.Vermeerheldthatthetranslationwasnotmerelythetransformationfromonetypeofsymbolstoanother.Instead,itiscomplicatedactionthatiscarriedoutforthesakeofcommunicationbetweendifferentcultures.Asforthetranslators,theyplaytheroleoftheparticipantsofthecross-culturalcommunication.Thisroleisplayedbymeansofdecidingthecentraltargetsoftranslation,whichiscloselyrelatedtothepurposesoftheoriginalwritersofthesourcetext.Besidethepurposeoftheoriginalwriters,thetargetreaders’factorsarealsotakenintoconsiderationwhenatranslatordecidesthepurposesoftranslation.Ingeneral,thisrulecanbeanalyzedfromthefollowingthreeaspects:atfirst,thepurposesoftranslationindicatethekeygoalsoftranslatorstobereachedintheprocessoftranslatingthesourcetext.Second,thepurposesoftranslationshouldalsocovertheresultofthetranslationprocess,orthefunctionstobecarriedoutbytranslation.Thirdly,thetranslationpurposesneedstocovertranslators’expectationstoemployvarioustranslationmethods.2.2.2CoherenceRuleTheCoherenceRulemeans“therulethattranslatorsmustconsidertheculturalbackgroundandconventionaluseoflanguageandotherbackgroundinformation”.Thisrulerequiresthattranslatorsshouldchoosethewords,phrasesandidiomsthatareunderstoodandacceptedbythemajorityoftargetreaders.Inthatcase,thetranslationcouldcarryoutthefunctionofintroducingtheuniquecultureofthesourcetextintothecultureofthetargetreaders.Inaccordancewiththisrule,translatorsneedtoaddfurtherexplanationforculturally-loadedtermsortomakeadjustmentoftheformsorevenmeaningofthesourcetextwhenthesourcetextcontainsomecomplicatedculturalinformationthatobstructsthetargetreadersfromunderstandingthetranslationandtherelevantculturalinformation.2.2.3FidelityRuleTheFidelityRuleindicatesthat“theinter-textualcoherenceprincipleobservedbytranslatorstoavoidchangingthemeaningorformsofthesourcetextandtomakeadjustmentofthesourcetextbasedonthepurposesoftranslationandtranslators’comprehensionofthesourcetextwhentherearesomeobscureorambiguousexpressionsinthesourcetext.TheexplanationofFidelityRuleaboveshowsthatthisruleissimilartotheloyaltyruleintheprevioustranslationtheories.However,FidelityRuleisdifferentfromtheloyaltyrulebecauseFidelityRuleallowsforsomeadjustmentofthesourcetextinaccordancewithtranslators’comprehensionofthesourcetextassoonastheadjustmentisconsistentwiththetranslationpurposes.Therefore,FidelityRuleallowsformoreflexibilityoftranslationandthatisexactlyanimportantreasonwhythisrulehasbeenattachedwithgreatimportancebylargenumbersoftranslators.ThethreerulesofSkoposTheoryareactuallycloselyrelatedtoeachother.TheSkoposRuleisthecenterofthewholetheoryanditplaystheroleofa“leader”inthewholetheory.TheCoherenceRuleandFidelityRuleareobservedundertheconditionthattheSkoposRuleshouldbeobserved.Besides,thethreerulesallallowforsomechangesoftheformormeaningofthesourcetext.WhenatranslatorobservestheCoherenceRuleorFidelityRulebutviolatestheSkoposRule,theCoherenceorFidelityRulehastobeviolatedtoensurethattheSkoposRuleshouldbeobservedinthetranslation.ChapterThreeOverviewofBusinessContractsAsoneofthetypicalrigidtexts,businesscontractsarecharacterizedbyitsuniquelanguagefeatures.Inthefollowingsection,thetextualtypesandlanguagefeaturesofbusinesscontractswillbeintroduced.3.1TextualTypeofBusinessContractsIngeneral,businesscontractsareclassifiedintorigidtextwhichischaracterizedbythefollowingfeatures.Thefirstimportanttextualfeatureissystematicstructure.Theformatofbusinesscontractsisnormallyfixedandconsistsofbasicinformationofthetwoormultipleparties,thetermsandconditionsandsignature.Secondly,anothertextualfeatureofbusinesscontractsisobjectiveness,whichmeansthecontentofthecontractshavetobeconsistentwiththerealactivitiesrelatedtothecontracts.Sincethekeytargetofbusinesscontractsistospecifywhattwoormorepartiesshoulddotoensurethestablecooperationamongthoseparties,moredetailsshouldbelistedanddescribedincontractstoensureallpartiesshouldtakeontheirresponsibilityandthentakebenefitfromthebusinesscooperation.Therefore,allthedetailedinformationaboutthebusinesscooperationactivitiesshouldbespecified,suchasproductinformation,price,payment,deliveryandothers.Thelasttextualfeatureofbusinesscontractsisthestandardization,whichmeansthatsomekeywordsinbusinesscontractsarefixedandcannotbereplacedwithotherwordswithsimilarmeaning.Forinstance,theterm“forcemajeure”isthetermtodescribethetermsandconditionsaboutthecountermeasurestakentocopewiththedamageoraccidentsthatcannotbecontrolledbyhumans.Thistermcannotbereplacedwith“irresistibleforce”inbusinesscontracts.3.2LanguageFeaturesofBusinessContractsBesidethetextualstyle,thelanguagefeaturesofbusinesscontractsshouldbepaidwithadequateattentioninbusinesscontracttranslation.Thelanguagefeaturesofsuchcontractswillbefurtherdividedintolexicalfeaturesandsyntacticfeatures.3.2.1LexicalFeaturesThevocabulariesusedinbusinessEnglishcontractsaredifferentfromthewordsusedindailycommunicationsbecausethemeaningofspecificwordsandexpressionsisdifferentwhentheyareusedincontractsandsometechnicaltermsareonlyusedinrigidtextlikecontracts.Ingeneral,themostnoticeablelexicalfeaturesofbusinessEnglishcontractscouldbesummarizedasfollows.ThefirstnoticeablelexicalfeatureofbusinessEnglishcontractsisthefrequentuseofloanwords,whichprimarilyindicatethewordsborrowedfromotherlanguages.Actually,themostimportantlanguagethataffectsEnglishvocabulariesisFrench,whichcouldbeprovedbytheuseofsomeFrenchwordsthatarenowfrequentlyusedinbusinessEnglishcontracts.Oneoftherepresentativeexamplesis“ForceMajeure”,whichindicatestheaccidentaleventsthatnormallybringnegativeinfluenceonthecooperationbetweentwopartieswhosignanagreementtospecifytheirresponsibilitiesandrightsinbusinesscooperation.Asimilarexampleis“Bonafide”,whichisawordborrowedfromLatintoindicatetherealthingswhilethenewword“Elcredere”isloanedfromItaliantobeusedinbusinessEnglishcontractstoindicatethepromisemadebybanksthatspecificenterprisesarecapableofpayingoffspecificdebts.TheuseofthosenewloanwordsusedinbusinessEnglishcontractsrequiresadequateattentionpaidtotheacquisitionofnewloanwordsthatarefrequentlyusedinbusinesscontracts.ThesecondimportantfeatureofthevocabulariesusedinbusinessEnglishcontractsisthefrequentuseofvariousrigidandformalexpressions,whichmeans“thevocabulariesandphrasesthatarepreciselycorrectandsuitableforimportantorofficialsituations”.Thereasonforsuchafeatureisthatcontractsarehighlyformaltextsthatareusedasthesoleguidelinesofbusinessactivitiesthatareparticipatedbypeoplefromdifferententerprisesindifferentnations.Thevocabularyusedinbusinesscontractsisdifferentfromothertexts.Thedraftersofbusinesscontractshaveaspecialpreferenceforwords,whichmustbeprofessional,formalandaccurate.AccordingtotheprincipleoffaithfulnessinSkoposTheory,andtoachieveinterlingualcoherencebetweentheoriginaltextandthetranslation,thetranslationofbusinesscontractsrequiresthatthetranslationbeasfaithfulaspossibletotheoriginaltextanduseaccuratewordssoastoavoidunnecessaryeconomiclossesforbothpartiestothecontract.Eachfieldhasitsownspecificvocabularywhichcalledtechnicalterms.Asbusinesscontractsarealmostrequiredbyeachspecializedfield,specifictechnicaltermswillbeappliedtospecificprofessionsinbusinesscontracts.Technicaltermsareusuallynotcommonwordsindailylife.Itisdifficultforlaymantounderstandthem,butconventionalforprofessionalstocarryouttheirwork.Forinstance,inEnglishbusinesscontracts,LetterofCredit,usancedraft,damages,ForceMajeure,negotiation,firmoffer,etc.Thesevocabulariesusuallyhavetheircommonmeaningsindailylife.However,inChinesebusinesscontracts,theyarecorrespondinglytranslatedto信用證、遠期匯票、賠償金、不可抗拒力、議付、實盤.Themisinterpretingofthesetechnicaltermsmightcausethemisunderstandingorconfusiontothecontentofthecontract.Awriterofbusinesscontractsintendstouse“desiretodo”or“expecttodo”,ratherthan“wanttodo”.Besides,incaseofdescribingspecificthought,theverb“deem”ispreferred,butnot“think”or“believe”.Theproposition“about”isnormallyreplacedwith“concerning”or“asregards”inbusinessEnglishcontracts.Theuseoftheformalexpressionsaslistedaboveisnecessarybecausethoseexpressionsmakethecontractsextremelyprofessionalsothatthetwopartiesaremorelikelytotrusteachother’sprofessionalcompetencetoensuresuccessfulcooperation.Thethirdnoticeablelexicalfeatureofbusinesscontractsisthefrequentuseofeuphemism.Theterm“euphemism”indicatesanindirectwordorphrasethatpeopleoftenusetorefertosomethingembarrassingorunpleasant,sometimestomakeitseemmoreacceptablethanitreallyissincethecontractscoverallthepossibleeventsthatmightaffecttheimplementationofthecontractsandsomeoftheeventscouldmaketheotherpartyfeelconcernedaboutwhetherthecooperationcouldbesuccessful,theexpressionstodescribethoseharmfuleventsshouldbereplacedwithsomeothers.Forinstance,inthebusinesscontractsaboutproject,thedetaileddescriptionofthepossibleaccidentsthatmayaffecttheprojectarenormallyreplacedwithsomevaguewordstocoversuchaccidentssuchas“anyeventsthataredeemedtothreatenthesecurityoftheconstruction”,“theeventsthatdirectlyorindirectlycausethedamageoftheconstruction”andothers.Theeuphemismsabouttheeventsthatmightcausetheconcernofthetwopartiesareadvantageousincoveringlargerscopeofharmfuleventsthatcouldaffectthebusinesscooperationdescribedinthecontracts.3.2.2SyntacticFeaturesThesyntacticstructuresinbusinessEnglishcontractsarecharacterizedbysomeuniquefeaturesthatmakesuchtextdifferentfromothers.Ingeneral,themostnoticeablesyntacticfeaturesofbusinessEnglishcontractscouldbesummarizedasfollows.(1)PassiveVoiceThefirstandmostimportantsyntacticfeatureofbusinessEnglishcontractsisthefrequentuseofpassivevoice,whichreferstothelinguisticstructurethatisusedtomakethereadersfocustheirattentionontheobjectsofcertainactsandthatisthemostfundamentalfunctionofpassivevoice.Thislinguisticstructurecouldalsobeusedtoshowthespeakers’respectforthereceiverorthehearer.ItiscommonsensethatanEnglishspeakerwouldliketoputthepartthathewantstoemphasizeatthebeginningofasentenceandsucharrangementcouldalsobeusedtoshowtherespectofthespeakerfortheemphasizedpart.Inmostcases,theobjectofaverbshouldbeputaftertheverbbutinthesentenceofpassivevoice,theobjectoftheactisputatthebeginningofthesentencewhilethesubjectoftheverbisputaftertheverb.Suchavoiceisfrequentlyusedinthecorrespondencebetweenthecooperativeparties,orbetweenthesellersandthecustomerssoonandsoforth.Forinstance,“PartyA’sorderwillbeprocessedwithinthe24hoursaftertheorderhasbeensubmitted”.Insuchasentence,theobjectoftheverb“process”isplacedatthebeginningofthesentencesoastomakethereceiver,thecustomerfeelmorecomfortablewithsuchasentencesincetheycouldfeelthattheirorderwasattachedgreatsignificanceandwasrespectedgreatly.Inthatcase,thecustomersaremorelikelytofeelcomfortablewiththeserviceoftheseller.Itisobviousthatthepastparticipleisanefficienttooltobeusedtoshowtherespectforthereceiversorthelisteners.(2)NominalizedStructureThesecondnoticeablefeatureofbusinessEnglishcontractsisnominalizedstructurewhichindicatestheverbsorverbphrasesthatareadaptedintonominalexpressionsviagerundorchangingthemintoequivalentnounphrases.Theadvantageofsuchstructureistheflexiblelocationinasentence.Inotherwords,suchphrasescouldbeusedasthesubject,object,predicativeandothers.Forinstance,“thesellershallnotberesponsibleforlatedeliveryornon-deliveryofgoodsowningto“ForceMajeureCase”suchaswar,flood,fireandstorm”.Inthatsentence,thephrase“latedelivery”and“non-deliveryofgoodsowningto‘ForceMajeureCase’suchaswar,flood,fireandstorm”arebothnominalizedphrasesthatcouldmakethesentencebriefandinformative,whichisimportantfeatureofprofessionalbusinessEnglishcontracts.(3)LongCompoundSentencesThelastnoticeablesyntacticstructureisthefrequentuseoflongcompoundsentences.Thereasonforsuchafeatureisthatthesentencesincontractsneedtocoverasmanysituationsaspossibleandsuchagoalcouldbereachedvialistingallthepossiblesituationsinlongcompoundsentences.Hence,alltherightsandresponsibilitiesofthepartiestosignthecontractscouldbespecifiedwithoutanyambiguityormisunderstanding.Forinstance,ifthedeliverytimeoftechnicaldocumentsandsoftwareexceedsregulatedtime,thebuyerhaverighttoterminatethecontractandthemanufactureshallreturnthetotalamountthatthebuyerhaspaidplusinterestattherateof12%perannualthereon.Theadvantageofsuchsentencesisthattheyenablethepartiestosignthecontractstoensureallthepossiblesituationsaredescribedinsuchcontractssothattheycouldensurefluentcooperationinthefuture.ChapterFourApplicationofSkoposTheoryintoBusinessContractTranslationTheanalysisinchapterthreeshowsthatbusinesscontractsarecharacterizedbyuniquelexicalandsyntacticfeatures,whichrequiresthattranslatorsshouldremainthosefeaturesinthetranslation.TheapplicationoftheSkoposTheorywillhelptranslatorsreachthatgoal.Inthefollowingsection,thetranslationmethodsatthelexicalandsyntacticlevelwillbeintroducedindetails.4.1TranslationMethodsatLexicalLevelAsmentionedinChapterThree,thewordsinthebusinesscontractsarecharacterizedbythefrequentuseofloanwords,professionalexpressionsandeuphemisms.Thetranslationofthosewordsrequiresthattranslatorsshouldemployliteraltranslationandfreetranslationtoensurethatthetranslationoftheloanwords,professionalexpressionsandeuphemismsshouldbeconsistentwiththethreerulesoftheSkoposTheory.4.1.1LiteralTranslationTheliteraltranslationmeansthetranslationmethodbywhichtheformsofthesourcetext,andtheconnotativemeaningoftheexpressionsinthesourcetextismaintainedinthetranslationtoensuretheloyaltytothesourcetext.TheliteraltranslationofEnglsihbusinesscontractsrequiredthattranslatorsshouldmaximizetheequivalencewiththesourcetextinformtocopewiththetranslationoflongsentences.Inthetranslationofbusinesscontracts,alargenumberofwordsaretranslatedliterally,whichisdeterminedbythefidelityofthecontractcontenttotheoriginaltext.Thefollowingtypicalexamplesalladoptliteraltranslation.Forinstance:(1)Example1:Undertheusancedraft,thebearershallpresentittothepayerforacceptancebeforethedateofmaturity.Translation:如為遠期匯票，持票人應在匯票到期前向匯款人提示承兌。(2)Example2:IfunderthecontacttheBuyeristospecifytheform,measurementorotherfeaturesofgoodsandhefailstomakesuchspecificationeitheronthedateagreeduponorwithinareasonabletimeafterreceiptofarequestfromtheSeller,theSellermay,withoutprejudicetoanyotherrightshemayhave,makethespecificationhimselfinaccordancewiththerequirementsoftheBuyerthatmaybeknowntohim.Translation:若按本合同之規定由買方規定貨物的形狀、尺寸或其他特征，但買方在雙方議定的時間內，或在收到賣方的要求后的合理期限內未能做出上述規定，則賣方在不損害己)方享有的任何其他權利的情況下，有權根據已知的買方要求自行規定。(3)Example3:TheSellershall,30daysbeforetheshipmentdatespecifiedintheContract,advisetheBuyerbye-mailsoftheContractNo,commodity,quantity,amount,packages,grossweight,measurement,andthedateofshipmentinorderthattheBuyercancharacteravessel/bookshippingspace.Translation:賣方應該在合同規定的裝運日期前30天，以電子郵件的形式通知賣方合同號，品名，數量，金額，包裝件，毛重，尺碼及裝運港可裝日期，以便買房安排租船、訂艙。Intheexampleabove,allthetechnicaltermsabouttheshipmentandproductinformationaretranslatedvialiteraltranslationsothattheformalitylevelofthetargettextisalmostthesameasthesourcetext.ThatisexactlyoneofthekeytargetofcontracttranslationandtheapplicationofthismethodhelpstranslatorsensurethetranslationshouldbeconsistentwiththeSkoposRule.Forinstance,thetechnicalterm“package”istranslatedinto“包裝件”,whichisatypicaltranslationofthattechnicalterm.Besides,theterm“characteravessel”istranslatedinto“安排租船”insteadof“租一艘船”.Thetechnicalterm“bookshippingspace”istranslatedinto“訂艙”,insteadof“訂位置”.ThosetranslationhashelptranslatorreachthegoalthatthetranslationisasformalasthesourcetextsothetranslationaboveisconsistentwiththeSkoposRule.4.1.2FreeTranslationTheterm“freetranslation”indicatesthetranslationmethodbywhichtranslatorskeeployaltothemeaningofthesourcetextandmakeadjustmenttothesyntacticstructuresofthesourcetextandtherhetoricaldevicesusedinthesourcetext.Thistranslationmethodisappliedwhenit’snotpossibleornecessarytoremaintheformsofthesourcetextandwhentherearenoappropriatevocabulariesandsentencepatternsthatareequivalenttothesourcetextinbothformsandmeaning.(1)Example1:資產負債表:Balancesheet(2)Example2:空倉費:Deadfreight(3)Example3:預定違約賠償金:LiquidateddamageIntheabovewords,theyarealltranslatedbythemethodoffreetranslation,whichhardlyinfertheirmeaningswithoutthecontext.(4)Example4:TheGuaranteePeriodshallstartfromtheexactdateonwhichthePurchaserreceivesinwritingfromtheVenderthatPurchaserisreadyfordispatchfromtheworks.Translation:擔保期限的具體日期自賣方發出的并告知已通知可以從工廠發出的書面通知起開始計算.IntheExampleabove,freetranslationisappliedtotranslatetheeuphemismstoensurethatthetranslationischaracterizedwiththesamelexicalfeaturesasthesourcetext,whichhelpstranslatorsensurethatthetranslationshouldbeconsistentwiththeFidelityRuleintheSkoposTheory.Tobespecific,intheexampleabove,theexpressions“guaranteeperiod”and“exactdate”arealltypicaleuphemismsbecausenonumeralsareusedtospecifythedateofstartoftheperiodandtheendofthedate.However,theliteraltranslationofthatsentence“擔保期限自賣方發出的并告知已通知可以從工廠發出的書面通知的具體日期起開始計算，whichisusedlessfluentlyinbusinesscontractsfortargetlanguagespeakers.TomakethetranslationconsistentwiththeFidelityRule,theplaceofthevagueexpression“exactdate”ischangedtothebeginningofthesentence.4.2TranslationMethodsatSyntacticLevelTheanalysisinChapterThreeshowsthatthesentencesinbusinesscontractsarecharacterizedbythefrequentuseoflongsentenceswithcomplicatedstructuresandtherearedifferencesbetweentheChineseandEnglishlongsentencesinbusinesscontracts.ToensurethatthetranslationofthosesentencesshouldbeconsistentwiththethreerulesofSkoposTheory,translatorsshouldflexiblyemployvarioustranslationmethodstomakethetranslationconsistentwiththethreerulesofSkoposTheory.4.2.1TransferringintoNon-subjectSentencesOneofthekeydifferencebetweenthesyntacticfeaturesofChineseandEnglishbusinesscontractsisthatnon-subjectsentencesareusedfrequentlyusedinChinesebusinesscontractsbutthistypeofsentencesareagainsttheEnglishsyntacticrules.Therefore,thetranslationofbusinessEnglishcontractsrequiresthattranslatorsshouldpaymoreattentiontothetranslationofpassivevoicesentencesorthesentenceswithexcessivelylongsubjects.Bymeansoftransferringthosesentencesintonon-subjectsentences,thetranslationcouldbeconsistentwiththeCoherenceRule.(1)Example1:SourceText:Alltheissuesrelatedtoproducingtechnology,includingnewtechnologydevelopment,refiningthetraditionaltechnologyandothers,shouldbereportedtothePartyBinadvanceinwrittenform.TargetText:與生產技術有關事宜，包括新技術研發與傳統技術的改進等，應當提前以書面形式告知乙方。Intheexampleabove,thepassivevoicesentenceistranslatedintoanon-subjectsentencebecausethepassivevoiceisadoptedtoguidereaderstopaymoreattentiontothecontentofthenotification.ToensurethatthetranslationshouldcarryoutthesamefunctionandisconsistentwiththesyntacticfeaturesofChinesebusinesscontracts,thesentenceistransferredintonon-subjectsentences.Hence,bymeansofthemethodabove,thetranslationisconsistentwithboththeSkoposRuleandCoherenceRule.(2)Example2:PartyBshall:Takeeverynecessarymeansinguaranteeingandfacilitatingdatarecoveryfromanycorruption,alteration,ordatalossincidents.Translation：乙方須：采取一切必要措施，以確保在數據發生任何損毀和遺失時將數據恢復或促使數據恢復。Intheexampleabove,thesubjectoftheaseriesofverbphrasesis“PartyB”,whichiswrittenabovealltheverbphrasestoensuretheconcisenessofthecontracts.Toensurethatthetranslationshouldbeasbriefasthesourcetext,theverbphrasesaretranslatedintonon-subjectsentences,whichmakesthetranslationconsistentwiththeCoherenceRule.4.2.2TransformationofPassiveVoiceSentencesThesecondimportantmethodtocopewithbusinesscontracttranslationistotransformthepassivevoicesentences.AsmentionedinChapterthree,passivevoicesentencesinbusinesscontractscarryoutthefunctionofguidingtargetreaderstoemphasizetheobjectsofpredicateverbsorshowingpolitenesstoensurethetwofunctionsofthepassivevoicesentencescouldbemaintainedinthetranslation.Passivesentencesarewidelyusedinbusinesstexts,especiallyininternationalcommerciallaw,businesscontracts,financialEnglish,andinsuranceEnglish.Besides,mostofthepassivesentencesinbusinesscontractsareaffirmativeornegativeones,whicharecomposedof“subject,”“be(not)”,“pastparticiple,”“preposition,”and“object”.(1)Example1:Theproductsasorderedshouldbemarkedwithinitialsinadiamond.Translation:請在訂購貨物上標記上菱形，內印公司縮寫字母。Intheexampleabove,thepassivevoicesentencecarriesoutthefunctiontoshowrespectfortheproductsthatthepurchaserhaspurchased,whichisoneofthekeywaystoshowpolitenessinbusinesscontracts.Inordertoensurethetranslationisequallypoliteasthesourcetext,thetranslatorhasadoptedfreetranslationtotransformthepassivevoiceintotheChinesepoliteword:“請”,whichmakesthetranslationconsistentwiththeSkoposRuleand