作者：JI Jian-wei
　　【Abstract】This paper is a case study of translation of The First Visit to the Red Cliff translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Margaret Tayler from the perspective of translation aesthetics to demonstrate the aesthetic elements in translation activity， and plans to explore the effect and influence of translation aesthetics in the translation process.
　　【Key words】The First Visit to the Red Cliff； translation aesthetics； English translation
　　【作者简介】姬建伟（1993- ），男，汉族，河北保定人，硕士在读，中国矿业大学（北京）文法学院，研究方向：英语笔译。
　　The translation aesthetics is interdisciplinary between translation and aesthetic principles with unique Chinese characteristics. With its specific embodiment and distinguished aesthetic characteristics， literature translation can be evaluated by aesthetics that explores a new point of view to study the translation activity. This paper plans to research the translation of The First Visit to the Red Cliff from the translation aesthetics.
　　1. Phonetic beauty
　　Musicality is one of the features of sound satisfaction and the rhyme is one of the key points in a text. Authors try their best to choose harmonious musical words so that the harmonious sounds are able to express meanings beyond language. In Chinese traditional literature， the sound harmony is put into the important position， especially in literary composition in rhyme. Each language owns its unique method to achieve the harmonious sound. Because vowels， the musical sounds in Chinese system， are more sonorous than consonants， Chinese sounds more fluent and sweet than English pronunciation.
　　Example 1： 少焉，月出于東山之上，徘徊于斗牛之间。白露横江，水光接天。
　　Translation： Soon the moon rose above the eastern mountain，， hovering between the Dipper and Cowherd. The river stretched white， sparking as if with dew， its glimmering water merging the sky.
　　The source text applies no phonetic devices except the rhymes， such as “焉（Yan）”， “间（Jian）” and “天（Tian）”. However， the translation omits the rhymes in the transformation process， instead of translating the source text on the base of literal meanings. It cannot be denied that translators abandon the sound harmony for faithfulness， which is the loss of aesthetic information in the translation activity. Therefore， from this example it can be concluded that aesthetic translation is extremely difficult and in translation practice， aesthetic subject has to choose to remain or abandon some aesthetic information. How to make the decision depends on the translator’s skills and experiences， so that each piece of translation works has the unique characteristic of each translator.