Abstract:Chinese word “Xiao” （小）is a frequently used word, which has different meanings in the contexts. Besides the meaning “small in size, amount, degree, etc.”, it also has many other meanings. And the exact meaning is related to the concrete context. Therefore, when translating we must choose appropriate English words. Translating such words accurately is helpful for cross--cultural communication.
Key Words: Chinese word; “Xiao”; translation; context
中文摘要:“小”字是一个很活跃的常用汉语形容词，其确切含义往往与具体语境紧密相关。在不同的语境里“小”除了表示事物的体积、面积或数量上的不及一般外，还通常从另一侧面说明事物的特征。因而在翻译处理时，必须注意体察语言情境，只有这样，才能较好地传达原说话人的意图，以及在语气和态度等方面的细微处。翻译这类词，可以更好地促进跨文化交流。
关键词：汉语词；小；翻译；语境
Chinese has the greatest number of users while English is used the most widely. Definitely, English and Chinese together play a very important role in the world. Therefore, it is certainly necessary to communicate and exchange these two languages. However, how can we achieve it? Translation, which is a converting process, is a certain way. In the early 20th century, translation studies gradually broke away from the marginal status within other related disciplines and established itself as an empirical science. Since then, schools of thoughts have kept coming out and each claims its legitimacy for existence. But, because of the differences between English and Chinese, it is very difficult to translate Chinese into English perfectly.
