Translation is a cross-cultural activity that has to meet the needs of the readers and communication. ―In order to realize the expected function of translation, translator has to make choices (译者为实现译文的预期功能,只能对信息有所取舍)‖ (Yue, 2009, p.1, my translation). There is a great different between English and Chinese and their cultures. A great effort needs to be taken in Chinese-English translation, and explicitation within the text is the commonly used technique. Through the analysis of the titles in Hong Lou Meng chapters and their translations, we find that there are mainly three types of explicitation within a text in Chinese-English translation: explicitation of implied subjects, of cohesion and coherence and of grammatical meanings. They are made explicit in order to meet the need of the target readers, show the unity of form and meaning of the source texts and reach the goal of the translation. Besides, explicitation in translation always makes the complex stories and relationship among participants clear and meaningful in the target texts.
Explicitation is one of the universals in translation. In dealing with different kind of languages, there might be some features in common. Finding all these features may help the translators in their practice. We hope that the findings of our study will function similarly for the Chinese-English translation.