严复在翻译《天演论》时,没有遵循自己创设的“信、达、雅”的黄金准则,尤其和“信”相差甚远。本文拟从翻译学角度多方面考察研究严复在翻译时采取文言文和归化的策略,即失“信”的原因——为警醒中国士大夫救国保种。归化、异化翻译策略的采纳关键取决于译事对译入语文化的贡献。严复论译三字准则需要与时俱进,不断丰富发展,以加强我们对爱国翻译家严复的认识并更有效指导翻译实践。 Yan Fu did not follow the golden rule of “faith, accomplishment and elegance” created by himself when translating the “Evolution and Ethics”, especially far from “Letter”. This article intends to examine Yan Fu’s strategy of using classical Chinese and naturalization in translation from the perspective of translatology in many aspects, that is, the reason for losing “letter” - to warn Chinese scholars to save the country. The adoption of naturalization and alienation translation strategies depends crucially on the contribution of translation to the translation into Chinese. Yan Fu’s three-word guideline needs to keep pace with the times and continuously enrich and develop so as to enhance our understanding of patriotic translator Yan Fu and to guide translation practice more effectively.