摘要：With the deepening of international exchanges in the medical field, the demand for medical translation has increased. However, due to the characteristics of medical translation, the quality of translation is hard to master. Therefore, the importance of theoretical guidance to translation practice is ignored. With the guidance of Catford’s translation shifts theory, the paper analyzes the applicability of the theory in medical translation practice from level shifts and category shifts. Through the analysis, the paper concludes that the theory pays attention to the shifts between vocabulary and syntax, but ignores the cohesion and coherence of discourse. Therefore, translators should notice the advantages and limitations to improve the quality of translation.
