This paper discusses the transference of the “tempo ”or rhythm of text in literary translation． It is pointed out that rhythm is an important part of textual form and a way of expression of meaning ，and therefore should be represented in the target text as much as possible． It is illustrated that the rendering of rhythm is ，to some extent ，possible due to the large common core among human languages． Based on Saussure ’s dichotomy of langue and parole ，this paper then makes a distinction between two types of rhythms ，viz． linguistic rhythm ，i． e． that of specific languages ，and textual rhythm ，i.e． that of specific texts． It is concluded that the textual rhythm should be conveyed as much as it is licensed by the target language so as to adequately represent the meaning and style of the source text．