Abstract: Ge Haowen says that his translation practice has little to do with translation theories, which indicates that the isolated partners will drift farther and farther apart. This essay, however, unveils Ge's translation thoughts of "usefulness, acceptance and appropriateness" hidden in his literary criticism, interviews and translation works. Ge's translation is very useful for constructing a cultural image of contemporary China. This usefulness is key to his translation thoughts in that it defines both the content and the way for the target reader's acceptance and in that it determines the criterion for the elegance of his translation, that is, the"usefulness-oriented appropriateness" in strategy and method choices. Seen from Ge's translation thoughts, a positive interaction exists between translation theories and his practice although he publicly denies such a relation.