As translation is an activity which ultimately involves two different languages and cultural traditions, there often exists a problem caused by the cultural disparity between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) readership. This study aims to provide some implications on the influences of cultural default on the process of decoding the source text (ST) and the encoding of the target text (TT). Using two Chinese translation versions of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as data, the researcher aims to explore the connections among cultural default, slang and coarse language, culture-specific items, as well as the translation strategies used to solve the problems caused by these cultural factors. After analyzing the data from the two translated versions, it is found that slang and coarse expressions, as well as culture-specific items, contribute to the existence of cultural default in translation. The phenomenon of cultural default can jeopardize the readability of the TT, but there are effective strategies proposed by scholars of translation studies that a translator can use to cope with the problem. Keywords: cultural default, The Catcher in the Rye, culture, slang, coarse language, culture-specific item