英汉对比之动物习语

The Differences Between Chinese and Western Culture in Animal Idioms
Both in English and Chinese, there is a great amount of idioms, which reflect history background, custom and its people's ways of thinking of a nation. Both in English and Chinese, animal idioms play an important part of idiom and exist in our daily life. It is well known that there are many similarities and differences in English and Chinese, especially animal idioms and therefore we are justified to make an attempt to investigate this phenomenon.
Animal is man's best friend. Different animals have different natural instincts and life styles. And because of the culture communications between east and west and the similarity of thinking manners, an animal word would have same or similar connotations. For example, English people would say, "He is a fox." Similarly, Chinese people can understand the meaning of the sentence in Chinese"他是一只狐狸". This example shows that in English "fox" can be used to describe somebody who is cunning and dishonest. In addition, wolf is a kind of greedy and cruel beast, so in China there exist such expression: “狼心狗肺”，“狼狈为奸”，“狼子野心”. Similarly, the savage, sinister, dishonest character of wolf also displays vividly in western culture, eg:" a wolf in a sheep's clothing or a wolf in lamb's skin(披着羊皮的狼)". The following are some other familiar examples: as busy as a bee (像蜜蜂一样忙); as slow as a nail (像蜗牛一样慢); as free as a bird (像鸟儿一样自由). These idioms are given the same cultural meaning from their characteristics, so that both English and Chinese can understand each other directly and easily in cross-cultural communication. At the same time, with more and more communication, lots of foreign words come into both languages. We can find some idioms with even the same images and the same intonations, such as:fish in troubled water浑水摸鱼a dark horse 黑马etc.
The majority of animal words carry different connotations, because of their different natural environment, customs, and society systems. Besides, English history is influenced more by Egypt and Roman, while Chinese history is much more independent.
Human beings and animals coexist on the earth. Some of the animals have close ties with human. When the productivity was still at a pretty low level, some of them devoted a lot to fighting against the nature and the attack from other beasts. Some may not. In China there are many dog-related idioms and the word “dog” in most phrases is associated with some derogatory connotation. Such as: “狐朋狗友”, “狗急跳墙”, “狗头”, “走狗”. Although in English, “dog” contains derogatory connotation, such as: “go to the dogs”, “die like a dog”, “lead a dog’s life”, “a sly dog”, “blush like a black dog”, “put on the dog”. But it is always considered as the most faithful human friend. The vast majority of such idioms in English are complimentary. For example:You are a lucky dog. 你是幸运儿An old dog barks not in vain. 老年人做事有经验as faithful as a dog. 像狗一般的忠诚A good dog deserves a good bone. 有功者受赏Love me, love my dog. 爱屋及乌clever dog. 聪明的小孩Every dog has his day. 凡人皆有得意日. Because of religious difference, dragon has been viewed totally different in Chinese and western culture. In Chinese, dragon symbolize holly, power, auspicious, and it is the symbol of our national character. To some extent, it stands for our thousands years’long history. In ancient China, the emperor was called“真龙天子”. Dragon is a divine totem in the Chinese culture, and is greatly worshiped by the Chinese people and they consider themselves as the descendants of
the dragon. In lots of Chinese idioms, dragon has a positive meaning,such as “望子成龙”, “龙腾虎跃”, “卧虎藏龙”, “龙盘虎踞”etc. However, in English, the word “dragon” usually represents a monster with wings and claws and breathes out fire. If someone calls a woman, especially an older woman, a dragon, they mean that she is fierce and unpleasant. T he word “dragon” symbolizes evil in western culture, such as: “the old dragon”, “dragon’s teeth”. Chinese people take “owl” as a symbol of bad luck. But in the UK, there is “as wise as an owl”. “owl” in English stands for wisdo m. In China, “magpie” is a bird that tells people good news and we translate it into the bird of joy. It is believed that when the Magpie nests in your house, it brings much cause for celebration and many happy occasions. Those wishing to settle down will do well to have this symbol in their lives, as it attracts the nesting, settling energies into our lives. Additionally the Magpie is a powerful symbol to attract the joy associated with marriage and children. In the UK, magpie is a noisy bird. As the poet Johnclare said: “Magpie that chatted, no omen so black.”
The emergence of idioms is associated with the labor and life of people. English people and Chinese people live in quite different environments. The UK is located in the Western Hemisphere. Its seafaring and animal husbandry are well-developed. China is located in Eastern Asia, the west coast of Pacific Ocean. Its agriculture is well-developed. On account of these distinct differences, people in two countries have different attitudes to the same animal. For example, Chinese culture originated from agriculture. Ancient Chinese people depended on the ox for survival, so there were many idioms about “ox”, e.g. “孺子牛”, “力大如牛”, “强的像头牛”, “牛劲”. In our traditional culture, ox was a symbol of hard work. They always compared industrious people and those who bore hardship without complaint to ox. In history, past and present, many celebrities liken themselves to ox. Take Lu Xun for example. He had a famous sentence called “俯首甘为孺子牛”.But in English it’s hard to fin d corresponding vehicles. English culture originated from nomadic herding. In the eyes of English people, the horse was a strong and assiduous friend. Therefore, there were a considerable number of idioms about “horse”, e.g. “a willing horse”, “flog a dead horse”, “work like a horse”, “be on the high horse”. Horse was a symbol of hard-working. Owing to these, people sometimes used two different animals to express the same meaning.
Historical allusion is rich in historical and cultural information, which has a strong ethnic color and distinctive cultural identity. It is the best to reflect the characteristics of different historical cultures. There are a large number of idioms about animals formed by historical allusion in English and Chinese language. They are simple but far-reaching. They can not be understood just from the literal meaning. In China, such idioms mainly come from a broad array of ancient books, myths, fables and legends. For example: “守株待兔”, “叶公好龙”, “画蛇添足”.Most English idioms about animals come from the Geek and Roman mythology. The Geek and Roman mythology is an important part of the Greek and Roman culture and a priceless cultural heritage of the whole humanity. Take The Fables of Aesop for example. Many English idioms about animals der ive from it. For example: “cry wolf”, “dog in the manger”, “a fly on the wheel”, “lion’s share”, “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs”, “don’t count one’s chickens before they are hatched”. Phoenix is a symbol of immortality in English, which is an immortal bird in the desert in Egyptian mythology. But in Chinese myths , it is one of the four spiritual creatures. In a Chinese book, there is a sentence called: “凤，神鸟也，天老曰凤之象也”. Phoenix stands for auspiciousness, happiness and nobility.
Idioms are the essence of the national language and the part of language, and the richest in national cultural characteristics. With the development of the animal culture, more and more animal words are employed in English and Chinese idioms. They read smooth and sound pleasant to the ear, and they are widespread and popularized. It give us an interesting perspective to learn a new culture.。