摘要

人类多姿多彩的生活从来都离不开颜色的点缀。持各种语言的人们对于颜色的基本物理属性有着相同的认识。然而，不同语言文化背景的人们，由于地理环境、宗教信仰、社会习俗、以及历史的原因，对于颜色词赋予了不同的联想与内涵。面对时代的发展、社会的进步、科技的不断提高，来自不同文化背景人们之间的交往与融合也随之不断加强。文化的不同在翻译实践中越来越受到关注。本文以红色为例探讨其在中英文中的使用，旨在发现颜色词在中英文中的“颜”外之意，并寻求在中英文翻译中的翻译原则与策略，以便更好地促进跨文化交流。本文以语言与文化的关系为基础，探讨了汉英文化中红色的象征意义。并从颜色词联想意义不同的角度提出了颜色词翻译过程中常采用的具体翻译方法。

关键词：颜色词；汉英文化；象征意义；翻译方法
 
Abstract

The world is colored by all kinds of colors, so are the languages. People of different languages share the same recognition of the physical features of colors. However, people of different cultural backgrounds usually associate color words with different things and connotations due to the differences of geographic environment, religious beliefs, social practices, and history. With the advance of times and the rapid development of technologies and the world economy, cross-cultural communications and penetrations among different cultural communities are being quickened. Therefore cultural difference becomes an important topic in translation studies. Aimed at revealing the connotations and implications of basic color words, this thesis discusses the usage of the color term——red in English and Chinese. By this way, this thesis is intended to find out possible principles on the translation of English and Chinese color words so as to facilitate cross-cultural communication. Beginning with the introduction of the relationship between language and culture, the thesis discusses the associative meanings of the color term——red in Chinese and English cultures. Finally, the commonly used translation methods and principles for color words are put forward based on different associative meanings for color words.
 
Key words: color words; Chinese and English cultures; associative meanings; translation methods.

1 Introduction
1.1 Relationship between Language and Culture

For many years, ethnologists, linguists, sociologists and ethnographers have been dwelling on the relationship between language and culture. They have contributed many theoretical comments and innumerable facts. However, they arrive at one point that language is the keystone of culture. Without language, they maintain, culture would not be possible.