Abstract:

Number is a language symbol special to human beings. Numerical idiom is the idiom made up of cardinal numbers or ordinal numbers. It is an important part of idioms, and has distinctive national culture features and active language rhetoric functions. Numerical idiom epitomizes human wisdom gained over the long-term development. So in dealing with the cultural connotation of Chinese numerical idiom and its translation, not only can our translation skills be improved, our literary attainments can also be upgraded. There are three parts in the body of this paper. In the first part, the author starts with a brief introduction of Chinese numerical idioms in which the concept and several forms of numerical idioms are explained; in the second part, the cultural connotations of numbers related to religious belief, historical and literary allusions, and national cultural psychology are mainly discussed; in the third part, the author focuses on the translation strategies of numerical idioms. The strategies include replacement, accession or omission of numerals, literal translation, and free translation. In translating numerical idioms, it is important to understand the meanings of idioms first, then, in reference to the principles, we can choose the most appropriate method to translate.

Key words: numerical idiom; cultural connotation; translation

摘要：

数字是一种特殊的语言，数字习语即由基数词或序数词构成的习语。它是习语的重要组成部分，具有鲜明的民族文化特色及活跃的语言修辞功能。数字习语是人类智慧长期发展的结晶。因此对其含义和翻译的研究，不仅能提高我们的翻译技巧，还能提高我们的文学素养。本文分三个部分。第一部分中,作者对中国数字习语的概念和它的几种形式做出简要的介绍；第二部分中,作者研究了数字在宗教信仰、历史和文学典故和民族文化心理的文化内涵。在第三部分中,作者重点关注了习语的翻译技巧。包括替换,直译，意译和添加或省略。在翻译之前,理解成语的意义是很重要的，然后参考翻译原则,这样我们才能选择最佳的翻译方法。

关键词：数字习语；文化内涵；翻译

Introduction
The tools human first used to count were fingers and toes, but they could only represent numbers within 20. When the numbers were bigger, most of the primitive men would count by small stones and sticks. Gradually, these means could not meet the needs, so people invented knots, depicting numbers on skin, bones, sticks and stones. These numerical and digital symbols slowly developed into a system of digital symbols. Today, all countries in the world use Arabic numerals to stand for numbers.
Number is a language symbol special to human beings. As a special language symbol, it has been endowed with rich cultural denotation. Idioms play a crucial role in the studying of language with its characteristics of brevity and vividness. This article explores different denotations of Chinese numerical idioms. It also sheds some lights into the translation strategies for numerical idioms.