Abstract

     Idiom is the richest carrier and container of the cultural information. Throughout the history of the social development, human beings have a close relationship with animals, resulting in a frequent use of animal idioms. Animal idioms often reflect the character of a nation. There are many similarities between Chinese and English idioms. However, owing to the different geographical conditions, folk customs and social practice, religion, etc, the discrepancies between them are more prominent. Therefore, this thesis will make a comparison between them and contribute to the understanding of different cultures.

Key words:  animal idioms, cultural meaning, discrepancies

摘 要

习语蕴含着丰富的文化信息。在漫长的社会发展史中，人类与动物建立了密切的关系，从而产生了大量的动物习语。动物习语常常反映了一个民族的特点。英汉动物习语有着很多相同的地方，但是由于两种语言起源于不同的生存环境，文化背景，传统习俗、宗教信仰和价值观念，两者之间的差异更加明显。因此，这篇论文将对中英动物习语进行比较，以促进人们对不同文化的了解。
 
关键词： 动物习语，文化意义，差异

1.    Introduction
     Culture includes every aspect of our life. “So far, there is no researcher who has ever offered a completely satisfactory definition for the word ‘culture’.” (Liu 1999:1). Any language in the world is rooted in a specific cultural background and reflects specific cultural content. Language is a part of culture as well as the carrier of culture. “Human culture without language is unthinkable.” (Klunckhohn 1944: 26). They can not be separated from each other. Language will reflect the culture of a nation. Idiom is the richest carrier and container of the cultural information. From the idioms  people can get a lot of useful information which include a nation's geography, history, customs, social values and attitudes and so on. There are many similarities between Chinese and English idioms, but the discrepancies between them are more prominent. Throughout the history of the social development, human beings have a close relationship with animals, resulting in a frequent use of animal idioms. Animal idioms often reflect the character of a nation.
“The differences of two cultures. What goes without saying in one culture has to be explained with great effort in another culture; what you do not have to explain to native readers has to be explained to foreign readers.”(Guo 2000:20)Due to the cultural universals, the same animal in Chinese and English may have the same or similar meaning. Although English people and Chinese people live far from each other, they have the same opinions towards the characteristics and habits of some animals. On the other hand, owing to the different geographical conditions, folk customs and social practice, religion, etc, the same animal words will have different cultural meaning, or different animal words will have the same cultural meaning. Therefore, there are cultural discrepancies between English and Chinese animal idioms. Because of cultural differences, some animal idioms have their unique cultural meaning.