Abstract:

Plants have a very close relationship with human beings and have affected our life in many aspects for a long time. Therefore, there are plenty of plant expressions in English and Chinese idioms, and most of which have metaphorical meanings. By now, many linguists have studied plant metaphors from different perspective. However, the former contrastive studies on plant words mainly focused on the differences of the cultural meanings. But Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory extends the trend into the cognitive study of metaphor. Under the framework of the theory, the essay is intended to analyze the plant metaphors in English and Chinese idioms. Chinese is rich in plant metaphors about characters and moralities, while English tends to use plants to denote gods and goddesses.  And flowers and trees have rich metaphorical meanings in Chinese, while in English, vegetables, fruits and grains are more commonly used to denote concrete and abstract things. The contrastive study of plant metaphors in English and Chinese idioms as well as the analysis of their differences can not only help to overcome the obstacles of communication, but also promote the mutual communication and integration between two cultures.

Key words: plant; idiom; mapping; conceptual metaphor; contrastive study

摘要：

长期以来,植物和人类有着密切的关系,影响着人类生活的方方面面。因此，英汉表达中存在着大量的植物词汇,它们大都具有丰富的隐喻意义。到目前为止，国内外一些学者从不同角度对植物隐喻进行了相关研究，但是仅限于某几个特定的植物的文化对比。Lakoff和Johnson的“概念隐喻理论”从认知的角度拓宽了隐喻的研究范围。在此理论基础上，本文对英汉语习语中常见的植物隐喻进行分析研究。汉语中多以植物比喻人的优秀品质；英语中多以植物指神。汉语中花草树木有着丰富的隐喻意义，而英语中水果蔬菜多被用来喻指物体或概念。对比英汉植物隐喻意义的异同和分析英汉民族文化上的差异，有助于克服英汉语之间的交流障碍，并可促进英汉文化的相互交流与融合。

关键词：植物；习语；映射；概念隐喻；对比研究

1. Introduction
An idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separated from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made. Idioms are the essence of language; they bear the cultural characteristics and cultural information of a nation.