Abstract:

Proverbs are slowly gained from our long-term practice of language. As one of the means of expression of language , the existence of proverbs makes language even more vivid, easier to understand, more precise, easier to be accepted by the public, and even more popular. Proverbs are also the crystallization of people’s wisdom, experience, as well as their feelings to life, which makes it gain rich and unique ethnical characteristics.
    So proverbs can fully reflect the condition of a nation’s material culture, life culture, and even spiritual culture. It also takes a great important role which can never be replaced in the communication between different nations .
    Most proverbs have passed on generation by generation in oral tradition, this is why they are so easy to be remembered. Sometimes, their specific meaning is not relevant any more because of the way passing down from generation to generation tends to change very little .
    Due to the differences in natural geographic environments, habits and customs, cultures and arts, religious beliefs , fables and myths, English and Chinese proverbs reflect very distinctive cultural features and information. This makes people’s reaction different even opposite from different people when coming across the same problem.
    Proverbs are the essence of national culture, and they can reflect various kinds of manners and customs. Through the research of this thesis, the author tries to let us know better of differences between Chinese and western cultures through the proverbs which can obviously show the differences between them. After that, our intercultural communication would be much easier.

Keywords: proverbs；culture differences

摘  要：

谚语，是语言在长期的实践积累中慢慢获得的。同样作为语言的一种，它的存在，就使得语言能够更生动，更形象，更通俗易懂，更简明精炼，更能让大众接受，并且更加广为流传。谚语更是一个民族的智慧的结晶，凝聚着整个民族的人的劳动经验和对生活的情感，具有浓厚且独特的民族色彩。所以，一个民族的谚语，能充分的体现出该民族的物质文化，生活文化，甚至精神文化的状况，并且在民族与民族之间的交流之中起着不可替代的作用。大部分谚语都是以口头形式一代一代的流传至今，这也正是它们特别方便记忆的原因。代代相传，所以谚语不会发生变化，而至于谚语中涉及的具体的人或物则与谚语所表达的意思无关。
由于自然地理环境，生活习惯，艺术和文化，宗教信仰，神话寓言等各种不同的因素，中英谚语所折射出的文化特色和信息也就大相径庭。这样就导致同一句话，对不同文化背景的人来说就又会不同的反应，有时甚至截然相反。谚语是各国文化的精髓能反映出各国的风俗习惯，通过对本论题的探讨研究，从最能体现中西文化差异的谚语入手，使得我们能够更好的了解中西文化差异，更加方便我们以后的跨文化交际。

关键词：谚语；文化差异