Abstract: Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenon both in English and Chinese. It plays an irreplaceable role in human social activities and interpersonal communication. Consequently, it has aroused heated discussions among the linguists. But previous studies are mainly focused on the semantic features of euphemism while little attention is paid to the cultural context. Owing to the differences between the Western and Eastern cultures, it exists not only in social language but also in culture. Meanwhile, it has been found that an increasing number of errors spring up in the students’ language learning, which impede their improvement of capability of reading, writing and cross-cultural communication. Thus this paper discusses the similarities and differences of English and Chinese euphemisms from the perspective of culture, and explores how people use euphemisms properly to adapt themselves to the cultural context in intercultural communication. 
Key Words: euphemism; language; culture; intercultural communication

摘  要：委婉语是一种在英语和汉语中普遍存在的语言现象，它在人类社会活动和人际交往中起着不可替代的作用。因此，引起了语言学家的激烈讨论。但是前人主要研究委婉语的语义特点，却很少有人从文化的视角去探讨它。中西方文化的差异性使得委婉语不仅存在于社会语言中也存在于文化中。同时，不难发现，学生语言学习中存在诸多错误，这阻碍了他们的读写能力和跨文化交际能力。因此本文从文化视角研究英汉委婉语的相似性和差异性以及在跨文化交际中如何在相应的文化情境中使用合适的委婉语。
关键词：委婉语；语言；文化；跨文化交际

This essay focuses on the similarities and differences of English and Chinese euphemisms from the cultural perspective and explores how to use euphemisms in different cultural context so as to achieve the ultimate goal of facilitating communications.
Different countries have different cultures and languages. Language and culture are interdependent and interactional. On the one hand, language is part of culture and the main carrier of culture. It is the foundation of cultural development. On the other hand, culture has a great impact on language.