Abstract:

Proverbs are an important part of the language and culture of a nation, so they are endowed with strong ethnic characteristics. And animal proverbs are especially loved by people for its vivid animal images. This paper makes a systematic comparative research into animal images in English and Chinese proverbs by using a large number of examples. Causes of animal imagery differences in English and Chinese proverbs are also analyzed and concluded. There are different geographical environment, cultural practices, values, religious beliefs and other differences in different times and different countries, so the animal-related proverbs gained cultural imagery convention in their respective languages. Finally, the paper summarizes the results and the significance of the research.

Key words: cross-culture; proverb; animal image; comparative study
                                       
摘要：

谚语是一个民族的语言和文化的重要组成部分, 具有浓郁的民族特色。而动物谚语更是以其生动的形象，受到人们的喜爱。本文通过大量例证，对英汉谚语中动物意象做了较为系统的比较性研究。造成中英文谚语动物意象差异的原因是不同的时代、不同的国家存在着文化习俗、价值观念、宗教信仰等差异, 因此与动物有关的谚语在各自的语言中获得了约定俗成的文化意象。

关键词：跨文化；谚语；动物意象；比较研究

Introduction
Proverbs are essence of human being’s languages. Animals are friends of human beings. Both English and Chinese languages contain a large number of animal proverbs which are rich in animal images. This is because animals play an irreplaceable role in people’s daily life and the productive labor. A lot of animals get along with people all day long, so that people are very familiar with their living habits and characteristics. As time passes, people have got associations between human beings and animals. They connected animal habits and characteristics with certain phenomenon in human society. Along with the development of society, animal-related proverbs have gradually got cultural imagery convention in their respective languages.
Chinese and British cultures belong to two different culture systems, and the geographical differences give two peoples their own understandings of animals. In addition, these two kinds of cultures have unique historical features, value systems, myths and legends and so on, which endow animal images with distinctive ethnic characteristics. For example, both Chinese and English culture consider that fox symbolizes sly and slick characters. And most Chinese like dragon, and treat it as an auspicious omen, dignity and power. However, a majority of people in English-speaking countries believe that the dragon represents cruel, mysterious, and fierce traits.