Abstract:

Language and culture are closely connected with each other and language reflects culture. Animal culture is an important part in culture. Animal idioms with print of culture contain a rich cultural entailment.Moreover, dog is a representative animal in Chinese and Western cultures. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part studies the features and definitions of animal words. The second part analyzes the similarities and differences of animal word “dog” in Chinese and English cultures. The third part makes a contrastive analysis in related culture. The fourth part probes into images of “dog” and“狗” applied to human beings.Therefore learning a foreign language through translation benefits the learner in that he understands the foreign language and its culture and learns to use the language in a better way. In this way, this paper can improve SLS interest.

Key words: dog; cultural difference; comparative study; foreign language learning

摘要：

语言与文化密不可分，语言反映文化。动物文化是文化中一个重要的组成部分,动物习语更是带有很深的文化烙印，蕴含丰富的文化内涵和寓意, 而狗又是中西文化中最具代表性的一种动物。本文分四个部分。第一部分研究动物习语的特征及寓意；第二部分分析动物狗在中英文化的不同及相同寓意；第三部分对相关文化的比较研究；第四部分探究动物狗的特点与人的品质的相关联系。研究此语言现象可以增强第二外语学习者的兴趣。

关键词：“狗”；文化差异；对比研究；外语学习

Introduction
It is well-known that English like words such as dog. Just take a look at the lines of dog food in the supermarket and the dog houses and dog books. Even there are a number of sumptuous magazines that cost several dollars written to explain how to feed dogs. While mothers in China are reading about “how to raise your baby”, western people may study about “how to keep healthy of your dog”. In English people call dog as Man’s best friend. The word “dog”, in most cases, is in good sense in English, used to describe a person who deserves the worthy mercy, such as “help a dog over a stile”, “a lucky dog”, “an old dog”.
The thesis makes a comparative analysis, focusing on the differences of identical animal words. They share different connotations in the two cultures.  From the comparison, we can find the historical and cultural differences of animal words in the two cultures.                           1.The features of animal words
There are many animal words in Chinese and English. They refer to the same thing, but their connotative meanings are different or same. This section mainly writes about implications of animal words, especially word “dog”, in Chinese and English cultures and materials of the word “dog” and “狗”。