Abstract

A lot of animals have maintained a long-termed co-existence with human begins on Earth since ancient times. Along with the development and progress of human society, many animals are tamed to become domestic animals, providing services for people. With the accumulation of time, a new specific language called animal idioms formed. Language is the carrier of culture. There is a close relationship between language and culture, and idioms play an important role in a language. Both Britain and China have their own representative animal idioms that reflect people’s living habits and emotions. However, connotations and metaphors of animal idioms differ from country to country due to differences in history, culture and aesthetic values. This paper explains the features of Chinese and English animal idioms with examples and makes comparisons between them from the cultural perspective so that people can have a better cultural exchange.

Keywords: animal idioms; metaphors; English; Chinese; culture
 
摘要

从远古开始人类便与众多动物长期共同生存在地球上。随着人类社会的进步，很多动物成为人类的朋友和宠物，为人类服务。经过时间的不断积累出现了特有的有关动物方面的语言表达，我们称之为动物习语。语言与文化关系紧密，作为文化载体的习语在语言中扮演至关重要的角色。中英文化中都有各自具有代表性的动物习语，其中的动物形象往往能够反映人们的生活习性和情感态度。然而，由于不同的历史和文化，不同的价值观，以及不同的审美观，习语中出现的动物形象也因为语言的不同而有所不同。本文将结合实例阐述中英动物习语的特点并从文化角度对它们之间的异同进行分析研究，有利于人们恰当地进行文化交流。

关键词：动物习语；形象；英语；汉语；文化