中英習語中反映出的文化差異

石薇

【摘 要】不論是在日常生活中，還是在文學作品中，尤其在西方國家，我們都能看見許多習語的運用。本文通過大量舉例對比論述了中英習語中所反映的文化差異。為了闡述這一論題，作者分別對習語和文化做了簡要分析，通過列舉和對比中英習語，作者指出了習語所反映的幾個方面的文化差異。最后，作者指出了解中西方文化差異對學習外語和跨文化交際的重要意義，從而使我們在學習語言的過程中注重對不同文化的理解，讓我們在理解文化的基礎上更好的撐握和有效的運用語言，特別是在跨文化交流中，達到對語言的靈活操作，達到有效而準確的交流目的。

【關鍵詞】文化;習語;語言

1. Brief introduction of the paper

Idiom as a special language form that is particular in meaning、grammatical structure and usage exists in both Chinese and English culture and carries a large amount of cultural information， therefore idiom is closely related to culture. It is the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. While different countries have their different idioms， we can know much about cultural differences through learning their idioms and in turn get much better understanding of their idioms.

In this thesis， I intend to analyze the various idioms in Chinese and English in order to prove that different cultural connotation leads to different expression of idioms.

2.1 Definition of idiom and culture

Idioms are fixed group of words or a single word， or even a sentence with a special meaning that cannot be guessed from the literal meaning of its components. They are the product of social custom， which are usually used to depict peoples attributes or characters vividly. With the definition of idioms， we know that it is not easy to understand idioms from their literal meaning. “Language is the carrier container of culture， and is strongly influenced and shaped by culture.” So in order to learn English idioms， one cannot ignore the importance of the cultural meanings they contain.

Chinese famous linguists： Zheng Yanchang and Liu Runqing definite culture as follows： “Culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs customs、institutions、objects and techniques that characterize the life of a human community.”（文化是指一個社會所具有的獨特的信仰、習慣、制度、目標和技術的總模式。）

2.2 The relationship between idiom and culture

Goodenough in his Cultural Anthology and Linguistics explained the relationship between language and culture as follows： “Language in one society is one aspect of the social cultures， the relationship between language and culture is the part and the whole， the particularity of this relationship epitomizes as follows： language is the main tool to learn culture， and people gain the whole culture in the course of learning and using language.”

3.1 Differences in diet habits reflected in idioms

Different customs in diet habits can bring lots of words about the diet habits， especially the food. We know that potato is an important food in western countries， so there are lots of idioms expressed with it：

big potato（大人物）， small potato（小人物）， mouse potato（電腦迷）， couch potato（成天看電視的人）， hot potato（棘手的問題）， and so on.

In China， agriculture is the basic element in people life， so lots of Chinese idioms are about agriculture. Once it was in the agricultural feudal society， the productive forces level was low， so eating to a full belly was the universal issue of people concern at that time. Therefore in Chinese idioms there are many expressions related to “the food”. For instance：

“找碗飯吃”（找工作）looking for the bowl food to eat （looking for a job）” ;“丟了飯碗（失業）lost ones job （unemployment）” “鐵飯碗（有一份穩定的工作）the secured job （have a stable work）” ;“吃大鍋飯（采取平均分配的原則）have the mess （to adopt equal distribution principle）” ;“茶不思，飯不香 the tea is not thought， the food is not fragrant” and so on.

3.2 Differences in viewing on dog reflected in idioms

For western people， dogs are often associated with good words. They consider dogs to be loyal and dependable friends and think highly of them among all the animals. Dog has become an important part in humanity lives. Some people raise dogs to keep company， some raise dogs to seek pleasure and some also have the seeing-eye dogs to help the blind person and so on. In western literature， the description to dogs is positive， and in western glossary， the words related to dog also have a commendatory meaning. For example： Love me， love my dog（愛屋及烏）; Every dog has his day（凡人皆有得意日）; Barking dogs seldom bite （吠犬不咬人）; A good dog deserves a good bone（立功者受獎）; He worked like a dog他工作很賣力）; Let sleeping dogs lie （莫惹是非）; A living dog is better than a dead lion （死獅不如活狗/凡事講求實際）; A son never thinks his mother ugly， and a dog never shuns its owner's home however shabby it is （兒不嫌母丑，狗不嫌家貧）; An old dog barks not in vain （老狗不亂咬/老年人做事有經驗）; top dog（指經奮斗而居高位者;競爭中奪魁者，優勝者）; a lucky dog（幸運兒）; a dog's life（苦難的日子，潦倒）; dog collar（狗項圈）; dog days（三伏天）; doghouse（失寵）and so on.

In contrast， we Chinese people usually use “dogs” in cursing words to show our scorn to someone. Most of the time what leaves in our impression is that dogs are dirty and filthy. The words related to dog are always derogatory. Using dog to describe a person always has a disdainful meaning. For example： 一人得道，雞犬升天，狗仗人勢，狗腿子，狗眼看人低，狗吃屎，狗急跳墻，狗皮膏藥，狗頭軍師，狗尾續貂，掛羊頭賣狗肉and so on.

3.3 Geographical differences reflected in idioms

China is a mainland country， and she has abundant mountains and rivers. So her people life has great close relationship to the land、famous mountains and rivers. There are some idioms originated from them. For examples：“四體不勤，五谷不分”“瑞雪兆豐年”“有眼不識泰山”and so on.

While England is surrounded by the sea， almost every aspect of people life relates to the sea. A lot of idioms are related to the sea、aquatic product and navigation. Some examples can be taken here： “all at sea（沒有主意）” “as close as an oyster（守口如瓶）” “cast an anchor to windward（未雨綢繆）” “to grow with the stream（隨波逐流）” “to rest on ones oars（暫是歇一歇） ”“to keep ones head above water（奮力圖存）”and so on.

4. Conclusion

Today， a large number of idioms are widely used in the daily life in western countries. It is very necessary for us to learn these idioms. As idioms are the parts of culture， the ability to understand them is very important to successful communication in cross-cultural communication. To know the cultural differences the idioms reflect can help us understand and grasp the essence of idioms more effectively. So in order to communicate with foreigners more fluently， the study of the relationship between the idiom and culture is significant and promising.

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