2024年3月14日发(作者：)

The Difference of Animals Between China and English

Language reflects culture. Chinese culture is typical intensive cultivation and is

rooted in agriculture. Therefore, many Chinese sayings are connected with land,

agriculture or farming activities. English culture, on the contrary, is coastal

commerce and there are many sayings closely linked with sea, sailing and fishing

activities.

Now let me show you some details of animal differences between China and

English in the followings：

Snakes are dangerous animals in both English and Chinese cultures. In ancient

Chinese or in Chinese mythology, however, the snake and dragon sometimes are

inseparable. Fu Xi and Nv Wa are regarded as the first ancestors of the Chinese

nation who are said to have a human-head with a snake with a snake body. People

who were born in the year of the snake also say that they were born in the year of

the young dragon. This associative meaning of the snake is in a positive sense.

A dragon is an evil and strong embodiment in English. It often causes great

disasters and guards some mysterious fortunes, as is told in British legends. In

Chinese culture, on the contrary, a dragon is a symbol of extreme honor and great

power.

Westerners take dogs as their friends and companions, so that in English dogs

are used in the commendatory sense in most cases. The connotation of the dog in

Chinese is more derogatory, except a few cases indicating the loyalty to its master.

There are also some common sayings about animals in our daily life, it is very

convenient for us to express, for instance:

Some common sayings

Top dog 优胜者Clever dog聪明的小孩Big dog要人Dead dog没用的人Under

dog 失败者Dirty dog道德败坏的人Dumb dog沉默寡言的人Gay dog快活的人Laze

dog 懒汉Sea dog 老手

Love me, love my dog.爱屋及乌

Every dog has its day.凡人皆有得意日

Give a dog a bad name and hang it.欲加之罪，何患无词

You dog.你这狗东西That dog.那狗东西

A lion at home, a mouse abroad.在家如狮，在外如鼠。

A rat crossing the street is chased by all.老鼠过街，人人喊打。

He was very dangerous, like a wolf in sheep's clothing.他非常危险，像一只披着

羊皮的狼。

When the cat's away, the mice will play.猫儿不在，鼠儿做怪。

Dumb dogs are dangerous.不出声的狗最危险。

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.一鸟在手胜于二鸟在林。

As the old cock crows, so does the young.老公鸡怎样叫，小公鸡怎样学。

If a donkey bray at you, don’t bray at him.别和蠢人一般见识。

The camel is the ship of the desert.骆驼是沙漠之舟。

When the weasel and the cat make a marriage, it is a very ill presage.黄鼠狼与

猫结亲不是好兆头。

like a cat on hot bricks 热砖上的猫

let the cat out of the bag 泄露机密as meek as a lamb—顺服得像绵羊

drink like a fish如鱼饮水a rat in a hole与瓮中之

As we can see from above article, different culture, different history,

different region, sometimes, do distinguish the culture connotation of

vocabularies. In all these, animal vocabularies gradually have got their established

connotation in all languages.

That is, people associate their feelings and emotions, even happenings and

natural phenomena with various animals, which are thought to represent different

characters like people, or serve as omens. Many animals have become a kind of

symbolism in people’s thinkings, and this symbolism is reflected in the language.

Sometimes, one animal vocabulary has the same or similar meaning in both China

and English, but sometimes it has totally different culture connotations. We

Chinese must be very shocked or angry when he is compared to be a dog by an

English man.

By means of comparison of animal vocabularies between China and English,

we can prevent negative transfer from happening in the use of English

vocabularies’ culture meanings. It is essential for us to know the connotations of

vocabulary.

Through understanding the culture difference of animal in China and English,

we will know more about cultures of China and English. It will help us get a deeper

understanding of a language and shorten the gap between two cultures so as to

eliminate the barrier to understanding caused by the lack of knowledge of culture

connotations in two cultures.

班级：6090102

学号：2

姓名：庞丽丽