Animal Idioms in the Light of Cultural Differences between English and Chinese Abstract Idioms are unique and intrinsic expressions based on a nation’s long period of use. Any language contains a large number of idioms, so here are no exceptions both in English and Chinese. And the animal idioms are important components part of idioms.47928

           This paper shows there are more differences in animals, knowing the denotation and connotation meaning of these animal idioms to be familiar with the cultural differences. Since the trend of cross-cultural, learning animal idioms through cultural comparision is of great help in using it appropriately and proficiently.

Key Words: English and Chinese animal idioms, comparison , reason, eastern and western cultural differences

中文摘要习语是各国文化的精髓，反映各国的风俗习惯，习语的产生和发展与其特定的生态环境、社会状况和文化背景紧密相关，因此，习语具有本民族鲜明的特性和地域特色。动物习语则就是习语中的很重要的组成部分。动物习语，顾名思义，指的就是有关动物的习语。

英汉习语展现了东西方文化中的相同点和差异之处。长久以来，很多国内外学者耗费了很多精力来研究动物习语，这对后人的习语研究也会产生很大的帮助。在一些具有代表性的动物中，有关她们的习语可以很好地体会到东西方文化之间的差异，了解这些，对于以后语言交际中使用动物习语也会更合适、准确。

毕业论文关键词：英汉动物习语，比较和原因，东西方文化差异

Contents

1. Introduction 6

1.1 Background 6

1.2 Significance of the thesis 7

2. Animal Idioms and cultural differences 8

2.1 Definitions of key terms 8

2.1.1 The definition of idiom and animal idiom 8

2.1.2 The definition of Culture 9

2.2 Relationships between key terms 9

2.2.1 The relationship between Language and Culture 9

2.2.2 The relationship between animal idioms and culture 9

3. Geographical and Historical Cultures differences 11

3.1 Geographical environment differences 11

3.2 Different historical cultures 12

4. Different religious and customary cultures 16

4.1 Differences of customs and habits 16

4.2 Different national preferences and taboo 17

5. Conclusion 19

References 21

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

As we all know, western countries are almost developed countries, which act as the leaders in the world arena. They all eager for themselves to be the biggest country in the world and therefore they invaded other countries especially eastern countries which became the colonies of westerners in order to enlarge their influence and broaden their territory. When they entered the eastern area, they took over the place and transmitted their culture there. It is no wonder that the two different cultures collided with each other. Sometimes, this kind of collision can cause struggles which were not beneficial to the promotion for both of the two nations.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of eastern countries, more and more western countries are paying attention to the eastern from time to time. It is common to see that eastern people in western countries are playing an important role in the society. The communication between eastern and western are becoming more and more frequent. Now that the connection between eastern and western is so intimate, it is necessary to study and observe the national differences so that we can strengthen this relationship.