从以动物为喻体的英汉比喻中看文化差异

Cultural Difference in Animal Targets of English and Chinese Metaphors

在英汉两种语言中,都有用动物作喻体来表达某种抽象意义或某种情感。但是,由于英汉两个民族有着不同的生存环境及不同的文化背景,因此,用动物作喻体所承载的社会文化涵义在两个民族中有相同之处,也有不同之处,有的甚至完全相悖。

In both English and Chinese, animals are frequently used to express an abstract meaning or a certain emotion. However, due to the different living environments and cultural backgrounds of these two nations, there exist similarities, differences and even contrasts in the social cultural connotation born by the animal as the metaphor target.