A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Idioms Containing Animals

Idioms are important part of the language and culture of a society.Idioms are often hard to understand and even harder to use correctly.The proper use of idioms in a language is often a mark of a person's command of the language.English and Chinese idioms carved with cultural characteristics account for a great part in learning idioms.The main purpose of the thesis is to discuss the influence of cultural differences existing in animal idioms and pave a way to learning animal idioms well.This thesis consists of three chapters.The first chapter examines the close relationship between idioms and culture.It brings difficulties to foreign language learners.The most troublesome in learning English idioms is cultural differences.Something,which is self-evident in one culture,needs to be explained by great efforts in the other culture.The second chapter points out the four kinds of culture differences affecting idiom study: regional cultural differences,conventional cultural differences,religious cultural differences and historical cultural differences.Some examples are provided for the illustration of the cultural difference.Chapter three,the main body of the thesis,suggests several methods to deal with the cultural differences as well as the way to help language learners to learn animal idioms.This paper contributes to an inquiry into the generality in animal idiom study rather than specific.There are still some more features not being covered in the study.