从中西方文化差异看英语习语翻译(三)

The historical culture originates from the specific historical development period and the historical and cultural heritage. The historical culture is composed of poetry, mythology, ancient books, records and so on, which is composed of the literary quotation, tradition, belief and practice. For example, traced back to ancient western times, Mill and the blacksmith shop are the main production areas of the rural handicraft industry, so there are many idioms have a close relationship with them, such as “a run of the mill job”, “to go to something at hammer and tongs”, “call a spade a spade”, “to come under the harmer”. In Chinese, there are many idioms also due to historical reasons. In ancient times, because of the long war in China, many idioms come from the process of national war, such as “cut off all means of retreat(破釜沉舟)” is from the story that after Xiang Xu crossed the river, he asked his subordinates to wreck the boat. Another example, “Empty talk” from the Warring States Period, in the State of Zhao, although the famous general Zhao She’s son Zhao Kuo read carefully over and over again the books on the art of war, he had no practical experience. Chinese people think they are the descendants of the Dragon, in feudal society, the dragon is a symbol of the emperor. Emperors of the past dynasties called themselves “sons of the heaven”. There are a large number of idioms about dragons in Chinese, such as “hope one’s children will have a bright future(望子成龙)”, “a lively dragon and an active tiger(生龙活虎)”, “a scene of bustling activity(龙腾虎跃)”, even now we use “flying dragon” to describe our own country. While in the west, dragon is a representative of evil and a monster. In Bible, Satan is called dragon. In western countries, they often call the fierce woman as Dragon. Due to the difference between Chinese and Western culture, people will have very different association, therefore, the “four Asian Tigers” is translated into “four tigers” rather than “four dragons”. And mysterious Greek and Rome myth has a long history and rich connotation, which has enriched the English idioms, becoming an important part of English language. Such as ” Achille’s heel” is derived from a Greek mythology, refers to the human body the most critical and fetal part. “Meet one’s waterloo(一败涂地)”, “Penelope’s web（永远之远不成的工作）”, “a Pandora’s box(潘多拉之盒)” , “meet one’s mate eloo” etc. In Chinese idioms, for example, speak of Cao Cao and he appears, new broom sweeps dean. Chinese also active in the ancient myths of idioms, such as “A braggadocio, miscalculating his strength, conceived the vain ambition of overtaking the fleeting rays of the sun(夸父追日)”, “the goddess patching the sky(女娲补天)”, “bring the painted dragon to life by putting in the pupils of its eyes(画龙点睛)”. All these idioms are connected with the cultures of all countries. If the connection is ignored, the meaning of these idioms cannot be understood because we can’t get the meaning literally.

2.3 Different religious beliefs in China and the West　

   Religious differences are typical of psychological and cultural differences. Religion plays an important role in the development of all ethnic groups. Westerners believe in Christianity, and Chinese people believe in Buddhism. Therefore, idioms related to religious beliefs also appear in the English and Chinese language. In many western countries, especially in Britain and the United States, people believe in Christianity, the religion occupies a very important position in the social life, ideology and culture. Religion penetrates into the social life, various aspects of customs and cultural transmission, the relative idioms are such as “God helps those who help themselves”, also such a curse like “go to hell” and so on. The Bible is regarded as a classic by the Christian Church, because the Bible tells the story of a number of religious myths and legends about the ancient Jews, codes, religious rules and some historical facts etc. it reflects the passions, begging and idea of the ancients. Therefore, there are a lot of idioms from the Bible. Such as: Job’s patience, Judas kiss, a daughter of Eve, as wise as Solomon. Proverbs in English, there is a considerate number of the stories about the Bible, the relevant proverbs like “as poor as the church mouse”, “make bricks without straw”, which describe doing something that is hard to please others or things that can’t be done. Thus it can be seen the great influence of the Bible on English language. While Buddhism was introduced into China was in the Western Han Dynasty, which has more than one thousand years of history. Some of the Chinese idioms come from Buddhism or related to Buddhism. 

Because people believe there is Buddha that rule all the people and things in the world. Many idioms are related to this, such as “present Buddha with borrowed flowers (借花献佛)”, “Embrace Buddha’s feet in one hour of need(临时抱佛脚)”, “extremely admire(五体投地)”, “it’s never too late to mend(回头是岸)”, “prostrate oneself in worship(顶礼膜拜)”. There are also a lot of proverbs in Chinese, such as “while the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten(道高一尺,魔高一丈)” , “go on tolling the bell as long as one is a monk(做一天和尚撞一天钟)”, “the monk can run away, but he cannot sprint temple(跑得了和尚跑不了庙)”, “one monk will carry two buckets for his own use, two monks will carry one for their joint use, three monks will carry none for anybody’s use(一个和尚挑水喝,两个和尚抬水喝，三个和尚没水喝)”etc., these are the things that are unique in Buddhism to make the metaphor, which have obvious stigma related to Chinese national culture.

·2.4 Different folk culture                                   

National customs are rich and colorful, it constitutes abundant details for idioms. Many idioms come from folk customs. English and Chinese folk culture differences are also reflected in the expression of idioms, there are a lot of examples. For the Chinese nation, Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year. So there are some proverbs like “a year’s plan starts with spring(一年之计在于春)”, “Spring Festival is the first and foremost(百节春为首)”etc. And for all we know, the most important festival in the western society is Christmas. In this festival, family reunion must eat turkey, there are a lot of idioms related to this, such as: “talk turkey”, “say turkey to one and buzzard to another”, “red as a turkey cock” and so on. And in China, the Double Seventh Festival is a holiday to express love, the story of the Cowherd and the girl weaver is already known to every family. In the evening of July 7th, young girls and women come out, worship and pray for good marriage to her. Western Valentine's Day is known as the festival for love, which is commemorated the friar Valentine who paid for the love of life. People called Valentine’s Day on February 14th. In western Valentine’s Day, lovers will send the gifts such as Valentine’s cards, roses and chocolates for each other. Another example, Chinese Halloween is the ghost festival, people live in Yang, ghosts live in Yin, land is for Yang, water is for Yin. Underwater is dim, which makes people associate the netherworld. So in that day, people place water lanterns in the rivers to comfort the ghosts.