从中西方谚语中探索中西方文化的差别.docx

从中西方谚语中探索中西方文化的差别.docx

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从中西方谚语中探索中西方文化的差别

摘要

谚语是意义完整的固定句子，是一种重要的语言形式。

在不同文化的谚语中，一样的物体和行为往往被赋予不一样的含义和思想感情。

本文研究的目的便是通过研究英汉谚语来探索中西方文化的差异。

文章首先从谚语的构成方面比拟了英汉谚语的差异，然后从中西方人们的居住环境、人文思想、道德观念、信仰和风俗习惯五个方面对英汉谚语进展比拟和分析，并总结出中西文化在这些方面的差异。

通过本文对英汉谚语的研究和总结，我们将学习到两种谚语的不同文化涵，更重要的是，这有助于我们更加正确地使用英汉谚语。

因此，研究中西方谚语之间的文化差异具有重大的理论和现实意义。

关键词：

谚语；中西方文化；差异

Abstract

Proverbisapletesentence，anditisanimportantformoflanguage.Inthedifferentproverbsthatfromdifferentculture,thesamethingsandthesamebehaviorshowrepresentdifferentmeansanddifferentfeelings.ThepaperisaimedtoexploretheculturaldifferencesbetweenChineseandWesternproverbs.Firstly,theauthoranalysisthedifferencesfromtheiruniquecharacteristics,thensummarizesthedifferencesoflivingenvironment,humanisticidea,moralviews,religiousbeliefsandsocialcustomsbetweenChinesecultureandWesternonebyparingandanalyzingChineseproverbsandEnglishones.Throughthestudyandsummaryofthispaperwewilllearnthedifferentculturalconnotationfromdifferentculture.What’smore,wewilluseChineseandWesternproverbsmoreeasilyandmoreaccurately.SoitisnoexaggerationtosaythataparisonbetweenEnglishandChineseproverbsisofgreatpracticalandtheoreticalsignificance.

Keywords:

Proverbs;WesternandChineseculture;differences

Acknowledgements

Iwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetoallthosewhohelpedmeduringthewritingofthisthesis.Igratefullyacknowledgethehelpofmysupervisor,XiaLi,whohasofferedmevaluablesuggestionsintheacademicstudies.Withoutherencouragement,insightfulcriticismandgraciousguidance,thepletionofthisthesiswouldnothavebeenpossible.

IalsooweaspecialdebtofgratitudetoalltheteachersinForeignLanguagesSchool,fromwhosedevotedteachingandenlighteninglecturesIhavebenefitedalotandacademicallypreparedforthethesis.

Ishouldfinallyliketoexpressmygratitudetomybelovedparentswhohavealwaysbeenhelpingmeoutofdifficultiesandsupportingwithoutawordofplaint.

Outline

Ⅰ.Introduction

Ⅱ.TheCharacteristicsandImpactofProverbs

A.TheUniqueCharacteristicsofProverbs

1.FormofCharacters

2.SentencePattern

3.RhetoricalDevices

B.ThePositionandRoleofProverbsintheRealLife

Ⅲ.TheculturaldifferencesofChineseandWesternProverbs

A.ProverbsofLivingEnvironment

B.ProverbsofHumanisticIdea

C.ProverbsofMoralViews

1.TheAttitudeTowardsReputation

2.TheViewofLove

3.FilialDuty

4.TheAttitudeTowardsWoman

D.ProverbsofReligiousBeliefs

1.GodandnoGod

2.TheIdeaofEqualityandGrade

E.ProverbsofCustom

Ⅳ.Conclusion

CulturalDifferencesbetweenChineseandEnglishProverbs

Ⅰ.Introduction

Duringtheetymology,proverbisdefinedasasettledsayingacpaniedwiththelonghistory.InthemodernversionoftheDictionary,proverbsindicatedthesebriefly,popularandmeaningfulsentenceswhicharepopularinfolkamongtraditionalsocialofChina.Inwestern,manyEnglishdictionarieshavetheanalogousdefinitionwhichispopularshortsayingwithwordsofadviceorwarning.Therearemanyproverbsinourdailylifeandbeusedverypopularduringourdailylife.

“Geniuswitandspiritofanationarediscoveredbytheirproverbs.〞saidbyBacon,awell-knownBritishwriter.Everynationhasabundantproverbsintheirownnativelanguage,whichwereusingreflecttheirlifeexperience,thoughtsandfeelings.

Ⅱ.TheCharacteristicsandImpactofProverbs

A.TheUniqueCharacteristicsofProverbs

Asaquintessenceofnativelanguage,proverbshavemanyuniquecharacteristicwhichdifferentfromotherlanguageforms.Nextwewillintroduceitscharacteristicsthroughthethreeaspectsincludecharactersform,sentencepatternstructureandrhetoricaldevice.

1.FormofCharacters

Proverbissummarizesoflaborpracticeofthemasses,ithasaheavyflavoroflife.TheEnglishandChineseproverbshaveregularsentencepatternandshapelysyllable,itselectsthewordsisveryrefined.Proverbscanexpressluxuriantideacontentwithhighlycondensedlanguage.Ithashighlyabilityofgeneralizing,whichaimedatreflectaprofoundmoralvividly.Itdisplayedmainlyfollowthethreepoints:

Firstofall,proverbsalwaysusingsmallamountofwordsandflatstructuretopresstheabundantcontent.Thesesentences,whicharedapper,crispandfinger-popping,embodiesthelanguagefeatureofEnglishandChinesenative.Forexample:

Liveandlearn〔活到老，学到老〕;Afterrainessunshine〔雨过天晴〕.Inournativeproverbs,therearealsomanyexampleslike:

物以类聚，人以群分；两人伴，三人散。

Secondly,proverbsalsoemployellipticalsentence.Sometimes,what’sworse,itjustretainssomewordswhichneedtoemphasizeandextrudewithomittingotherwords.Wecanfindthesentencewhichwasomittedisveryrefinedandpact,butitssemanticmeaningareextrudedanditsmoralareprofound.Forexample:

Anilllife,anillend.（Whichequaltoifonelivesanilllife,hewillhaveanillend.多行不义必自毙。

）Inourdailylife,wealwayssay:

众心齐，泰山移。

Thirdly，proverbsoftenusespokenword.Proverbisanoralcreation,whichspreadamongthemonpeople.Theyusedabundantspokenwords,whichisinfavoroforaltransmissionandmemory.Usingthiscolloquialkindoftermmadeproverbshavelivelyrhythmandvigorouslife.Forexample:

Aneyeforaneye,andatoothforatooth.（以眼还眼，以牙还牙）.Wewouldsay:

不怕家里穷，就怕出懒虫。

2.SentencePattern

Besimilartothebeautyofregularityofmusic,proverbsalsousingasymmetricstructure,whichenablethesentencestructuremoresuccinctandmaketheexpressionmorepowerful.Thissymmetricstructuremainlyincludefollowingpoints:

Firstly,usingantithesisstructuretoconveysomethinginmonoronthecontraryisconvenient.Thisrhetoricaldeviceenableproverbshassuchaestheticfeaturesasformalregularity,phoneticharmony,syllabicdistinctivenessandconcisediction,whichstrengthenedthecontagiousness.Forexample:

WhenthesouthwindblowsinMay,theriverwillrise;whenthesouthwindblowsinJune,thewellwilldry（五月南风涨大水，六月南风井底干）.Whenthereisadrought,theeastwindwillnotbringrainalong;Whenthereisaflood,thenorthwindwillblowunderagloomysky（旱来东风不下雨，涝来北风不晴天）.InourChineseproverb,wehave:

兄弟协力山成玉,父子同心土变金。

Anothersentencepatternwhichproverblikesusingisparallelism.Parallelismmeansarrangethreeormoresentenceswhichhavethesamesentencepatternandmoodtogether,showingemphasizeofsemanticandthepowerfulemotion.Theusingofparallelismreinforcedthevoiceofemotion.Forinstance:

Noonecanbeperfectlyfreetillallarefree;Noonecanbeperfectlymoraltillallaremoral;Noonecanbeperfectlyhappytillallarehappy（没有人能完全自由，除非所有人都自由；没有人是完全品性端正的，除非所有人品性端正；没有人是绝对幸福的，除非所有人都幸福）.Wehaveproverbslike:

冰不窖不寒，木不钻不着，马不打不奔，人不激不发。

Nextiscontrast,whichmeansarrangethesentenceswhichhavetherelativelymeaningtogetherinparallel.Thisusingwouldextrudethecharacteristicoftheexpressedthing.Forinstance:

Knowledgemakeshumble,ignorancemakesproud（博学使人谦逊，无知使人骄傲）.ToourChinese:

衣是新的好，人是旧的好。

Anothertwoformsthatproverbusedmorepopularareanadiplosisandregression.Anadiplosismeanslettheendoftheearlierpartofthesentenceasbeginofthenextsentence.Regressionmeansrepeattheendoftheearlierpartofthesentenceasbeginofthenextsentence,thenusebeginoftheearlierpartofthesentenceastheendofthenextsentence.Thesetwostructuresreinforcedtherhythmoftemperament.Forinstance:

Followloveanditwillflee,fleeloveanditwillfollowthee（追求爱情，它高飞，逃避爱情，它会跟你。

此句为顶真用法）.Livenottoeat,buteattolive（活着不是为了吃饭，吃饭是为了活着。

此句为回环用法）.Similarly,inourproverbs,like:

耳闻不如眼见，眼见不如实践〔顶真〕；来者不惧，惧者不来〔回环）.

3.RhetoricalDevices

Actually,mostofproverbsusedrhetoricaldevice,likewehaveknownantithesis,parallelismandcontrast.Nowwemainlytalkabouttworhetorical,theyaremetaphorandexaggeration.Amongthemetaphoritincludessimileandmetaphor.Wewilldiscusseachofthesedevicesinthefollowingsections.

Generallyspeaking,metaphorwasconstitutedthreeelements,includingsubject,referenceandindicatorofresemblance.Amongthelanguage,metaphoristhemostexpressivedevice.

Similemeanshandlethetwoobjectswhichhavethesamefeaturestocontrast,makingcleartherelationbetweensubjectandreference.Usingsimileenableannouncetheobject’sessencevividlyandclarifytheprinciplewhichwewanttoexpresswithameaningfulway.Suchas:

Livingwithoutanaimlikesailingwithoutapass（生活没有目标就像航海没有指南针，其中livingwithoutanaim是本体，sailingwithoutapass是喻体，like是喻词）.ForourChinese,光阴似箭（其中光阴也就是时间是subject，箭是reference，似为indicatorofresemblance）.

Metaphorisapressedsimile,ituseoneobject’snameasanotherobject’snamedirectly.Soitseemedmuchliver,andillustratedthepointmoreprofoundly.Thisenhancedtheexpressiveforceofproverbs.Slatheringmetaphormadeproverbsmoresuccinct,aproposandmoreconnotations.Italsoenablearousepeople’simagination,usingfamiliarobjectsreplaceunfamiliarobjects.Makingtheproverbappearedmoreclearandeasytounderstand.Suchas:

Speechissilver,silenceisgolden.（雄辩是银，沉默是金。

其中speech,silence是本体，silver,golden是喻体，is是喻词）AboutourChineseproverbs,like:

爱情是美德的试金石〔其中，爱情是subject，试金石是reference，是为indicatorofresemblance〕。

Exaggerationisonefrequently-usedrhetoricaldevice.Itovershootsthemarkdeliberately.Thisdeviceexaggeratesorshrinkstheimageofobjects,inordertoextrudesomecharacteristicormoral.Usingthisdeviceenableexaggerateatmosphere,tomakeastrongimpressionforpeople.Forinstance:

Agrowingyouthhasawolfinhisbelly.（青年成长时，食量大如狼，夸的手法，形容年轻人食量惊人）.InourChinese,therearemanyproverbswh