English Idioms–a Mirror Reflecting English Culture
Acknowledgements First and formost,Many people have made invaluable contributions, both directly and indirectly to my research.I would like to expre my warmest gratitude to Mrs.Zhang, my supervisor, for his instructive suggestions and valuable comments on the writing of this thesis.Without his invaluable help and generous encouragement, the present thesis would not have been accomplished. Secondly, I wish to thank my clamates, who helped me to find neceary materials.These materials they give me are useful to me.What\'s more, I wish to say \"Thanks!\" to the 100 subjects in this study for providing me chances to do the empirical study.The last but not least, my thanks would also go to my beloved parents and old brother for their boundle love and whole-hearted support over all these past years.Without their help, I can’t finish my paper in my university.I am extremely thankful to all of them. .
摘要
每种语言都离不开习语，习语是一个词或一组单词。英语习语来自英语国家的文化和日常生活，作为英语语言的精华，它是反映英国文化的一面镜子。习语的主要功能是说明发生了什么，说了什么。它是一种惯用表达式，弥漫英语特有的风味，且形式各样，充满了明亮和鲜艳的特征。这些习语使得学习者非常的兴奋且有趣，现在常用的英语习语大约有4000多种。不同的语言反映出该民族的地域、经济发展、风土人情和社会习俗。语言反映社会文化，同时又受社会文化的制约。语言中的词汇与民族文化息息相关，而词汇中习语(idiom)的发展和变化，反映了使用这种语言的民族发展。
本文将先探讨英语习语的产生和来源，然后结合英语习语的特征，选取一些有代表性的例子来阐述英语习语中的英国文化内涵。从而得出习语是一种惯用表达方式，弥漫着英语特有的风味。习语是文化的一面镜子,映射着本土文化的发展历程。
关键词：英语习语，英国文化，特征， 内涵，反映
Abstract Every language is inseparable from the idioms, which is a word or a phrase.English idioms root in English countries culture and daily life.As the eence of English language, it is a mirror of British culture.The main function of Idioms is to explain what had happened, and what had said.It is a kind of idiomatic expreions, diffuse English unique flavor and varied, full of bright and vivid characteristics.Learners become interested and excited because of these idioms which are about more than 4000 common English idioms.Different language reflects the national geographic,econimic development,local conditions and customs,and social customs.Language reflects social culture.At the same time, social culture restricts language.Language of words is closely related to culture, and idioms in vocabulary development and change reflects the development of ethnic groups to use the language.So this article mainly discues the relationship between idioms and culture.At first I explore the formation of English idioms and source, and combining with the characteristics of English idioms, choosing some representative examples to illustrate the British cultural connotation in English idioms.From these results, we can conclude that English is a kind of idiomatic expreions,filled with the unique flavor of English.Idioms is a mirror of culture, the mapping with the development of local culture.Key words: English idiom ，English culture，characters，connotation，reflect。
Contents.I.Introduction
1.1research background…………………………………………………......1.2significance of this papers…………………………………………….....II.the definition and characteristics of English idioms 2.1the definition of English idioms…………………………………................ 2.2the definition of English culture………………………………………..... 2.3idiom characteristics…………………………………………………….. 2.3.1What’s the unity of semantic in English idioms……………......... 2.3.2What’s the convention of English idioms ………...................... 2.3.3What’s the stability of English idioms structure ………….........II.the sources of English idioms in English culture…………………………........ 3.1Idioms drive from literature works in English culture ………… 3.2Idioms drive from the bible in English culture…………………… 3.3Idioms drive from anecdotes of eminent people in English culture... 3.4Idioms drive from customs in English culture…………………… III English Idioms–a Mirror Reflecting English Culture 4.1English idioms and life background…………………………........ 4.2English idiomsreflect holiday taboos and food................................. 4.3English idioms and national customs............................................... 4.4English idioms and religious belief................................... 4.5English idioms and geographical conditions.....................
V Conclusion………………………………………………………………
Bibliography…………………………………………………………
English Idioms–a Mirror Reflecting English Culture I Introduction
1.1research background Language is the carrier of culture, every language contains certain idioms, and these idioms are the culture accumulation.May be a word, a phrase or a sentence, to some extent, implied meaning, so it is with English idioms. English idioms come from the national daily life; it is the social phenomenon of the mapping.And English idioms contains the rich cultural information from the spoken language as the special ingredient in language and the language of the claic extracted eence .These idioms with unique image and deep implication shows a country’s historical culture,costoms,local conditions and customs and life experience from the side view.Therefore,mastering the cultural connotation of English idioms is an important way to learn English well.Such as Pandora’s box means the source of evil.On the carpet means under consideration.According to these idioms, we cannot understand the real meaning, just the denotation.Anyway, to understand the meaning, we must know the British culture, idioms and so on.In a word, English idioms are a mirror of British culture.
1.2significance of this paper English is a very flexible language.On the one hand, English learners in the proce of using English, constantly accumulating vocabulary, ceaselely creating new words, making its own more flexible to expre.On the other hand, with the development of the era, some prevalent words are been joined in the idioms, which becomes more diverse.Idioms as the eence of English, from daily life and culture of English countries, mainly tells us what happened at the time, say something.All kinds of idioms can help learners understand the British customs, religious beliefs and life style which can make a better understanding.Familiar with idioms is of certain significance in cultural studies.
II.the definition and characteristics of English idioms
2.1 the definition of English idioms
An idiom language is the carrier of culture and idioms is the eence of language.The idioms generally refers to those commonly used together and it has a special form of the phrases.Its implied meaning is often not only a single word from the phrase .Idioms usually include idioms, saying，motto, a two part allegorical saying, proverb, slang, jargon, etc.The form of syllables, graceful, temperament coordination, or subtle humor, or serious and elegant, concise, vivid, interesting, giving a person a kind of beautiful enjoyment.Idioms are the eence of language; it has strong national colors and distinctive cultural connotations. 2.2 the definition of English culture Generally speaking， culture refers to the human in the proce of social and historical practice created by the sum total of spiritual civilization and material civilization.It includes knowledge, belief, religion, art, morals, laws, custom, etc.It is communicated, recorded, reflected through the form of language.It is the language, the content of the text carries and writing the foundation of the existence and development in writing.Without culture, language will be not exited.In turn ，without language， tradition，culture continuation and development will be restricted.In a word, language, words and idioms is a part of the culture which records specific historical and cultural content.2.3 idiom characteristics Idioms are an active and fun part in English vocabulary and high utilization rate in oral English.Its use is both humorous and funny to make the language and the article strange color.It is characterized by unity, conventional and finalizes the design.2.3.1 What’s the unity of semantic in English idioms The unity of the idiom refers to the semantic idioms to use features as a complete unit.Although idioms have the form of word, phrase, phrases, sentences, they cannot be separated between various components of the word and the word in isolation and interception.From another perspective, the meaning of idioms is not a simple superposition of each meaning.Such as; be under the weather; kill two birds with one stone; beat generation; on the carpet.If we change the preposition in these phrase,we will get another meaning not this meaning.he most obvious is that in the hospital.In the hospital means you are just at the hospital not be ill .And in hospital means you are illne.So we should pay attention to its unity, avoiding the peer and taken out of context in the proce of understanding the use of idioms.2.3.2 What’s the convention of English idioms An idiom convention refers to idioms are widely used by the people of British and America, and has a wide range of social basis and the features of strong vitality.Such as pour cats and dogs; cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face; play cards close to one’s chest; bill and coo; a friend in need is a friend in deed; the lions share.Although some idioms have become a cliché, some have lost their specific cultural atmosphere, but because they are in the life of people has become a unique meaning, it is still widely used. 2.3.3 What’s the stability of English idioms structure Idioms constancy is called as idioms stationary, and its words, form and structure are fixed and cannot be changed, replacement.Even the synonyms or replacement from the other point of view is legitimate.For example, you cannot write “rain cats and dogs” as “rain a cat and a dog”.In the other words, any one part of idioms are fixed, not change and replace, otherwise it can appear wordine or far from the original meaning , is widely divergent, even to cay.II the sources of English idioms British and American countries is based on Christian culture and the Hebrew culture background generated under the condition of idioms in the great degree also has strong religious color, rich after it comes mainly from the root of the idioms: literary claics, Greek and Roman myths and legends, claical fables, historical events, celebrity anecdotes, fashion, sports entertainment, hunting, sailing in daily life.Such as content, all-encompaing, involving every aspect of life.Idioms are hard to understand the fundamental reason is that it itself has rich unique local cultural color.Through the national traditional cultural background, ideology and customs to get to know and learn the idioms which is the key to learn English idioms. 3.1Idioms drive from Literature works sources People appreciate literature works and can cause intense sympathetic chord. For example: idioms implied meaning the source. “Screw one’s courage” means muster up courage.The sentence comes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, as long as you put all the courage, we will never fail you.“Man Friday’’ means “good servants’’, but bad right-hand man.“Pound of flesh’’ means reasonable but unreasonable demands. 3.2 Idioms drive from the Bible in English culture God made man is the western inherent idea as the legend of the hand that mends and British and American think that god is almighty and sacred.There are a lot of idioms in Bible.For example: “doubting Thomas”.It drives from the twentieth chapter of >.The chapter says: when Jesus brings back to life in front of people.Thomas who is one of the twelve apostles doesn’t see the proce.He cannot believe see the truth unle he sees hands of Jesus’ hand.Afterwards, people use “doubting Thomas” means can’t believe others.And the second example : the apple of the eye.(眼睛中的瞳孔) It drives from the seventh chapter of 《Bible》.It drives from the seventh chapter of 《Bible》.It’s translated as “ a beloved daughter”.
The second example : an eye for an eye” drives from 《Bible》in 19th chapter, Moses become the leader of Israel in Egypt by the commandment of god.He published law:“The punishment is to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth, a hand for a hand and a foot for a foot.”以其人之道，还治其人之身。 The third example：“feet of clay”drives from the second chapter of the Bible .Nebuchadnezzar dreams a man who was smashed the foot by flying a boulder; the giant was suddenly collapsed. The forth example:“the apple of his eyes!”.If you love or belove a person, you will say：“You are my apple of my eyes” The phrase first appeared in the Bible.Moses told god to take care of Jacob.He found him in the desert,he led him to be the apple of his eyes.
3.3Idioms drive from anecdotes of eminent people in English culture Of course,English idioms are derived from the anecdotes of eminent people.For example, a brief history of Thomas the Tank Engine and his Friends.Reverend W.Awdry had a paion for trains and as a boy, his fantastic imagination lead him to believe he could hear them taking to each other when they chugged by his house.Consequently the trains began to from characters and take on a life of their own.Rev.W Awdry entertained his son with stories of Edward and two other engines,Gordon and Henry,all of which were told over and over again.After a request from his son,Rev.W Awdry penned his stories and “The Three Railway Engines” was published the following year and every year a new book was added to his collection of enchanting stories until his twenty-sixth and final story,Tramway Engines, in 1972.In 1983 his son Christopher wrote the first of fourteen books and began entertaining a Second generation of Thomas fans. In 1984 Thomas the Tank Engine chugged onto our television screens and Thomas and Friends grew into the phenomenon we know and love today.In early 2009 Thomas and Friends were translated and broadcasted in China.So man for all seasons is derive from the story ..There are other examples:Mickey mouse;Carey street 3.4 Idioms drive from Customs in English culture Cusoms is a style of people’s life .A language of nation reflects custom in nation.Idioms is related with customs in nation.British people have their own particular customs.Their legends and habits are different with China in diet.British people love tea,and tea drives from Chinese dialect initially.Many idioms is about tea.eg “a cup of tea”means “another things”.Another name of tea is tea in the afternoon.This is not only a kind of tea, but it is a whole dinner.That is why it is said that a British people eat four meals.That to say, in addition to regular meals, they will have afternoon tea and some drinks and cakes.Milk is a important diet in British life.British people have many of the best cow farm because of favorable climate and geographical conditions.So there are many idioms in cow culture.eg“There is no use crying over split milk”.It means that there is no resean to complain constantly. III English Idioms–a Mirror Reflecting English Culture 4.1 English idioms and life background Great Britain is a island country consisted of England Wisky and Scotoland.We can see the importants status of life style. all at sea (茫然), between devil and blue sea (进退维谷), hoist one’s colors (升起旗帜,宣布观点), sail under false colors (用假冒的旗帜航行引申为冒充欺世盗名), in low water (搁浅引申为缺钱), on the rocks (在岩石中触礁,引申为遭遇失败), to keep one’s head over water (把头保持在水面上不下沉,引申为不负债,好坏凭自己), get a break (钓上的鱼儿脱钩了,对鱼而言自然是走运的), take the bait（而对于咬上鱼饵的鱼自然就陷于困境,上了别人的圈套）To strike while the iron is hot (趁热打铁)，to hit the nail on the head (敲钉子敲在钉头上，引申为话说得中肯、正中要害、一针见血)。
4.2English idioms reflect holiday taboos and food English language in western countries can be reflected by the proverb language taboos:say no ill of the year till it be past.(You don’t speak ill of the year to others untill the end of this year) Chiristmas is a festival day in western.The taboos is linked to the Christmas pudding.Most of westerners think that shaking the pudding can get the best wishes in the coming year.Therefore,when people make the Christmas pudding,and each member of the family wishes a dream ,they think the dream will come ture in the future.But they must remember that don’t talk your wishes to others.Otherwise, it will not come ture.The British people taboo number 13.The Judas of Jesus’ disciple betrayed Jesus just because of 30 pieces of silver.At last, Jesus was crucified on the cro according to the legend.The famous Italian painter Vinci created a famous painting Last Supper.He depicted that they had a supper on the eve of betrayed Jesus’day.And the last one was Judas.So western people taboo number13 from then on.Also,food plays the most important role in people’s daily life.Each nation its geographical position and natural environment is different ,so its survival condition is different,too.Different living conditions have different eating habits.This will leave a mark in the human language development.At the same time,it provides a lot of materials for native language development.According to the practice of western countries,the main food for Christmas are :roast goose;pudding;golden butter cookies and fruit cookies.Easter Egg and Easter Bunny is a symble of Easter Day.Fig is a common fruit in Easter.People often make all sorts of fig sweets,pudding and pie.So East day is also fig day.The egg is a symbol of fertility and new life.eg They have eggs on the spit.It means they are busy now.Turkey is a traditional food of Thanksgiving which is like Chinese Mid-Autumn festival moon cakes.Every family can eat Turkey on this day.Other traditional Thanksgiving food is sweet potato,pumpkin bread,jam,etc.Eg cold turkey ,talk turkey, as poor as job’s turkey.If you have a dream, but you don’t come ture it.So you can say:The pumpkin has not turned into best coach.4.3English idioms and national custom National customs is a kind of traditional ways which is accepted and appreciated by most people.The national customs of idioms have thick life breath and distinctive national characteristics.We can see it from the British people eating customs.It had a great effect on the English language.The British daily life of the main food is bread,milk,butter and cheese.The British people also formed a unique diet.These are reflected in idioms.eg“Bread is the stuff of life”.(民以食为天)。“eat one’s heat out”(伤心欲绝，神魂颠倒) “ They asked some bread-and-butter questions”（他们问了几个很普通的问题）“eat one’s bread”(养家糊口) In addition,Apple-pie is the traditional food in British.Some women in British used to bake seven apple-pie at the beginning of every week and they put them in emiions on the shelf.They will eat one a day.So apple-pie means in an orderly way.
4.4English idioms and religious belief Religion has a great influence on human society as a kind of social ideology.It plays a important role in western thought, art,culture,language and life.It also has inestimable influence on the development of langugage.Among them, the Bible has been regarded as the claic of western culture.eg “figure on the wall” It means bad news.Some people say that the Bible had deep influence on people’s spiritual life.They draw cro on their chest,and will say god ble me.If they want to curse someone, they will say god damn you.If they don’t understand you,they will say got knows.We can see that god pays a important role in British people’s mind.They think god make people all over the world.So they often use god to mean something on their daily life.4.5English idioms and geographical conditions The formation of idioms and the living of people closely related to the geographical location and living surrounding environment.At the same time,It also greatly affect the formation and development of the culture.British seagirt geographical position make the British maritime transportation industry to become the important way of Britain .It also has a great influence on the formation of the English language and has resulted in a emerged a large number of English idioms which related to this idioms.eg a drop in the ocean;between the devil and deep sea;mi the boat; Britain’s fisheries in the world occupies an important position in the UK economy.So they leave a lot of idioms related to fisheries for English.eg big fish;cool fish;dull fish;a queer fish.If you want to expre that father is bad boy and his son is also a bad boy.You can say :“Fish begins to stink with its head.” When they want to deal with somthing, they will say : “They have another fish to fry.”
The above analysis shows that language is linked to geographical environment.In addition,the specific geography will also be reflected in idioms.Thames plays the role of a gather sufficient weight in the history of Britain.If a person can set the Thamas on fire,he must be the best one.V.Conclusion The famous foreign language educators Wang Zuo Liang said:“If you don’t understand the language of the social culture,no one can really master language”.English idioms have fixity on the structure and have unity in the semantic.English idioms have a pround meaning and rich cultural connotation.To really understand the mastery and use of English idioms,we must study the sources of idioms and understand the social culture.English Idioms’meaning is not only the word meaning, but also every idioms has their own social culture.In proce of learning English, we must consciously accumulate idioms’background knowledge in order to improve the ability of language.In a word,English idioms is a product of English culture.They have special cultural meaning.language is always changing in different ways.They are English culture unique characteristics,with a rich cultural meaning.English language is the same as English usage.No matter in theory or in practice, learning culture of English idioms,we must take English idioms into consideration.They are the drops of water in the ocean of English culture.In the pursuit of English culture,English idioms is very charming in the world.If you have not deep understanding,you will can’t learn English well.As someone said in the book,“no idioms ,language would be dull and dry,and proper use in our speech and writing,increases dynamics and vivid language’’ as a result, in the hand of English,need to cherish the crystallization of the language and use it well.We should have a nice mind in learning it.Bibliography
[1]A.Johnson.Common English Proverbs.Longman, 1971 [2]IvorH.Evans.Brewer’sDictionaryofPhrase&Fable Revised London.1981 [3]Longman Dictionary of English Idioms.1979
[4] Fernando, Chitra.1996.Idioms and Idiomaticity [M].Oxford University Pre [5] Gibbs, R.W.1985.On the proce of understanding idioms [J].Journal ofPsycholinguistic Research, 14 : 465～472 [6]平洪、张国扬：英语习语与英美文化[M].胡文仲, 主编.北京外语教学与研究出版社,1999。
[7]游桂兰：英语习语与历史发展[J].高等函授学报,2003,16(1)。 [8]王学英、张会：汉英英汉习语大全[M].清华大学出版社, 2005.[9]姜子昌.从习语看英美文化[J].兴义民族师范学院，201 0，(4).[10]胡文仲,英美文化辞典〔Z],北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1995
