文化意象的英汉对比与转换摘要：随着中外文化交流的日益频繁，目前翻译研究的重点也逐渐转向语言外部。
人们对翻译也提出了越来越高的要求：人们不仅要求译文优美流畅，更要求尽可能的完整、准确地传达原作特有的文化意象。
而文化差异则成为翻译中的难题和障碍。
本论文从文化意象的角度，对比并讨论了英汉的文化差异，以及文化意象的转换方式，即翻译时怎样处理文化意象与文化差异。
关键词：文化差异；文化意向；转换；对比；Cultural Images :Comparison and Transformation between Chinese and EnglishAbstract: At present ,the emphasis of translating study shifts to the external of the language asthe intercultural communication has become more and more frequent .People demand higher and higher translation .They expect that the translated text is not only elegant and but also can transform the cultural images of the original text as correctly and completely as possible .And the cultural differences become the main obstacle in translation .This paper deals with the cultural differences between Chinese and English and the transformation of cultural images. That is how to deal with the cultural differences during the process of translating .Key words :cultural images;cultural differences ; transformation ;comparison ;ContentsI .Introuduction (1)II. Expressive Forms of Cultural Images (1)III. Comparison of Cultural Images between Chinese and English (2)IV. Causes of Cultural Images differences between Chineseand English (6)V. Transformation of Cultural Images (10)VI. Conclusion (14)VII.. References (16)I . IntrouductionGenerally speaking ,cultural images is the combination of peop le’s wisdom and historyculture .Among them most cultural images have close relations with a people’s legend and its original totems .During the long process of history development ,those legend and totems appeared constantly in language ,literary and artistic works .Years and years ,they developed into a kind of culturalsemiotics ,and have relatively fixed unique cultural meaning .Some have colorful and far-reaching association.In the same language community ,people can understand each other when they speakOf those images .but in different language communities ,people may not understand each other because different language communities may have different cultural images which have different associative meanings . Of course it is difficult for translators to translate the original text into the target language .When we transform the cultural images ,we should pay attention to the cultural differences between two languages .II. Expressive Forms of Cultural ImagesCultural images have many different kinds of expressive forms . It can be a kind of plant ,such aspine ,plum blossom,bamboo,orchid,chrysanthemum in Chinese ,and oak ,olive tree,whitebirch ,rose ,tulip in English .It can be an image of adjactive phrases,idioms ,proverbs and allusions,such as “蛇足”in “画蛇添足”,“诸葛亮”in “三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮”in Chinese , and “a fifth wheel ”in “to put a fifth wheel to the coach ”, “Rome ”in “All roads lead to Rome.”in English .It can also be a kind of animal ,such as“乌鸦”“喜鹊”“龙”in Chinese ,and “owl ” “lion”“bear” in English . It can be a number，such as“三”and “八”In Chinese , “seven” and“thirteen ” in English .In Chinese“三”not only means “three”, but “many”, e.g. “三思而后行” And “八”not only means “eight”, but “good luck and good fortune” because it is homophonic with“发”in Chinese .In English , “seven” has similar associative meaning with “三” in Chinese such as “at seven-league stride” .But in English “thirteen” implies unlucky meaning.III. Comparison of Cultural Images between Chinese and EnglishEast and west may have the same images ;but these images may have different associative meanings in English or Chinese .In this part , the paper deals with the cultural images from four aspects.1. Cultural images with same reference meanings, but with different associative meanings“dragon ”and “龙” refer to the same animal in legend. In Chinese “ ”has commendatory meaning. It is the representative of power, aristocrat and holy. “龙”in Chinese legend can control the forces of nature . It is mysterious and respectable. So it represents majesty and f orce in Chinese. And the phrases made by “ ” have caught the color of noble and holy. e.g. “真龙天子” “龙颜大怒” “龙的传人” “望子成龙”. But in English “dragon” is a fierce and cruel monster .It has derogative meaning. And it is a terrible symbol. So Chinese will be proud of being a descendant of dragon .But westerners will not feel any pride to be an offspring of dragon“Dog” and“狗”also refer to the same animal .In Chinese dog is a kind of derogative animal. It is always cursed and despised .Hence almost all phrases with“狗”have derogative meaning , e.g. “狗胆包天”“狗急跳墙”“狗眼看人低”“狗嘴里吐不出象牙” etc. But in western society, dog is a good friend of people, e.g. “You’re a lucky dog.” “I’m too old a dog to learn new tricks.” “Every dog has his day.” “Give a dog a bad name and hang him.” These sayings do not have any derogative meaning at all. People don’t feel shameful to compare himself to a dog.“Cricket” and “蟋蟀” refer to a small, brown, jumping insect which make a shrill noise by rubbing its front wings together. But English people regard cricket as a merry and hopeful image, such as “as merry as a cricket” in Shakespeare’s language.. But Chinese people regard cricket as a sad and cold image, such as “独申旦而不寐兮，哀蟋蟀之宵征。
