不同的地理特征对汉英习语影响
【Abstract】 The geography environment is connected to the human's lives closely. From the ancient times, the human tried their best to conquer the nature, to rebuild it. At that time, the most important function was to improve the production. So in this period, the human's civilizations were influenced by the geography. China is located in the east of the Eurasia and on the west bank of the Pacific Ocean--which could not be crossed at that time. In the southwest of China, there is the Himalayas, and the southwest is a large desert, because of these, we can say that China was relatively isolated from the outside world. Meanwhile, China has a large of field for tillage and the climate suits to it. So the Chinese civilization is the geography civilization. But in England and the western countries, they lack of the inland but near the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, these were suited to develop the sea civilization.
The idioms are the flowers of the Chinese and English culture. So this paper will list the idioms about the geography in Chinese and English languages. Let everyone know more the geography Chinese and English idioms
【Key Words】geography; idioms; Chinese; English
【摘 要】 地理环境与人类的生存密切相关，远古的人类就是在不断地征服，改造自然中，、壮大起来。可以说，古代人类最重要的活动就是征服自然，发展生产。当时的人类的文化受到地理环境的影响。位于欧亚大陆的东部，东边是难以逾越的太平洋，西南是有世界屋脊之称的喜马拉雅山，西北是一片大沙漠，可以说中国是相对地与外界隔离。并且中国有大片土地供耕耘，气候也适合农耕，因此中国的文化是农耕文化，其文化偏向土地。而英国，乃至整个西方，适合耕耘的土地少，而且面向地中海，大西洋，适合发展海洋文化。而西方文化的发源地古希腊，更可以被称为是典型的海洋文化，因此，英国的文化更偏向海洋。习语是中西文化中的精华，本篇将列出中西习语中受地理影响的部分。旨在弄清地理环境与文化之间的关系。
【关键词】 地理；习语；汉语；
1、Introduction
The environment influences the culture. Human and the nature are related closely. For one thing, human depends on the nature, and is bound by the nature. For anther, human always try to master the nature and rebuild it. [1]
As we all know, the Chinese culture and the English culture have different nature environments. China has a large plain for tillage. But in the western countries, especially in the Greece, the mother of the western civilization, has small land for tillage, the land is for the stock breeding. While the Greek have less land to develop the agriculture, they live near the sea, the Mediterranean, so they can sail in the sea for commerce. Because of the differences, the Chinese culture and the English culture are different. The Chinese culture is the agriculture civilization [2] and the English culture is from the Greek civilization, so the English culture is the sea civilization.[3]
2、The similarities between English idioms and Chinese idioms about the geography
The idioms are the fossils of the Chinese and English cultures. In the Chinese and English idioms, there are many idioms about the geography. Some of the Chinese and English idioms have the similar meanings, but others are in different meanings.
In the group of idioms, which have similar meaning, many of them use the same images, while others use the different images to explain the same thing.
2.1The similarities between English idioms and Chinese idioms about the geography
In many of the Chinese and English idioms, they have the same meanings. Coincidently, many of them use the same images. It shows that the Chinese people and English people experience the similar conceptions. Meanwhile, some of them have the same meanings, but they use the different images to explain. From that, we could know that although the Chinese and English people have the same experience, they have the different cultures. So the idioms always use the different images.
2.1.1 The Chinese-English geography idioms that use the similar images
In the ancient China and England, the people may have the same experience, and coincidently use the same image to describe the same thing. It is very coincidental.
(1) Fish in trouble waters[4] and "浑水摸鱼"[5]
Meaning: to profit in a confused environment
e.g. Don’t fish in trouble waters; that does you no good.
(2) Pour /throw cold water on [6]and "泼冷水"
Meaning: to discourage
e.g. The board of director poured cold water on his new investment proposals in that region.
(3) Make waves[7] and "兴风作浪"[8]
Meaning: to make trouble
e.g. They lift it was not the time to make waves by staging a sit-in.
(4) Go with the stream[9] and "随波逐流"[10]
Meaning: do as others do
e.g. He ed to the same music and dressed the same way as his friends. He went with the stream, for he lacked confidence in making his own decision.
(5) Burn one’s boat/ bridges[11] and "破釜沉舟"[12]
Meaning: to do something that make it impossible to go back
e.g. Starting your own business has a lot of risk , so think twice before you burn your boat.
The idioms in this group reflect that the English idioms and Chinese idioms are nearly coincidental. People in different cultures experience the similar conceptions. The examples (1) to (4) are using the same images. The example (5),in Chinese we use “釜” and “舟” but, in English they just use “boat” or “bridge”. In both Chinese and English the boat, the cooking pot and the bridge are all very important to people lives.
2.1.2The Chinese-English geography idioms that use different images
While the ancient Chinese people and English people coincidently use the same image to explain the same thing. Most of the time, the Chinese and English people use the different images to explain the same thing.
(1) Be in /get in hot water [13] or In deep water[14] and "泥菩萨过江"
Meaning: to be in or get into trouble
e.g. She has got into hot water again for her inquisitive nature recently.
(2) A drop in the bucket/ocean[15] and "九牛一毛"
Meaning: a negligible or tiny quantity; something that make little difference
e.g. Ten cents means a lot of money to the beggar on the street, but is a drop in the ocean for most people.
(3) Paddle one’s own canoe[16] and "自力更生"
Meaning: to depend on oneself
e.g. Don’t worry too much about your son ; he is big enough to paddle his own canoe.
(4) A big fish (in a little pond)[17] and "顶天立地"[18]
Meaning: an important person (in a small community)
e.g. I told you when George came to our department two years ago that he’d soon job-hop. He is a big fish.
The idioms in this group reflect that the English idioms and Chinese idioms have the same meaning, but use the different images. In the example (2) in English they use “ocean”, while in Chinese we use “牛”. The example (4), in English they use “fish”, but in Chinese we use “地”. The example (5), in English they use “fish”, but in Chinese we use “牛”. These show that the English culture belongs to the sea civilization, and the Chinese culture belongs to the agriculture civilization. Because fish is the normal thing in sea civilization, and the ox is a very important animal for the agriculture.
3 The differences between English idioms and Chinese idioms about the geography
The environment influenced the idioms very much. For example , in China ,there a large land for tillage ,so in Chinese idioms , there are many idioms about “tu” (土)、“di”（地）、 and “niu”（牛）--these are all connected closely to the agriculture.
But the western culture is different. In the western countries, especially in the Greek –the mother of the western civilizations, there are many mountains and small land for tillage. They had to develop the business at sea. So in the English idioms, there are many idioms about the sea, the boat and the fish.
There is a typical example, which could explain this. In China ,we say “hui jin ru tu” （挥金如土）， but in English ,they say “spend money like water”. These two are all describing that someone spend money very much, but in Chinese we use “tu”, while in English they use “water”.
3.1 The different images about the geographical words in Chinese and English idioms
No matter whether the idioms have the same meaning, or have the different meanings, their images are all about the geographical words. In Chinese idioms, many of the images are connected to the land. In English, many of the images are connected to the sea.
3.1.1 The Chinese geography idioms
The land is very important to the people’s live. Also the agriculture is the most important activity in the people’s common live. There are so many idioms use the geographical words to explain something. There are some example could show it.
(1) Juan tu chong lai (卷土重来)[19]
Stage a comeback
(2)Mian ru tu se (面如土色)[20]
Look ashen; look pale
e.g. turn pale with fright
(3) Yi bai tu di (一败涂地)[21]
Fail completely; suffer a crushing defeat; be routed.
e.g. We just can’t possibly fail completely, after all the preparation we’ve made.
(4) Hu tian qiang di (呼天抢地)[22]
Lament to heaven and knock one’s head on earth—utter cries of anguish.
From this group of idioms, we could see that the land is very important to the Chinese. So in the Chinese idioms, there are many idioms about the land. The Chinese culture belongs to the agriculture civilization.
3.1.2 The English geography idioms
In England, the sea is connected to the people’s life closely. England is an island country. In England, the field is less, the land is for stock breeding. The English people always make their living on the sea. So there are many idioms about the sea and the ship.
(1) At sea[23]
① On a ship, etc on the sea
e.g. spend three months at sea
② Not know what to do; confused
e.g. I’m all at sea ; I have no idea how to repair cars.
(2) Miss the boat[24]
Miss an opportunity; be too late to participate in something
e.g. She put her application in for her interview one day late. Unfortunately for her the university authorities could do nothing and she had missed the boat
(3) At bottom [25]
In reality; really basically
e.g. He seems aggressive but at bottom he is kind and good-natural
(4) Another kettle of fish (a different kettle of fish ) [26]
A completely different person or thing from the one previously mentioned
e.g. He is good at playing tennis in private, but playing in public is a different kettle of fish.
This group of idioms reflect that the sea、the boat、the fish are very important to the people’s lives. The English culture belongs to the sea civilization.
People live in the different geography environments will create different cultures. All the cultures could not be separated from their environments. Because of its region, climate and environment, every culture has its own character.[27]
The environment influences the culture deeply. The Chinese agriculture civilization makes the Chinese idioms use the geographical words as the images. And the English sea civilization makes the English idioms use the image about the sea.
3.2The causes of the Chinese and English idioms using the different images
The idioms are accepted through common practice. They have come into being for a long time. Today most of the idioms were formed in the ancient times.
Why does the Chinese culture belong to the agriculture civilization? Why does the English culture belong to the sea civilization. If we want to know these clearly, we had better look into the origins of the Chinese and English civilizations.
3.2.1The difference of the origins of the Chinese and western civilizations
(i) The origins of the Chinese civilization
People in different environments will create different cultures. In the origins of the Chinese civilization, the tillage is the most important thing in people’ live. So the Chinese culture is connected to the field closely.
The Chinese civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the human history. The origin could derive from the Old Stone Age. And in the New Stone Age, the Chinese civilization developed very fast. In 21st B.C. the Xia Dynasty was founded, which was the first most glorious civilization in the ancient China.
As the other’s creation of the culture, in the earliest creation of the Chinese culture, the stone was the tools of the agriculture. The archaeologist identified this period: the Old Stone Age. With the using of the coarse stone tools, our ancestor also mastered the skill of getting fire by themselves.
Before 10,000 to 4000 years ago, the Chinese ancestor entered the New Stone Age. In this period, the Chinese entered the door of the civilization, beginning the early stage of the Chinese civilization.
Between 1963 and 1964, the archaeologist discovered the “Lan Tian Simian” in Shanxi. The “Lan Tian Simian” lived in about 800,000 years ago. In 1927, the archaeologist discovered the “Beijing Simian” in Beijing, who lived about 600,000 years ago. These are all proved that all the Chinese civilization was all the Chinese people created in our own land.[29]
For example, the Chinese character “社”， the “示”demonstrates the “God”, and the “土” demonstrates the land. From this we can see the land is very important to the ancient people.
The following idioms will reflect it.
“土崩瓦解”(crumble; fall apart; collapse)[30]“人杰地灵”(The greatness of a man lends glory to a place)[31]“谈天说地”(Talk of everything under the sun)[32]“铺天盖地”(Blot out the sky and cover up the earth)[33]…….
From these idioms, we could see that the land is the most important thing to the ancient people. So in the idioms there are so many idioms about the geography.
(ii)The origins of the English civilization
The English culture is from the Greece civilization.
The old Greece civilization influenced the creation and development of the western’s civilization. It’s said that the old Greece civilization was the mother of the European culture. [34]
With the Roman Conquest, the Roman brought their culture and customs into Britain. The Roman costume, ornament, pottery and glasses vessels spread in Britain. Of course the social live became Roman. With these things brought into Britain, the Latin was spread in Britain. At that time, in Britain, the official language, the law and the commerce were all used the Latin. Latin became the second language of the upper Celts.[35]
“Latin was originally the language of Latium, but came to be the dialect of Rome. The use of Latin spread with the growth of the Roman Empire, which included modern Italy, Spain and Portugal, most of Britain, France and Germany, South of the Rhine and the Danube. Beyond Europe it included North Africa and Palestine. Even where Latin did not survive as a spoken language, it remained as the international language of scholarship. This is a role it was to retain throughout Europe for well over a thousand years. As a result, all the major languages of the Europe have been profoundly influenced by Latin, not only in their vocabulary, but also in their grammar”.[36]
In the literal record, the old Greece civilization had begun in 800 B.C., it was 2000 years later than the old Babylon civilization and the Egypt civilization. But at the time it appeared, it shown its lively character, its activity and sprite. It influenced the development of the western civilization deeply. [37]
The following idioms will reflect it.
“Muddy the water”(To make a situation confused and not clear)[38],“be in the same boat”(To be in the same difficult circumstance)[39],“Across the board”(involving all staff)[40]. From these idioms, we can see that the sea is very important to the western people’s lives. There are so many geography idioms in the English idioms.
From these, we could know clearly that, the Chinese civilization is very different from the western civilization. In the origins of the Chinese civilization, the lands were very important to the people, so our culture is depending on the land and agriculture. In English, the land is not very important to people, the people made their living from the sea, their culture depend on the sea.
3.2.2 The differences of the geography of the China and England
(i) The Chinese geography
In the east of China, it is the Pacific Ocean, which isn’t like the Mediterranean sea, the ancient people can not cross it. In the northwest, there is a large desert, and in the southwest, there is the Qingzang highland and the Hengduan Mountain. So in this environment, the Chinese people are relatively isolated from the outside would.
Most of the Chinese areas locate in the middle latitude, so the weather is mild. China locates in the east of the biggest mainland—the Eurasia, and in the west of the biggest ocean—the Pacific Ocean, the Southwest of the China is near the Indian Ocean, and is influenced by the monsoon. So in most of the Chinese areas are suitable for the developing of the agriculture. [41]
There are many geography idioms can reflect that the geography influenced the culture much.
“沧海桑田”(From seas into mulberry field and from mulberry field into seas—time brings great changes to the world)[42] .“土生土长” （Locally born and bred; born and brought up in the locality ）[43] .“别有天地”(A place of unique beauty scenery of exceptional charm; an altogether different world)[44].“解甲归田” (Take off one’s armor to the land;)[45]
(ii)The English geography
The England located in the east of the Atlantic Ocean. The England is an island country. It consists of three big islands. In the west of the England, there is the Atlantic Ocean, which is narrow and suits to sailing. In the east of the England, there is the England Channel, which is peace and could be passed safely.
In the three islands, the land is small, and the land is for stock breeding. Also the farmer in England is few. Because of these reasons, the English people make their living in the sea.
There are many idioms could reflect it.
“Set sail”(Begin a voyage)[46]. “A cold fish”(A seeming unfriendly person)[76]. “Be like a fish out of water”(To feeling uncomfortable or awkward because one is in surroundings that are not familiar)[48]. “Have bigger/other fish to fry”(To have more important or more interesting things to do)[49].
3.2.3The differences of the Chinese and English civilizations
(i) The Chinese agriculture civilization
From 7000 years to 5000 years ago, the Chinese people had begun to deal in the tillage. In the remains in Banpo village in Xi’an; Wang Quan county in Shanxi, we discovered the earliest tools, such as: stone axe, stone shovel, bone uproot, pottery knife. From these, we could see, that at that time, they grew the valley and vegetables in the middle areas of the Yellow River.
From 5000 years ago, the “Long Shan Civilization”, the agriculture and stock breeding became the most important way to make a living. In the earliest literal records, we can see that before 1600 B.C., in Shang Dynasty, the agriculture was the most essential way to live.[50]
After the Zhou Dynasty was founded, the agriculture became the center matter of the economic creation in China at that time. As the agriculture became more and more important in the public economic creation, the agriculture tools and skills developed very fast. The plough, uproot, sickle and so on, are made of iron, and the animals like the horses and the cattle are used in the tillage.
(ii)The English sea civilization
Because of the lacking of inland, the agriculture production in the England couldn’t meet the needs of the population, the people had to make a living in the sea. For these reasons, to develop the stock raising, fishing and sailing, to conquer the transmarine land is the main way to keep the pot boiling.
From the New Stone Age, the people who lived in the island in the Aegean sea had set up the relationship with the Egypt, Anatolian and so on.
With the development of the skills of the handwork and sailing in the Bronze Age, their businesses with the countries which around them were more and more closely. They set the commercial base in the coastal area of the Egypt, Asia, Phoenicia, and Cyprus.
The Crete Island became a commerce country, because of the developing of the handwork and the more broaden of the scope of the business. [51]
Because of small inland area, if the English people want to improve their living, the only way is to do business with other countries. This makes the English develop the sea civilization.
The Chinese civilization and the English civilization are completely different. The Chinese people depend on the land, and develop the agriculture civilization. The Chinese people do the tillage generation by generation. Because of these, the Chinese culture is related to the land, especially in the idioms, there are so many idioms about the land and the cattle.
In English, because of small inland area, and they face the Atlantic Ocean, this sea is peace and rich, they can make their living in the sea, so the English people depend on the sea. In the English idioms, there are many idioms about the sea, the boat and the fish.
So because of the different geography, the idioms in Chinese and in English are quirt different. The Chinese idioms are full of the idioms about the land. And in English, most of their idioms are about the sea.
4、Conclusion
The idioms are the essence of the culture, they are cohering the wisdom of the people.
From the preceding chapters, we can see that the geography influenced the human’s culture deeply. The human’s culture could not depart from the environment. The western people live in the seaside and had small land for tillage, so their livings are connected to the sea. But the Chinese live in an inland area, and isolated from the other outside countries, our cultures are more about the land and the agriculture.
So in English idioms ,they have the idiom“drink like a fish” ,while in China, we said “niu yin” ,(the meaning is drink like an ox). This is because the sea is connected to the western people’ lives, and the fish live in the sea. But in China, the ox is the main animal for the tillage.
All in all, the differences of the geography between the China and western counties, made the difference of the cultures between the Chinese and English.
To have a deep understanding of Chinese and English cultures, such idioms comparison could provide an useful resources for language and culture communication.
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