I bought six pens for 30 yuan. When taking home, I found they were used.
With the concealed or omitted subjects of the clauses(“这六支钢笔”and“我”)，the original Chinese, which can be taken as one sentence, poses no difficulty in understanding to a Chinese reader. Moreover, no connectives are found in the sentence and the meaning as well as the chronological sequence is self-evident from the context. In contrast, the translated English version, which consists of two sentences, cannot do without these omitted subjects, and a time-marker "when" is also added to indicate the time sequence as well as the subordinate relationship between the time-adverbial clause and the main clause.
3.3 Subject-centered Thinking vs. Object-centered Thinking
It’s generally accepted that Chinese culture is subject-oriented while Western culture centers on the object. Laozi，founder of Taoism, held that "The ways of men are conditioned by those of earth; the ways of earth by those of heaven; the ways of heaven by those of Tao; and the ways of Tao by the self-so". Mencius also said, "I know everything about the universe". “Qian Mu，a master of Chinese national culture, made his penetrating remark that Chinese culture, with its emphasis on humanitarianism, is human-oriented in essence, and has given birth to the subject-oriented thinking style of the Chinese nation. That’s to say, center on themselves in making observation, analysis and reasoning people.” [19]
In Western culture, however, people take the objects and nature as the center of their research, which places great importance on the observation and study of the objective with the absolute authority nature. Westerners hold that man is endowed and transcendental power over nature and is, on the strength of his intelligence and science, to conquer and transform nature and put nature at his service. The proverb "knowledge is strength" best illustrates this perseverant spirit of pursuit and exploration, which takes the universe as its to-be-conquered antagonist. Such notion has fathered the object-oriented style of thinking, namely the objective nature is the focus of all man’s exploratory activities, his observation, analysis and reasoning.
Due to the different thought pattern English likes the passive form. It is very common for them use the passive expression. While, the Chinese usually used the passive form together with the agent of the action; otherwise the notional passive is used instead.
“In English, on the other hand, when the agent or doer of the action expressed by the predicate verb is to emphasized, we make it the subject of the sentence, which is thus in the active form. Or when the subject of the action is to be emphasized, we make the object of the verbal action the subject of the sentence and the sentence is thus said to be in the passive form. From this conception, it is clear why the agent of the action is usually not expressed in an English sentence in the passive form, just contrary to the Chinese construction.” [20]
Both of these thinking styles have left their respective marks on Chinese and English. The animate subject of the Chinese sentence and the inanimate subject of the sentence in English best exemplify the case. In describing or explicating, an animate subject is adopted in the Chinese language as the agent of action whereas an inanimate subject is usually preferred in the English language.
3. 4 Straight Thinking vs. Converse Thinking
Different nations might take different angles in their observation and ways of thinking. A manifestation of this in language is that different or even complete converse linguistic forms might be adopted in describing or explicating the same phenomenon. For example, priority is considered an honor or privilege in Chinese culture, and to show his politeness or courtesy, a-Chinese would ask his guest to eat or go first by saying“您(先) 请!”，a phrase literally meaning "You do this (before me), please". In English the counterpart of“您(先)请!”is "After you".“先”(before) is rendered into "after"(后)in English, completely opposite in sequence.
English people are different from the Chinese in expressing time sequence. In the English language, "back" refers to the past time and "forward" to future time. In sharp contrast, the Chinese refer back with “前”(forward) and forward with“后”(afterward). It can be said that the Chinese is "facing the past time" (or past-oriented) in expressing chronological sequence, i.e.“前/后年(last year/next year)，前/后人(predecessor/successor)，前/后世(previous incarnation/afterlife)"; the English are "facing the future". For example, "the weeks ahead of us/the following weeks" means“以后/未来的几个星期’’in Chinese . In a word, on temporal matters, "back" in English is equivalent to“前”and "forward" to“后”in Chinese, the negligence of which fact would lead to mistranslation.
Due to different forms of expression for the same content, different nations might adopt completely different perspectives in observation or, in other words, the different thinking styles. For example“九五折”in Chinese becomes "5% off’ in English, for the Chinese focus on the actual rate of payment after discounting, whereas the English people have their eyes on the rate of discount.
It won’t be too difficult to find more examples.“自学(learn all by oneself or with no instructions from teachers)" in Chinese turns into "self-taught" in English, “太平门(Exit to safety)" into "emergency exit",“油漆未干 (the paint is not dry up yet)" into "wet paint",“听电话(listen to the speaker on the phone; engage in a telephone conversation)" into "answer the telephone",“红眼("red-eyed" in jealousy)" into "green-eyed", and“顾客止步(off limits/out of bounds for customers)" into "crew/staff/employees only", and so on.
4 .Language Influences Thought and some Evidence
4.1 Language Influences Thought in some Aspects
Xu Jun (许均)once said that “That the different thinking angles determines the various expression of language is explained as the result of thought determining the language.” [21] But the various expressions of foreigner language provides a channel for the second language learners to think in another modes and in different angles. Further more it also can be adopted by language learners. The idioms of English like:
(3) Spend money like water (花钱如流水)
(4) Kill two birds with one stone (一石二鸟)
Chinese people is familiar with the above two idioms, when told that they are the English expressions many Chinese would feel unthinkable for they have adopt them unconscious. Viewed in this aspect, the language can influence the thought.
“In Eskimos’ language the vocabulary for counting number only three words: one, two and many. They are hard to identify the quantity more than three, when asked to imitate the action which scientists put some kinds of sundries on the ground they can’t finish the task. They are failed in counting or calculating it.” [22]
Lacking of the number words influences the Eskimos to judge the material quantity. In their minds the number of the thing is simple and they could not think exactly how much or how many things around them. Another example which is similar with the former also can be proved this view: language determines the thought. There is less vocabulary in English for the English-speaking people to explain the relationship among a big family, in Chinese“伯伯”、“叔叔”、“舅舅”、“姑丈”and“姨夫”in English are all called “uncle” and “伯母”、“婶婶”、“阿姨”、“姑姑”、“舅母”are all called “aunt” “奶奶”、“外婆”called “grandmother”, the “祖父”、“外公” are “grandfather” and the “great grandfather” and “great grandmother” are referred to “曾祖父”、“太外公”and “曾祖母”、“外太婆”. So in the big family party they don’t know who is who. They don’t have the accuracy words to help them understand it and think in an exact way. Both of the two examples show us that without the correct language (vocabulary) to express the precise meaning they could not have the exactly thought about something and also do not have the conception of it.
“Only in a complicated and close grammar structure can complicated and meticulous thinking develop. Helping he students to master the grammar rules, especially the highly tightly grammar structure, is the effective method leading the students think complicated and close. ” [23] Chinese grammar structure is very different from the English. In ancient Chinese, there is not grammar or logic in human’s conception. After learning the English, Chinese people developed their own grammar and further developed their logic, which is a part of thought. Chinese people have studied the foreign language for a long time, so Chinese logic and thinking，in very great degree, influenced by the different language and expressions. Once in contact with the very different language and want to understand or comprehend it, people inevitably must change their original thinking ways and try to think in the new pattern, gradually, in their minds they have two different thinking ways, maybe one is stronger than the other. It depends on the learners.
The structures of Chinese and English discourses are also different:
Structures of Chinese and English Discourse: [24] P48
"Kaplan drew attention to the indirect approach of some Chinese and Korean writing, saying：
In this kind of writing, the development of the paragraph may be said to be turning and turning in a widening gyre..., such a development in a modern English paragraph would strike the English reader as awkward and unnecessarily indirect(1966)". [25]
When speaking or writing, Chinese people would like to diverge their thoughts and then bring them back to the very starting point. They are accustomed to beating about the bush when they are talking, and hide the key point until the last moment, which is called a pattern of climaxing. The repetition of a certain discourse structure of some words is widespread in the cyclical discourse structure as a Chinese rhetorical device. In ancient Chinese language, the application of repetition is very common can be seen. The repetition of a certain word, a sentence, a syllable, a rhyme scheme, or even a structure all corresponds with Chinese circular pattern of thought. In the parallel structure of Chinese discourse, several clauses with the same number of words, similar structures, identical interjections, and similar rhyme schemes are used and similar meanings are expressed. In this way, the mood is increasingly enforced.
The Chinese discourse structure is fairly perplexing for Western people, for they are used to presenting the topic at a foremost place so as to arouse the attention of the listeners or readers, which is kind of anticlimactic discourse organization. The structure of Western discourse is: the topic sentence is the staring point of the article followed by the specification of facts, and a conclusion in the end. This is a typical structure mirroring pattern of thought.
The English language learner must notice the great different between the two discourse structures when they reading the English originals they must be led by the train of thought of the text. Once more the different discourse structures poured into their minds where the strange thought comes into being. This process is that: language determines the thought.
4.2 Some Evidences for Language Influencing Thought
4.2.1 The Chinese Language Influences the Language Begin-learners’ English Expressions
Chinese and English are very different in many ways, when Chinese students study the foreign language (the English) , or in another word, come into contact with the different language which is the carrier of thought and ideas they must change their usual thinking ways or try to accept the different expressions in order to understand the content what the English is said. But we may often notice that some students, especially the beginners, failed to say or write the right English. Some examples:
(5) 怎么做：How doing ？
(6) 好好学习，天天向上。Good good study，day day up !
(7) 他说谎，我不相信他。(Because) He lies, I don’t believe he .
(8) 那年春天他们家里发生了一件不幸的事：That year Spring their home happened an unfortunate thing.
There are so much Chinese thinking modes in the above English sentences. The students use Chinese everyday and once asked to speak or write some English they inevitably influenced by Chinese thought. Language determines the person speaking, writing, thinking ways, those affectedness are hard to be discarded. So the Chinese language influence Chinese-speaking person who thought in the way what their mother language style has formed.
4.2.2 The English Expressions Influence Chinese Language
By studying the foreign language--the English for a long time, students gradually guided by the English thinking ways, they attempt to adopt the expressions very different from Chinese, during the understanding and receiving process they led by the train of thought of the material ,in other words，they were thinking in the English way before they knew it.
What is more, even when Chinese people write some thing in Chinese they also use the thinking modes of the foreigners (the English).As the Chinese’s English learning develops, the use of passive condition sentences and the passive mark can be seem more:
(9)使用时间如此之长的宫殿，在《史记》、《汉书》等文献中却从未被记载过。
（报纸）
(10)吴萍个性极强，但女人的弱点就是经不住被爱，尤其是被潇洒的人爱。(杂志）
(11)这架木制的钢琴本月17日在利物浦的披头士乐队博物馆被公开展示。（报刊）
(12)如果被以前那几条河都目录了两岸文明的衰落，那么，恒河则让自身发生了质变，也是这是比较发达的结果，但这种结果比衰落更难于疗救。
《秋雨日记·千年巡拜》
(13)他在游泳时被淹死了。 （报刊）
(14)这天，他照例又被服用了药。 （报刊）
(15)我被定制了手机上网服务。 （口语）
(16)但是，虽然它是正常的，但是这个情况是可以被改善的。 （海归口语）
It is very strange for Chinese people to say and write these above sentences which are incorrect in Chinese grammar and will not be accepted as the traditional Chinese language. In the above, it is unnecessary to use the passive to express even it is false to use them. Using the passive in nowadays widely can prove that the English language has influenced the Chinese people’s thought in a large extent through many channels both from the hearing things and the seeing things.
The above examples is only one aspect to prove that after a long time to study foreign language (the English), Chinese people are more or less receptive to the English thought. With the developing of our country’s English learning, our mother language must absorb the more English thought through many channels.
(17)因为我这次回国之前，在美国帮助一个公司，国内的公司去美东地区的十一所最TOP的学校去招聘。 （李新玉，全国工商联女企业家协会常务理事）
(18)总是想向国家或者单位或者某个用人的地方要东西，我觉得我特别信奉一句话,Don’t ask…… well，我又说英语了。 （李新玉）
(19)但是这句是英语的一个，OK，一个 saying。就是Don’t ask for it , work for it，就是说你去努力工作去得到你的东西，不是说你能要来的。 （李新玉）
(20)其实首先要我们自己先心态平点。我们别一去给人家interview的时候，就表现出好像我们是从哪儿来的。 （李新玉）
(21)但是关键是自己要show it , ok？ （徐小平，新东方文化发展研究院院长）
(22)我想补充一句。其实我觉得呢,那个女孩本身就有价值，你们没有去pay她enough，我觉得是你之前的问题，所以说是你们管理上出了问题。 （李新玉）
(23)我的观点是刘洋不应该选择去接受这份工作，他的第一份offer。 （观众）
(24)领导也不重用我，真faint ，水土不服呀！ （刘洋，海归）
(25)所以我真的需要一个就像徐老师说的，给我一个show的机会。 （培培）(26)其实我们每一个人在市场经济环境里面都面临一个，我又不想，要用英文词这个sale的问题。你要卖，首先你在没有工作之前要把自己卖给一个公司，首先你要把自己这个能力卖出去。你进了一个公司，要把你主意也要卖出去。所以我们经常，这是在包括美国公司里面经常用的一个词，叫sale idea，这个词用得很有道理。sale是一个要花劳动的，不是说它对，自然而然这个公司里就都接受了 （丁健，亚信科技（中国）有限公司董事长，1995年回国的海归）
(27)第二要经营，刚才咱们讲了很多“术”方面的问题，怎么样送resume，怎么样去让大家了解自己。 （白刚，光辉国际咨询（北京）有限公司客户总监）
(28)2004年，我跟investor讲，你不能只看现在百度的股票有多么expensive，要看它的foreground，但是还有很多investor miss了一个重要的opportunity。
（李彦宏，百度总裁兼CEO，1999回国创业的海归）
From example 17 to example 27 are the dialogue in the CCTV Program Dialogue in January, 27, 2004. Some of the speakers have studied abroad for years and their over-sea experiences and in other words, they have embodied the English language unconsciously. When they were talking in Chinese they would find it is difficult to speak all with their mother language even they could not express the exactly meaning in Chinese and in English they could express freely. The reason why they speak in a strange way is that during the talking is that they failed to find the correct Chinese characters to communicate the meaning in the first senses. Example 28 is the typical one, which include more English words in the speaking. This kind of speaking can be seen more and more in our life. It is easy to find in these examples that the English influence Chinese’s thought. In the following examples we can see the deeply influence upon Chinese.
(29)但是就是，因为我发了两百多份，得到企业的答复或者面试的机会就相当得少，所以我心里就有一种沉重的感觉。 （刘钊，海归）
(30)留学生已经从卖方市场变成了人才市场的买方市场。 （徐小平）
(31)具体地说，到现在为止，是有一个深圳的单位拒绝了我。 （刘钊）
(32)后来新东方出了十万人民币让她到英国去读教育管理，结果才读了半年，现在需要人才，就特别打电话回来了。 （徐小平）
(33)我觉得跟人际关系没有，你放心，我觉得很多“海归”回来的这些在西方受到了足够时间长的教育，他不大会任人唯亲的。 （丁健）
(34)那么一个月以后，他现在在美国很大的一个顾问公司，找到一个很好的工作。（观众）
In example 29 and 30, there are some mistakes in Chinese grammar and expression. The former is incorrect neither in English nor in Chinese logic, which can be due to the speaker’s habituation of speaking in English who adopted some English logic thinking ways no the corrects but speak it out in Chinese words. In example 31, we can see the speaker’s thinking way is deeply influenced by English, the order is very correct in English and it is strange Chinese expression. We could view the “特别” in example 32 as the mark of English language, Chinese people seldom speaking in that ways. The example 33 is the most typical one to support the evidence that English language influences Chinese thought, the correct Chinese expression is “时间足够长”, as we know, in English the expression is “time enough”, the speaker is more familiar with the English than Chinese for he had studied abroad many years and when he speaking this sentence he thought in an English way. The mistake in example 34’s is time- logic, in Chinese the “一个月以后”and “现在”is wrong to expression the same time point“now”, but it is correct in English.
5. Conclusion
This thesis, through a comparative study of the relationship between language and thought, explores the difference thinking between Chinese and English, as well as the inference that the Chinese thought is influenced by the English language through the language learning and adopting. Language as the carrier of the thought can make its learners receive all its contents, no matter what. This is a hypothesis that English studying could influence Chinese people’s thought in some aspects.
It is certain that my study makes no claim to completeness and further detailed research is left for future work. I hope this subject on how does the English influence Chinese people will be dig deeply by later comers.
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英语新闻标题的阅读理解
英语中性别歧视现象的反映