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.
Bibliography
[1]赵洪恩,李宝席. 中国传统文化通论[M]. 人民出版社, 2003,5 P423
[2]同[1]P423
[3]周义,徐志红. 中西文化比较[Z]. 人民教育出版社, 2004,8 P344
[4]毛立群.大学英语短语.习语.谚语词典[Z]. 上海外语教育,2004,10 P588-590
[5]北京外国语大学 英语系词典组. 汉英词典[Z]. 外语教学与研究出版社, 2002,4 P534
[6]同[4] P588-590
[7]同[4] P590
[8]同[5] P1391
[9]同[4] P590
[10]同[5] P1183
[11]同[4] P74
[12]同[5] P934
[13]同[4] P588-589
[14]同[4] P588-589
[15] 张勇先.实用英语惯用法教程 [z]. 中国人民大学出版社,1998,7 P40
[16]同[4] P94
[17]同[4] P209-210
[18]同[5] P280
[19]同[5] P655
[20]同[5] P835
[21]同[5] P1461
[22]同[5] P500
[23]侯宁海. 英语惯用词语表解手册[z]. 南京大学出版社,2003,9 P150
[24]同[15] P41
[25]As. Hornby. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (Fourth edition)[Z]. 商务印书馆, 2002,1 P154
[26]平洪,张国扬. 英语习语与英美文化[M]. 外语教学与研究出版社, 2000,1 P53-54
[27]同[26] P46
[28]徐行言. 中西文化比较[z]. 北京大学出版社,2004,9 P40
[29]同[3] P165
[30]同[5] P1253
[31]同[5] P1024
[32]同[5] P1197
[33]同[3] P936
[34]同[3]P339
[35]李赋宁.英语史 [M].商务印书馆1993.P3
[36]Gerry Knowles. A Culture History of the English Language[M]. 北京大学出版社, 2004,12 P19
[37]同[3] P339
[38]同[4] P588
[38]同[4] P74
[39]英语专业毕业
[40]同[1] P422
[41]同[5] P115
[42]同[5] P1253
[43]同[5] P76
[44]同[5] P614
[45]同[3] P340
[46]同[3] P334
[47]同[25] P154
[48]同[4] P209
[49]同[4] P209
[50]同[4] P210
[51]同[3] P47
英语委婉语-交际功能
法语对英语的影响