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1 Introduction “Language and culture，intrinsically dependent on each other，have evolved together through the history.”（Claire Kramsch，1998）“On one hand，language as an integral part of human bEing，permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world，language both expresses and embodies cultural reality. On the other，language，as a product of culture，helps permeate the culture，and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return”.（Claire Kramsch，1998）Language is the base of entire culture，and it is only in language that culture can be wellpresented and handed down from generation to generation. On the other hand，language is influenced and shaped by culture；it reflects language. Language reflects characteristics of culture and predicts the developing orientation of culture. 2 Comparison of the Symbolic Meanings of Animals in Chinese and Western Cultures 2.1 Similar Symbolic Meanings of Animals As the ecological environments of human life are roughly similar，people in China and the West will naturally produce the same or similar association，giving the same significance of the animal words when they understand animals from the basic attributes of the animals. For example，in Chinese，fox is the synonym for cunning and craftiness. When people use such phrases like as cunning as “a fox”，“old fox” to describe a person，they often consider him or her sly and tactful. In English speaking countries，fox is also associated with this kind of meaning. 2.2 Different Symbolic Meanings of Animals A few of animals have the same or similar symbolic meanings both in China and the West，but it is well known that the majority of animals are different in the symbolic meanings because of the different cultural backgrounds. Now，I’ll give several peculiar animals to testify my view. 2.2.1 Dragon and Phoenix Dragon has come to be regarded as the symbol of China and the Chinese，and China is called huge dragon of East. In China，the traditional symbols of royalty are the dragon and phoenix. The dragon stands for the emperor and the phoenix for the queen. Besides，as an auspicious creature that supposedly brings good luck，the dragon gave rise to the saying that parents“wang zi cheng long”—long to see one’s son become a dragon，that is，to be successful. (责任编辑：admin) |