oars” into Chinese will be (暂时歇一歇) ;“to keep one?s head above water”(奋力图存); “all at sea”(不知所措) and so on.
In the atmosphere of Chinese culture, “east wind” is the spring breeze, and summer always being related with torridness. Proverbs as “broiling sun” “the sun blazes like a ball of fire” are words described summer. While England located in the western hemisphere. It locates on the north temperate zone. The marine climate make “west wind” to report the spring is coming. The famous English poet Shelly wrote To the West Wind to eulogize the spring. Summer in England is very warm and fragrance. It is very comfortable. The words as “cute” “mild” “fragrant” always related to the summer in England. Shakespeare assimilated his lover to summer in his sonnet. For example “Shall I compare thee to a summer?s day/ thou art more lovely and more temperate”.
As England is an island country, there are a lot of idioms related to water and fish. For example : “all hands to the pumps” (所有人都去抽水)，it means that the situation is very dangerous and everybody must go all out; “like a fish out of water”(像离水之鱼)，it refers to a person in the unfamiliar environment and feeling uneasy; “drink like a fish”(像鱼那样喝水)means someone can drink a lot; “a big fish in a little pond”(小池塘里的大鱼)means a person who is famous in a small range or a giant among the dwarfs. While Chinese can?t live without earth, there are a great number idioms related to the agriculture, for example “五谷丰登” means “abundant harvest of food crops”; 挥金如土 means “spends money like water”; “种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆” means “as you sow, you shall mow”;面如土色 refers to “one?s face turned white” and so on. ⑹ 2.2. Religious faith and myth
A great number of English believe in Christianization. There are lots of idioms came from the Bible and works of Shakespeare. Meantime under the influence of Greece and Roman culture, there are also idioms came out of myth in Greece and roman culture. For example “the apple of one?s eye(掌上明珠)” came out of the Old Testament poem; “an eye for an eye ,a tooth for a tooth”(以眼还眼，以牙还牙) came out of Old Testament Deuteronomy ; sour grapes (酸葡萄) came out of Aesop?s Fables; “one?s pound of flesh(某人的一磅肉)” refers to a legal but unreasonable require which came out of The Merchant of Venice written by Shakespeare.
In China, before the Sui and Tang dynasty, Confucianism and Taoism are in the dominant
position. Chinese people mainly believe in Buddhism and Taoism. We piously worship the deity. Buddhism has spread to china almost one thousand years, and people believe that Lord Buddha controls everything, so in Chinese language, there are idioms root in Buddhism and temple, for example “借花献佛（present Buddha with borrowed flowers）”; “临时抱佛脚(take measures only when in urgency)”.⑺ Some idioms are come out of legend and master pieces, for example “八仙过海，各显神通(everyone has his/her own strong point )”; “精卫填（Jingwei determines to fill up the sea）”(came out of the Classic of Mountains and Rivers).
From a global scale is concerned, Christianism has more influencing on English than any other religion. It has great number of Christian and a large range. Since 597 the Christian was brought to England, great many of terms related to Christian was emerged in English in succession. For instance, “angel, monk, creature, deluge, religion, dean” are the words related to Christian. Some English idioms carried with dense religious color, for instance, Nature does nothing in vain.(造物主无所不能) ;God helps those who help themselves.（上帝帮助自助的人）⑻ in the right church, but in the wrong pew.(进对了教堂，但坐错了椅子)means that the whole are right, but details are wrong.⑼ Nowadays many idioms in English are come out of Bible. For example, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.(心有余而力不足)” “a fly in the ointment(美中不足)”. Some oral English sentence expressed emotion, as Lord blesses me (my soul); By God; Go to hell”. Love is blind(爱情是盲目的).
No respect of persons(一视同仁). Man propose, God dispose(谋事在人，成事在天). The regional of the proverbs are very different. Except the above, there are idioms come from Latin and France and so on. Some of them even kept the original text, for example, Cherchez la femme(找出祸水). This is a idiom that occurred in the form of France in English. However Chinese proverbs absorbed a great many of minority idioms, for example, “劣行四十年仍会败露”， this idiom came from Uygur proverbs.
2.3. Historical development
A national history is the truthful record of her society development. It contains abundant culture heritage, meanwhile bring idioms a deep brand. For instance, England had been invaded by the Roman, Teuton (contain Angles Saxons Jutes ), and had built colony in North American, but in the two world wars England played very important role. These historical things would be reflected in the idioms. For example “All roads lead to Rome(条条大路通罗马)” ，means
treading different paths that lead to the same destination. It is influenced by Roman. “the cold war(冷战)” （the political influence from the second world war between American and Russian）; “the fifth column(第五纵队)” means the spy sent by the enemy (a troop operating from within in coordination with outside forces in the Spain civil war the prelude of the second world war); “the most-favored nation treatment (最惠国待遇)” refers to the economic effect in America and England. In Chinese language ,there are also many idioms related closely to the history. They have obvious characteristics of cultural trait. For instance , “说曹操曹操到（speak of the devil and he appears）” , it is from a story during the Three Kingdoms; “暗度陈仓（imply something going in secret）” ,which is a story between Xiangyu and Liu bang; “望梅止渴（to suppress thirstiness by looking at green plums）”; “请君入瓮（to punish one in the way one thought up by himself）” , it is a story in Tang Dynasty ; “跳槽（job hopping）”, it is a word during the time of reform and open. “下海(go in to business)”, a story during the time of reform and open.
Due to the diversity of each country and national history development, there is diversity of tradition formed in the old times. Chinese traditional culture put emphases on Confucian. Confucian had profound and remote impact on Chinese society during the progress of the two-thousand-years feudal society. The basic character is that the “golden mean” （中庸之道）was made the basic norm of behavior. The temporal relationship was the core of Confucian. All of these give expression to the cultural character of groupment. Through the harmonious ethics consciousness, it realized self-affirmation on culture and society. The golden mean and harmony are advocated ideas in the traditional Chinese culture. They proposed deny self and return to propriety about themselves, and conducted themselves in society based on the impartial and harmonious rules. These ideas are reflected in some idioms and proverbs. For instance, suffer losses is good fortuneness, with good intention toward others (吃亏是福，与人和善). The long rafter ruin first (出头的椽子先烂). Do not give other the thing you do not want (己所不欲，勿施于人). Days are not better than the favorable geographical position which are not good as being people(天时不如地利，地利不如人和). But Heaven Phase Separation is core of the western traditional culture. They advocated individualism as the centre. They advertised individuality are the most important. They tried their best to express and develop themselves. They strived to become stronger and support themselves. Take an example: “individualism” is used very often in English, and it was translated to Chinese 个人主义，利己
主义。 Thus people make an mistake. Chinese think it is a derogatory word, but actually individualism is a commendatory term in western culture. It can be translated to Chinese 个体主义或个性主义. 而利己主义 should be translated to “selfish”.
In China, the traditional view of respecting the elders always be advocated. “某老” express the respect of someone in Chinese. For instance “李老” “张老”“老先生”“老爷爷”“老领导”，but in the western countries people do not use “old” to express their respect and nor they use “old” to call the elders. American and English people do not like being called “old”. In western if you see an old lady crossing a street , do not buttress her and say: “you are so old ,let me help you.” In their mind , “old” means useless or burden of society. It means having one foot in the grave or doing to die. Compare to “old”, they prefer to be called “senior citizens”. And another instance, if western people do not know the history culture of China, they will confused the meaning of “凤凰涅槃”“生死轮回”“八卦”“阴阳”and so on.
There are proverbs derived from the classical allusions. In Chinese ancient books and records, most of idioms occurred in the poets, legend, and the philosophers? works. These idioms with brief structure and profound meaning, are meaningful and reminding to people. For example, “名落孙山” “叶公好龙”were come out from history allusions. “他山之石，可以攻玉” of The Book of Song, and the famous sentence“学而时习之，不亦乐乎” “有朋自远方来，不亦说乎？” of The Analects are come from the classic works. But the English idioms mainly had the following sources. First, they came out of The Bible. For example, “We are all Adam?s children(我们都是亚当的子孙)”；second, they come out of Roman and Greek mythology, for instance, Pandora?s box(潘多拉之盒) are the resource of disaster, trouble, and scourge. Third, some of them came out of Aesop?s Fables, for example, a dog in the manger (狗占马槽，站着茅坑不拉屎).⑽ Fourth , they derived from works of Shakespeare and other literature master. For example, “Brevity is the soul of wit(简洁是智慧的灵魂)⑾ Certainly their sources are not single English literature, but multiple sources. In addition to the above mentioned, there are western European languages? idioms. For example, “all happy families resemble one another, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way(幸福的家庭彼此相似，不幸的家庭各有各的不幸)”. This famous sentence came out from Anna card column Nina written by Leo Tolstoy. “Don?t put the cart before the horse(不要本末倒置)” came out of the France.