摘要：白色这个颜色词，最初是人类直接用来描绘霜雪的颜色。这种颜色与人们的生活紧密相关，而且被赋予了各种文化内涵。它也是人类认识整个世界的重要领域之一。由于历史文化背景不同，白色在英汉民族之间的文化内涵存在差异。白色含义复杂多样，在汉语中有褒贬之分，在英语中也是如此。通过对比英汉两种语言中有关白色的词汇，我们可以了解白色在不同文化背景下的文化内涵。分析这些文化之间的异同点，并探究英汉两种语言相互转化时直译与意译的互译策略，这种方式有利于中西文化之间的交流与融合，能够促进跨文化的言语交际。

关键词：白色；内涵；文化差异；翻译

Abstract：White as color terms, is used to describe directly the frost snow at first made by human beings. In that case, this kind of color is closely bound up and inseparable with man's life and has been given a variety of content and meanings for different nations. Therefore, it is one of the most important areas to know the world. Due to the disparities of historical and cultural background, there are differences of white between English and Chinese in cultural connotations. In Chinese, the implication of white is full of versatility, complexity and judgments, so is in English. Compared with those lexical words of white in two languages, we can understand the connotations of white under the perse countries, analyze their cultural similarities and dissimilarities and explore the literal and free translation methods in mutual transformation. These methods are conducive to cultural exchange and integration among various peoples, thus promoting cross-culture communication.

Key words: white; connotation ; cultural persity; translation

Contents

摘 要 i

Abstract ii

I. Introduction 1

II. Connotations of White in Chinese and English Culture 2

 2.1 Connotations of White in Chinese Culture 2

 2.2 Connotations of White in English Culture 3

III. The Similarities and Discrepancies of White 5

 3.1 The Similarity in the Connotation 6

 3.2 The Disparities in Geographic Environment 7

 3.3 Ethnic Discrepancies in Psychology 8

 3.4 Political Differences in English and Chinese Systems. 9

IV. The Various Translation Ways of White in English and Chinese 10

 4.1 The Same White Meaning in Literal Translation 11

 4.2 The Free Translation between Chinese and English 11

 4.3 Literal Translation Combined with Annotation 12

V. Conclusion 13

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgements 16

A Brief Analysis of the Cultural Connotions of White in Chinese and English and Its Translation

I. Introduction

Human life is gorgeous and colorful, which is like a glass of red wine and those passionate lovers will discover inexhaustible delight. If one holds the wine in his hand and observes it carefully, its dark red color will give the feeling of the blood, which is the sign of life. From what has been mentioned, we are aware of the red color and its superficial meaning. Thus it can be seen that red color are bound to its certain connotations in Chinese and English, and the white color follows suit. We may have a different sense of emotion in different cultural background and word has it that social linguists have a common consensus that language and culture are closely correlated.   Therefore, it may have communication misunderstandings and ambiguities resulting       from cultural differences. Language, an indispensable part of culture, is also the carrier and container of culture, which could deliver all kinds of information about culture, but to some extent carrying on restricts to show the culture. For instance, different language enjoys its characteristics of their own nation traditional culture. To put it in another way, it not only has ethnic histories and cultural traditions, but also contains the world view, view of life, values and way of thinking which can gain from various language mappings. To sum up, language pulges various cultural connotations. As the Chinese saying goes :" the natives are sustained by the local soil and water, and in turn, they are    influenced by their customs and manners”. Apart from its basic literal meaning in cultural connotations of two different nations, it may produce many connotations which are far more beyond our imagination related to other cultures and traditions. It is crucial for those language learners and communicators to learn the cultural differences between the two countries. And it is obvious that we have to master the unique cultural connotation respectively in English and Chinese which offers us a perfect solution to perse problems we may encounter in our real life about cultural translation.