爱护公共财物白色在英汉语言中的文化差异及翻译

2021年1月13日发(作者：陶炜)
People of different countries often react differently towards the same colour as a
result of their different cultural traditions and social systems. The purpose of colour
words tradition is to break through language barriers, to achieve and promote cultural
exchange. This paper mainly studies the cultural differences of “white” and how to deal
with them in tradition, so that cross-culture communication can be improved between
English and Chinese nations.
Key words:
White Cultural Connotations Culture Differences Translation
As the saying goes that each place has its own way of supporting its own
inhabitants. In addition to the basic and literal meaning of the words in different cultural
connotations, it has brought about many unimaginable connotations that are closely
related to the cultural and national traditions.
When it comes to the most favorable colour in England, white can certainly be the
one out of doubt. There are many aspects presenting people’ reference to this colour.
As to the English nation, white has the meaning of purity, loveliness, innocence, and so
on. In some necessary circumstances, we may have no choice but to make up a “white
lie” to prevent others from being hurt by the reality. This is truly out of the speaker’ s
kindness, and usually can be understood or even be grateful to. For example, a white
soul means pure soul, which originates from a story in the Bible. The angel is born with
a pair of white wings and a argenteous aura overflowing above her head. As a matter of
fact, the word angel becomes a symbol of innocent and lovely person in literature
works.
Moreover, as white symbolizes purity, it can be further recognized as fairness,
justice, honesty and integrity. Let’s take “white light” for example, it is merely the
meaning of a fair judgment. If an English teacher says that she will treat you white, you
need not to be scared as she is to treat you fairly. Be a honest man and you will be
likely to get the praise that it is very white of you. This usage can often seen in
American silent films in the early time, where white hat means a man of integrity.
Since white is widely used to describe a personality of honesty and integrity, how
can we understand it in economic life? To state the obvious, white can speak for
fashion. As a pure and elegant colour, it has been leading a popular trend in Europe,
North America and Australia. In addition to people’s crazy adoration of white, we can
also use it as a derogatory term on particular occasions. Rather typically, white feather,
originating from the cockfighting in the west, can modify a personality of cowardice and
incompetence. Provided that a cock is born with white feather in its rump，it can be
defined to be a cowardly and not aggressive enough to win. In this sense, we can
manage to figure out that white elephant represents something cumbersome and to
which you pays a lot but can hardly benefit from it.
Compared with its connotations in English nation, Chinese people’ affection go
even farther than them. Ancient people often use white to symbolize lightness, because
it shares the same colour as clouds and white jade. In the field of economy, white can
also be taken as fairness and legality. For example, white income, apparent and legal,
means the main source of their income that people make a living from. If a commodity
sells at a obviously unreasonable price, we may have it in mind that this shop is very
profiteering.(in Chinese ,黑店). Therefore, on the contrary, the definition ‘white market’
appears in order to define the fairness and legality of a market. What’s more, white road
means a proper way, as well as the road that students will be on to acquire higher
academic achievements after graduating from university.
Though affected it may appears, white is a colour of deeper derogatory word in
Chinese culture. More often than not, it gives people an image that is pale, bloodless
and lifeless. Especially on happy occasions, we should take it very seriously. You will
absolutely not be accepted if you are in white when attending a wedding ceremony,
resulting from the long-time rooted belief that white is an exclusive colour on happy
occasions.
Furthermore white contains a meaning of failure. In wartime , the defeated one
always raise a white flag to show surrender. Now, let’s search our memory to the history
of Qin Dynasty. Realizing the fact that the whole Forbidden City would be soon
conquered by LiuBang, the emperor ZiYing together with wife wore in white and sat on
a white carriage wagoned by a white horse to surrender. Thus ended the govern of Qin
Dynasty.
In the 1960s, white means deviating the right direction. And then, the word
white special road came into existence, referring to a action that attaches little attention
to politics and merely strive for professional skills.
As Chinese, we should have a knowledge of Beijing Opera, the quintessence
of Chinese culture. Facial makeup is a specific makeup should be highlighted. In the
Chinese traditional Beijing opera, a character whose face is painted white is rough and