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1、AComparativeStudyofEnglishandChineseIdiom Idiomsaretheimportantpartofalanguage.Asalanguageform,idiomshasitsowncharacteristicandpatternsandareusedinhighfrequencywhetherinwrittenlanguageororallanguagebecauseidiomscanconveyahostoflanguageandculturalinformationwhe
2、npeoplechattoeachother. Whatdoidiomsmean?Differentexpertshavedifferentopinionsanddefinitionstoidioms.Somepeopleconsideridiomsasquintessenceofalanguage.Othersregardthemastreasuryofalanguage.Thesestatementsincertaindegreereflecttheidioms'characteristics,butcan't
3、beregardedasidioms'definition. Itisdifficulttogiveacleardefinitiontoidioms.First,peopleareoftenconfusedwiththeirscope,contentandform.Second,expertshavedifferentopinionsabouthowtodivideidiomsfromnarrowsenseandgeneralsense.Whatkindoflanguageexpressionreallybelon
4、gstoidioms.Allofthesecausesbringdifficultytodefineaidiom.Maybeowingtothosecauses,theword“idiom”evenhasn'tbeencollectedinsuchauthoritivereferencebooksasModernChineseDictionaryandCihai(辞海).However,someEnglishDictionariesgive“idiom”avarityofdefinitions.Forexample
5、,LongmanActiveEnglish-ChineseDictionary(1990)definesanidiomas“aphrasewhichmeanssomethingdifferentfromthemeaningsoftheseparatewords”.TheconciseOxfordDictionary(2000)givessuchadefinitionas“agroupofwordsestablishedbyusageandhavingameaningnotdeduciblefromthoseofth
6、eindividualwords”.LongmanDictionaryofcontemporaryEnglish(1998)givesthedefinitive“aphrasewhichmeanssomethingdifferentfromthemmeaningsoftheseparatewordsfromwhichitisformed”.AndWebster'sNewWorldDictionaryoftheAmericanlanguage(2ndcollegeedition,1972)givesthisdefin
7、ition“anacceptedphrase,construction,orexpressioncontrarytothepatternsofthelanguagehavingameaningdifferentfromthelanguageorhavingadifferentfromtheliteral”. Accordingtoalltheabovementioned“idiom”isaphraseoragroupofwordsapprovedbypeopleandhasuniqueform.Itsmeaning
8、isdifferentfromtheliteral.Ingeneralsense,thescopeofEnglishandChineseidiomsincludes,setphrasecommonsayings,proverbs,idiomaticphrases,slang,atwo-partallegoricalandallusion,andsoon. A
