【正文】 ir society, and learning to understand their language of the mind. Learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture. The understanding of the culture background will help the learner to prehend the language and improve the skill to use the language. Christianity and western cultureChristianity is one of the biggest religions in the world. There are more than one billion Christians located in one hundred and fifty countries and areas all over the world. From its appearance till now, Christianity, which has a history of more than two thousand years, has a significant influence on the social lives and political areas in different periods of history（陳麟書，朱森溥，1986：1）． In Christian countries, people have intimate relation with Christianity in their whole life time. When a baby is born, he or she must receive baptism at the church, and their parents use the baby’s name from the Bible. Christians think that the marriage is matched by God, so the wedding should be presided in church by the priest who is behalf of God. When people die, Christian funerals will be held in order to release souls from purgatory and let the dead go to Heaven. As a kind of languages in Christian culture, English, which is deeply influenced by culture, includes all kinds of religious factors. The Bible’s influence on EnglishModern English was formed in the 16th and 17th century, when the Renaissance was pervading in Europe. Under the impact of the Renaissance, people’s racial consciousness awakened. The English humanist, dissatisfied with Latin, the academic language, began to use English to write. Before this, the predecessor of modern English—medieval English was only some disunities of local dialects. The effort of the Humanist and the Classicist in unifying English plays an important role in the transition of medieval English evolved into modern English.However, in the area of academy and literature, their work was limited and had little effect on the society. The most significant thing in effecting the transition of medieval English to modern English was the appearance of the Authorized Version of the Bible, which appeared during the European Reformation. Up to that time, the Bible is written in Latin。莫塞. 英語簡史. 北京: 外語教學與研究出版社, 1990.馮慧研. 美國文化與社會. 上海: 上海外語出版教育出版社, 2002.馮天瑜. 中國文化史綱. 北京: 北京語言學院出版社, 1994.姜廣輝. 試論語言教學中的文化背景. 北京: 中國國際廣播出版社, 1997.梁工. 圣經視閾中的東西方文學. 北京: 中華書局, 2007.王佐良. 翻譯中的文化比較. 北京: 中國對外翻譯出版公司, 1999.趙林. 西方宗教文化. 河北: 武漢大學出版社, 2005.朱永濤. 英美文化基礎教程. 北京: 外語教學研究出版社, 1991. for they feared the people. Then Judas went his way and muned with the chief priests and captains about how he might betray Jesus to them. And they were glad and covenanted to give him money. Judas promised and sought opportunity to betray Jesus to them in the absence of the multitude. When the hour of the dinner came, Jesus sat down with twelve apostles. And while he yet spoke and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near to Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the son of God with a kiss?” Then the chief priests, the captains of the temple and the elders caught Jesus and questioned him. They were instant with loud voice, requiring that Jesus might be crucified. After crucified and mocked by the soldiers, Jesus cried with a loud voice, he said, “Father, into your hands I mend my spirit”. Having said this, he gave up the ghost. The actual meaning of the idiom in western countriesNowadays “Judas” is a synonym of a traitor or quisling and “Judas’ Kiss” means hypocritical and malignant activities. Moses’ staff background of the idiomIn prophet of Judaism, according to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in Egypt to Hebrew parents, who set him afloat on the Nile in a reed basket to save him from an edict calling for the death of all newborn Hebrew males. Found by the pharaoh’s daughter, he was reared in the Egyptian court. After killing a brutal Egyptian taskmaster, he fled to Midian, where Yahweh (God) revealed himself in a burning bush and called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. With the help of his brother Aaron, Moses pleaded with the pharaoh for the Israelites’ release. The pharaoh let them go after God had visited a series of plagues on Egypt, but then sent his army after them. God parted the waters of the Red Sea to allow the Israelites to pass, and