【正文】 t affection, as a result, the symbolic meaning of the animals vary greatly.The cattle had once done great contributions to Chinese agriculture in history, sothere emerged idioms concerning this animal, such as “力大如牛”，“倔犟如牛”，“鞭打快?！?，etc. For the English, horse is used as an important tool whose merits and contributions are outstanding. Consequently, there are equivalent idioms having the same meaning as Chinese idioms in English, such as “as strong as a horse”, “as stubborn as a mule” and “The horse that draws best is most whipped.” Besides, the British advocate horsemanship. They like raising horses and holding horseraces. Thus there are a great number of idioms concerning horse, such as: “dark horse”, “eat like a horse”, as close as an oyster“守口如瓶”。 more or less(或多或少) , penny wise, pound foolish(小事聰明,大事糊涂)”, etc. “Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in succession”[2], which sounds continual and is easy to read and to remember. Both English and Chinese idioms take full advantages of the means, so that they could be passed down from generation to generation. Let’s look at some examples.In Chinese there are “恍恍惚惚，紅紅火火,乒乒乓乓” ,etc. In English there are also “ as cool as a cucumber”(泰然自若), “as busy as a bee” (忙個不停), “tit for tat”(以牙還牙), “as thick as thieves” (非常親密,要好), “sing a song of sixpence”, “ ‘part and parcel’(主要部分)， ‘might and main’ (竭盡全力)”, [3] “Money makes the mare go.” (有錢能使鬼推磨) , etc.Through the above examples, we may well see that both English and Chinese idioms are popular by this means. Rhyme“Rhyme is the sameness of sound between words or syllable”[4], which sounds very beautiful. Some English and Chinese idioms use this method as well to achieve the acoustic enjoyment. For example:In Chinese, there are “從善如登，從惡如崩、不經(jīng)一事，不長一智、差之毫厘，繆以千里、失之東隅，收之桑榆”, etc. , which use the means of rhyme. In English, we also can find it in “ A friend in need is a friend indeed.” , “Beggars can’t be choosers.” , “East or west, home is the best.” , “Health is better than wealth.” , “ ‘a(chǎn)s snug as a bug in a rug’ (舒舒服服)， ‘high and dry’(孤立無援), ‘by hook or by crook’(不擇手段)” [5] ,etc. Both English and Chinese idioms that use this rhetorical means are of tinkling and jingling sounds. Not only are they easy to remember, but also it seems that we are reading a beautiful short poem.In rhetorics, “repetition is a monly seen rhetorical device, which usually repeats a sentence or part of sentence at both the beginning and end of long sentences, stanzas, or paragraphs. The main function of repetition is to emphasize the key points.”[6] Both English and Chinese idioms use this method to achieve the emphatic effect. The examples are like the following:In Chinese, there are “喜氣洋洋，多多益善，沾沾自喜，泱泱大風，姍姍來遲，亭亭玉立，想入非非，落落大方，種瓜得瓜，種豆得豆”etc. In English, there are “measure for measure” (一報還一報), “ step by step” (循序漸進), “neck and neck”（并駕齊驅）, “diamond cut diamond”（棋逢對手）, sayings。 translation【摘 要】習語通常包括成語、俗語、格言、歇后語、諺語、俚語、行話等。因此對英語讀者和漢語讀者來說，做到徹底精確地理解蘊含深刻文化內(nèi)涵的習語的翻譯是相對比較困難的。 colloquialisms?！癆ntithesis is the deliberate arrangement of contrasting words or ideas in balanced structural forms to achieve force and emphasis. The form of the expression is very important for effect, for the force of the emphasis, whether for profundity of judgment, for humor or for satire, depends chiefly on the juxtaposition of direct opposites, of glaring contrasts.”[7] Many idioms, both English and Chinese, adopt this device, too. The examples below illustrate the point: ‘順藤摸瓜’ （its original meaning is to follow the vine to get the melon。 “we often translate lion into ‘虎’ in English translation, such as ‘a(chǎn) lion in the way’(攔路虎), ‘place oneself in the lion’s mouth’(深入虎穴)”,etc.[12] Different cognitions of colors There are three kinds of basic colors: red, yellow and blue. Colors are cognized mainly through the seven kinds of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple in the spectrum. Due to the different countries’ historical backgrounds, geographical locations, customs and traditions, people have diverse cognitions of colors, so the idioms rising under the conditions reflect such regional differences.Taking “red” and “white” for example, in western countries, red is regarded as brutality and unluckiness. Red means bleeding. So there appears some having derogatory and taboo color words, such as “red skin（對印第安人的鄙夷稱呼），red tape（繁文縟節(jié)，官僚習氣）,in the red（虧損）,out of red（扭虧為盈）, red alert（空襲、緊急警報）, red cock（縱火引起的火災）, red cent（毫無價值的事物）etc.” [13] While in China, red means luck and joy. There are many Chinese idioms obviously having plimentary sense, such as開門紅 (get off to have a good start), 紅顏薄命 (a beautiful girl has an unfortunate life), 紅運當頭(have a good luck), 紅光滿面 (in the pink), 紅男綠女(gaily dressed young men and women), 紅得發(fā)紫(extremely popular), 紅極一時（enjoy popularity for a time）, 紅裝素裹（clad in white, adorned in red）,etc.People in western countries look upon white as the symbol of purity, as well as some implications of racial discrimination. The westerners are white people who entrust extremely noble symbol to white. In English there are：white hat（好人），white lies （善意的謊言）， whiteheaded boy（寵兒），the white hope（帶來榮譽的人），white slavery（逼良為娼——西方人認為白種人不能做奴隸），etc. However it is different in China. In Chinese’s eyes, white stands for funeral and revolt, which has derogatory color. For example, there are白日做夢(indulge in wishful thinking), 白費口舌(waste one’s breath),一窮二白(poor and blank),白忙乎(in vain) ,白字連篇(reams of wrong characters), 白云蒼狗(white clouds change into grey dogsthe changes in human affairs often take freakish forms)etc. Different cognitions of numeralsNumeral worship and taboo exist both in eastern and western courtiers, however, the people in the two countries have totally different cognitions of numerals.In the west, “13” is regarded as an unlucky number, owing to the story in the Bible that Jesus Christ was betrayed by his 13th disciple Judas. “666” sy