【正文】 ristics. Most cultures have their own individual imprints on word symbols, so the meanings of words are usually culturally determined or modified. However, different nations have their own cultural systems. Influenced by history, geographic region, customs, and habits, etc, people of different cultures will have different associations in the cultural atmosphere. As we know, China and English speaking countries have their own cultures, which affect the differences between Chinese and English deeply. And the differences between Chinese and English also reflect the culture distinctions. Because of the differences in cultures, when they conduct study on words in Chinese and English, they need to connect the study of the Chinese and English cultures. Only in this way can they find out it is the related cultural tradition, cultural 河北工業(yè)大學(xué) 2021 屆?？飘厴I(yè)論文 2 psychology, and social folk customs that account for the differences between Chinese and English. Then the differences in associative meanings of words appear. Therefore, In order to avoid cultural misunderstanding, people should pay attention to the cultural distinction and intercultural awareness. 2. The Importance of Word Associations Language as the keystone of culture is tightly related with culture. Learning a language is inseparable from learning its culture. It is universal that cultures in the world vary, so are the meanings of words. It is clear that people often associate qualities with certain creatures or objects. These qualities often arouse certain reactions or emotions, although there is little or no scientific ground for such association. The qualities that are associated, or the emotions that are aroused, are not always the same with different people. In the process of cognition about vocabulary and culture, the word associations are very useful, since the word associations can better reflect the cultural differences. Similarly, the cultural differences result in different associative meanings. Some lexical images we often meet with in our daily munication inevitably reflect the national customs, thinking models, value attitudes and so on. Sometimes, when some special words appear in a sentence or in a short passage, it is especially difficult for us to understand them because of the cultural gap, and then false interpretation may result. The cultural gap is a hard nut in international munication。在英語學(xué)習(xí)過程中，中西方文化差異和沖突日漸凸現(xiàn)。 ”Here the burning candle is associated with a never changing faith and devotion to love .The image of a candle burning itself to give light to others bees the virtue that is highly valued by the Chinese people. It emphasizes the willingness to sacrifice oneself for others. Although these cultural associations implied in the word “candle” are quite familiar to Chinese people, they are hardly understood by a foreigner without any Chinese cultural background. From the above, it is clear that learning one country’s culture is very helpful for learning its language. When learning a foreign language, people should not only learn the pronunciation, the spelling, the grammar, but also learn to understand its culture, that is to say, they need to learn enough about the language’s culture so that they can municate with native speakers successfully. The relationship between language and culture is so closed, which is most readily seen in words. The system of meanings of words shaped in a particular culture is unique. Sometimes the natives are quite familiar with the cultural message inscribed in some words, while an outsider may fail to understand them, so misunderstanding and other municative obstacles may arise in crosscultural munication. Cultural gap is usually regarded as one of sources of problems to the interpretation in the intercultural munication. People should know the differences in word associations in different cultures in order to succeed in international munication. 河北工業(yè)大學(xué) 2021 屆?？飘厴I(yè)論文 4 3. The Differences of China and English Speaking Countries in Communication The cultural differences between China and other countries can be embodied in various aspects in our daily lives. The most obvious difference can be precented through the following seven points: The Differences of Greeting There is obvious differences in greeting between Chinese and English. Chinese people always say “Have you eaten?”, “Where are you going?” and “What are you going to do?” when they meet each other. But English people like to say “Good morning (afternoon, evening)”, “hello”, “hi”, “How are you?” or “How are things going?” etc. Even that they can use weather to greeting, like: “Lovely weather, isn’t it?” or “It’ s ever so hot today, isn’t it?” English people will be stuck in confusion if we use Chinese greeting on him. Take instance: A young British girl just arrived in Shanghai for work. One day, she went to bank for change her money. The bank clerk asked her: “Did you have your lunch?” She felt surprised because this kind of asking can be judged as an indirect invitation in English society. Meanwhile, foreigner will feel unhappy if they hear such greeting: “Where are you going?” For they think that you are inspect their privacy. Their responds in their mind may be: It’s none of your business. The Differences of Thinking Methods Thinking methods refers to the habits of people39。 To Chinese people, however, the dog 狗 is derogatory term. People have negative attitudes to the animal dog 狗 ,such as 狗頭軍師 (a person who offers bad advice),狗腿子 (henchman),狗仗人勢(shì) (be a bully with the backing of a powerful),狗眼看人低 (be a bloody snob).English customs and habits are different from Chinese ones in many aspects. It is hard for English speakers to understand why 走狗 (