【正文】 In western countries, people always associate it with evil or criminal force, such as “as blind as a bat”, “crazy as a bat”, “a bit batty”, “have bats in the belfry” (indulge in the wildest fantasy). These expressions all have a distinct derogatory sense. On the contrary, in Chinese traditional culture, the bat stands for health, happiness and good luck, because the characters “蝠” and “福”, “紅蝠” and “洪?！?have quite similar form and structure(Net. 2). What’s more, they also have the same pronunciation. “福” refers to good fortune in China. So Chinese people often use the character and image of “蝠” to make a blessing. Commendatory sense in English but obvious derogatory sense in ChineseThere are some animals that have a mendatory sense in English but have an obvious derogatory sense in Chinese. “Dog” is a classic example that shows the difference between Chinese and English cultures. Western people all like dogs. In their opinion, dogs are friends of human. It stands for loyalty, smartness, and importance.In English, “an old dog” can be used as “a senior citizen”。本文在這文化交流背景下對(duì)這兩種語(yǔ)言中的動(dòng)物詞匯的文化內(nèi)涵進(jìn)行了詳細(xì)的比較。由于人類(lèi)和動(dòng)物關(guān)系如此親密，使得人類(lèi)對(duì)動(dòng)物產(chǎn)生喜愛(ài)、同情、厭惡、恐懼等錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的情感, 人們也常常借動(dòng)物來(lái)寄托和表達(dá)人的感情, 所以在英漢兩種文化中都有許許多多與動(dòng)物相關(guān)的詞匯。clear the differences of cultures between English and Chinese in order to correctly understand cultural connotations of words. This thesis makes a detailed parison of cultural connotations of animal words in these two languages in the background of cultural munication. This thesis tries to discuss the cultural connotations of animal words in English and Chinese from the following aspects: the cultural background of animal words。因此，這就產(chǎn)生了誤解、文化沖擊等跨文化交流中應(yīng)該克服的障礙。 the cultural connotations of the same animal words in English and Chinese。 “cold turkey” means “stop suddenly” or “get rid of something pletely”. The expression “have a turkey on his back” does not mean that one is carrying a turkey. In fact, it means “he is drunken or he takes drugs”. In China, “turkey” is only a bird that can be made as a dish. “Oyster” earns its special meaning by its natural character. In English, the best oyster is always close tightly. So people in English use “oyster” to describe someone who is taciturn. A goat in English refers to a person who always does sexual harassment towards women. “White elephant” refers to an image of ordinary elephant in Chinese. However, in English it refers to huge but clumsy and useless things. Besides, there are many other animals like “nightingale”, “chicken” and “eel”, which Chinese people just consider as mon animals. “Nightingale” has a meaning of “informer” (Liao Guangrong, 2000). “Chicken” means “coward”. And “eel” means “a sly person”, so we can find the phrase “as slippery as an eel” in English. 4. The cultural connotations of different animal words for the same meaning in English and ChineseIn English and Chinese, different animal words have the same or similar connotations. That means people from two cultures respectively use different animal words to express the same meanings. These words show that people in different cultures understand objects by the same means and the phenomenon is related to history and aesthetic appreciations to some extent. There are hundreds of examples. In Chinese, we usually use the phrase “他壯得跟頭牛似的” to describe a strong man. That’s because “bull” or “ox” stands for strength, robustness and sturdiness. But in most western countries, “horse” takes the most important role in their farming. So English speakers prefer to use “horse” instead of “bull” to express the same meaning. “壯得跟頭牛似的” in English is “as strong as a horse”(Wang Sheng, 2006). When English people describe someone who brags, they use the phrase “talk horse”, while in Chinese, we say “吹?！? English people usually use “I am so hungry to eat a horse” to express the meaning “我餓得可以吃下一頭?！?(Weng Sheng, 2006). The saying in English “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” is similar to “老牛不喝水,不能強(qiáng)壓頭” in Chinese.Chinese people usually use “mouse” to describe a person who is timid. It is different from English countries. In English, they describe a timid person as “chicken”, “rabbit”, and “pigeon” such as “as timid as a rabbit”, “don’t be scared, chicken”, “he took the plunge when others chickened out” and “he is pigeonlivered”. In English, they may use the idiom “l(fā)ike a cat on hot bricks” when they want to describe a vexatious person. In Chinese, we will use another animal word “螞蟻”, such as “熱鍋上的螞蟻”.In China, people consider that “tiger” is the king of animals. And “tiger” is used to describe the intrepid and martial man. We have many words about “tiger” such as “龍騰虎躍”, “虎踞龍?bào)础?and “九牛二虎之力”. But in English, “l(fā)ion” stands for being brave and ficerce, for example, “bold as a lion”(如獅子般勇猛), “majestic as a lion”(如獅子般威風(fēng)凜凜). There is an old saying in Chinese “老虎屁股摸不得”, while in English, people use “don’t beard the lion” or “one should not twist the lion’s tail” to express the same idea. “A lion in the way” has the same meaning as “攔路虎” in Chinese. Furthermore, Chinese people use “狐假虎威” to describe someone who browbeats others by virtue of one’s powerful connections. In English, people use “an ass in the lion’s skin” to show the same meaning. “A drowned cat” in English has a similar meaning to the expression “落湯雞” in Chinese. We use the image of “pig” to describe stupidity in Chinese, but in English, they say “as stupid as a goose” or “make an ass of oneself”. In Chinese, we have a saying “噤若寒蟬” which appear in English as “as mute as fish”. There are a great many examples of this kind, such as:Like a duck to water (如魚(yú)得水)A rat in a hole (甕中之鱉)Lock the stable door after the horse is stolen (亡羊補(bǔ)牢)Kill the goose that lays golden eggs (殺雞取卵)Set the cat among the pigeon (引狼入室)Slippery as an eel (滑得像泥鰍)(. Wood, 1989: 3044)According to all the examples above, some animals represent the same or similar images and have similar connotations. Different cultural