【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 ty. He was a minor government official for a while and was offered higher office, but declined on the grounds that it would limit his freedom) holds that life and death are a continuous whole。 human should conform to his fate and be calm to death since it is natural. As Chuang Tzu mentions in one of his dialogues, “In the beginning we lack not life only, but form. Not form only, but spirit. We are blended in the one great featureless indistinguishable mass. Then a time came when the mass evolved spirit, spirit evolved form, form evolved life. And now life in its turn has evolved death. For not nature only but man’s being has their season, its sequence of spring and autumn, summer and winter. If someone is tired and has gone to lie down, we do not pursue him with shouting and bowling.” (Birch，1965). So when his wife died, Chuang Tzu did not mourn for her but let his friends find him drumming and singing. And he believed that his wife had lain down to sleep for awhile in the Great Inner Room (another place), thus breaking in upon her rest with the noise of lamentation would but show that he knew nothing of nature’s Sovereign Law(the laws of nature). The philosophy of submitting to the will of heaven and being contented with one’s lot is probably the influence of Taoism. So there es such euphemism: 隱化,羽化,氣散,歸道山,etc.(disappear, ascend to heaven and bee an immortal, breathe one’s last, return to the hill, etc.) And to be immortal is the aim of Taoism, so there is such euphemism:升天,跨鶴,仙逝,駕鶴西游. (ascended to heaven, on Crane, to be among the immortal, journey to the west on Crane). Such euphemism reflects human’s wish to be immortal. Death euphemism and social statusDifferent cultures have different sources for their “death euphemism”. China had been a feudal society for more than 2,000 years and the social classes were distinct from each other. Under the deeprooted influence of Confucianism, Chinese made it clear that there should be an order in everything they do, even in death (Li Siguo, 2001). So in their death euphemism, there are different expressions for people in different social classes:“天子死曰崩,諸侯曰薨,大夫曰卒,士曰不祿,庶人曰死.” (the death of emperor to be called “beng” the heaven falls or collapses。 feudal lords to be called “hong” pass away。 grand master to be called “zu” es to the end, intelligentsia to be called “bu lu” not taking wages forever。 mon people to be called “si” die.)As for the Englishspeaking countries, there also existed feudal classes for quite a long time. But the classes were divided on the basis of their land instead of mere social order like that in the ancient China (Li Siguo, 2001). There was no much difference in death euphemism for different classes. A characteristic feature of death euphemism in English mainly contributed to the diversity of professions in these countries, besides other minute cultures. Look at the following examples:（Li Siguo, 2001）From journals: be cut off, ring off, to ring out From finances and accounts: to pay the debt of nature, to pay one’s last debt, to close up one’s accounts, to set one’s accounts, to cancel one’s accounts, to settle one’s accounts, to put one’s affairs in order, to give/grant the quietus From operas and films: to black out, to switch out the lights, to drop the curtain, to bow off, to bow out, to fade out, to fold(up)the final curtain, curtain(s),be written out of the script, to make one’s final exit From travels: to take a oneway trip/ride, to buy a oneway ticket, to hop the last rattler From old American West: to hang up one’s harness, to hang up one’s hat, to hang up one’s tackle From politics: to go up Salt River Death euphemism and social valuesChinese add great weight on the munity and the whole society. Those who devoted their lives to the society will receive great respect and social recognition. In their eyes, an individual should conform to the social munity and do one’s responsibility to the society. So it is no wonder that Chinese people often say, “it is my duty” instead of “it is my pleasure”, although it is often in fact a pleasure for them. Even in their death euphemism, there are many glorious words, for examples:犧牲,捐軀,殉國(guó),效死,馬革裹尸(to make the ultimate sacrifice , to give one’s body, die for the country, do one’s bit for one’s country, to lay down with one’s shovel),and so on. In contrast, those who died for himself seem deserve mere negative terms:送命,完蛋,見(jiàn)閻王,回老家,翹辮子 (lose one’s life, to the end, go to see the Yama, back to one’s hometown, turn up one’s toes)and so on. People in Englishspeaking countries, in contrast, pay more attention to the individual. They hope the individual should get peace on death. In their eyes, the whole society should try to respect and satisfy the individuals. Most of these countries believe in God, thus they hope they could be with God on death. So in English, there are not so many words for death even in the army. We can see that in