【正文】 e lion’s mouth” and “e in like a lion and go out like a lamb”. “Horse” appears more frequently in English idioms, and “ox” is always replaced by “horse” in English. For example, “talk horse” (talk big), “as strong as a horse” (as strong as an ox), “horse laugh” (laugh loudly)。 their posterities were called as “龍種” (dragon children). In China, we may often hear that Chinese parents expect their son bee a “dragon” (expect one’s child can have a bright future) (Luo Aifeng, 2006). However, the liberal translation sounds ridiculous to native English speakers, because they think dragon is an evil monster which can spit fire and has three to nine heads. In English culture, “dragon” is always used to describe fierceness especially for women. For example, “she is a dragon, you’d better keep away from her” (she is a badtempered person).Chinese nation and English nation share a same habit of raising dogs. In Chinese culture, “dog” is a derogatory animal word and is endowed with ugly things. For example, “act like a snob” (狗眼看人低), “mistake a good man for a bad one” (狗咬呂洞賓，不識好人心), “a filthy mouth can not utter decent language” (狗嘴里吐不出象牙). However, “dog” symbolizes friendship, sincerity and loyalty in English culture. For example, “l(fā)ove me, love my dog”, “every dog has his day” (every person will some day succeed of bee fortunate), “to let sleeping dog lie” (to make no trouble or not to disturb people), “a lucky dog” (a lucky man), “a jolly dog” (a happy person), “a clever dog” (a clever man), “a top dog” (a person has advantages in doing some things), “not have a dog’s chance” (have no chance), “a good dog deserves a good bone” (a man who makes a contribution should be rewarded) and “l(fā)ike a dog with two tails” (very happy).In Chinese culture, owl, the animal which always shouts and cries at night, is considered to be an animal which will bring unluckiness and misfortune. In English culture, “owl” is regarded as the symbol of wisdom. If one says you are owlish, it means that you are clever and strict. “As wise as an owl” indicates that the native English speakers associate wisdom with owl. Another example can be provided, “he peered owlishly at us through his glasses”.In Chinese traditional culture, “bat” is a symbol of happiness, because “蝠” and “?！?are homonyms. And red bat is a sign of luckiness, because “紅蝠” and “洪?！?are also homonyms. In some cases, Chinese people bine “bat” and “deer” together in order to get “蝠鹿”, which has the same pronunciation with “福祿”. And it means happiness and good fortune (蔣磊, 2000). However, the Westerners are afraid of bat. They dislike bat, because it is often related with ugly and evil image. Therefore, English idioms about bat are always derogatory, for example, “as blind as a bat” (have eyes but see nothing)。 the hen is associated with woman. For example, when we say “he is a fox”, Chinese people and Native English speakers will realize that he is cunning. To the native English speakers and Chinese people, “pig” stands for dirtiness, laziness and stupidity. Therefore, there are some sayings like “as fat as a pig”, “eat like a pig”, “make a pig of oneself”, etc. In Chinese culture and English culture, “bee” always gives us the impression of an extremely hard worker. We can use “as busy as a bee” to describe someone who is diligent. A “parrot” (a type of tropical bird with hooked beak and brightly colored feathers) can be trained to imitate human voice. In Chinese culture and English culture, it is used to describe someone who repeats the words or actions of others without understanding the meaning. In Chinese culture and English culture, “ass” is always used to describe a stupid person. The saying “make an ass of ass of oneself” means that one behaves stupidly and ridiculously. In Chinese culture and English culture, “dove” is a symbol of peace. To the native English speaker and Chinese people, “sheep” is one kind of docile animal. When it es to the sheep, people will have a gentle and meek image in mind. Therefore, “sheep” is always used to describe a gentle and meek character. Animal words with different connotationsIn Chinese culture and English culture, different cultural backgrounds can result in different connotations.In Chinese culture, “dragon” is a kind of mythic animal which has scales, claws and legs and which can fly in the sky, swim in the sea and create cloud and rain. “Dragon” is something sacred and is used to represent the ancestor of Chinese nation. This is why the Chinese people call themselves descendants of dragon. In ancient China, “dragon” was a symbol of imperial power. Ancient emperors called themselves as “真龍?zhí)熳印?(the son of dragon). Their clothes were embroidered with dragon and were called as “龍袍” (dragon robe)。 the bee is busy。 the wolf is always hungry。 the ass is stupid。通過本文，人們能夠進一步了解英漢動物詞匯的文化差異，順利進行跨文化交流。在跨文化交流過程中，我們應(yīng)該更加重視英漢動物詞匯的文化內(nèi)涵差異，盡可能豐富我們在不同文化領(lǐng)域的知識。然后，本文為跨文化交流提出了一些建議。本文旨在從這幾個方面對比和分析英漢動物的文化內(nèi)涵，并從宗教、歷史、地理環(huán)境、審美取向的角度探討英漢動物詞匯的文化內(nèi)涵存在差異的原因。同一動物詞匯在英漢語言中可能具有相同或者不同的文化內(nèi)涵，不同的動物詞匯在英漢語言中可能會有相似的文化內(nèi)涵。 Connotations。AbstractBoth English culture and Chinese culture have a large number of words related with animals. The same animal words may have the same or different connotations in English and Chinese, and different animal words may have similar connotations in English and Chinese. In addition, animal words have semantic gaps in English and Chinese. This paper is intended to contrast and analyze the connotation between English and Chinese animal words from these aspects and discuss the causes of discrepancy in the connotation between English and Chinese animal words form the angles of religion, history, geographical environment and aesthetic orientation. Moreover, this paper analyzes the influences of the connotation of animal words on intercultural munication. Then this paper gives some suggestions for intercultural