不同的地理特征对汉英习语影响(3)

(3)  Paddle one’s own canoe[16] and "自力更生"
Meaning: to depend on oneself
e.g. Don’t worry too much about your son ; he is big enough to paddle his own canoe.
(4)  A big fish (in a little pond)[17] and  "顶天立地"[18]
Meaning: an important person (in a small community)
 e.g. I told you when George came to our department two years ago that he’d soon job-hop. He is a big fish.
    The idioms in this group reflect that the English idioms and Chinese idioms have the same meaning, but use the different images. In the example (2) in English they use “ocean”, while in Chinese we use “牛”. The example (4), in English they use “fish”, but in Chinese we use “地”. The example (5), in English they use “fish”, but in Chinese we use “牛”. These show that the English culture belongs to the sea civilization, and the Chinese culture belongs to the agriculture civilization. Because fish is the normal thing in sea civilization, and the ox is a very important animal for the agriculture.
3 The differences between English idioms and Chinese idioms about the geography
  The environment influenced the idioms very much. For example , in China ,there a large land for tillage ,so in Chinese idioms , there are many idioms about “tu” (土)、“di”（地）、 and “niu”（牛）--these are all connected closely to the agriculture.
  But the western culture is different. In the western countries, especially in the Greek –the mother of the western civilizations, there are many mountains and small land for tillage. They had to develop the business at sea. So in the English idioms, there are many idioms about the sea, the boat and the fish.
There is a typical example, which could explain this. In China ,we say “hui jin ru tu” （挥金如土）， but in English ,they say “spend money like water”. These two are all describing that someone spend money very much, but in Chinese we use “tu”, while in English they use “water”.
3.1 The different images about the geographical words in Chinese and English idioms
No matter whether the idioms have the same meaning, or have the different meanings, their images are all about the geographical words. In Chinese idioms, many of the images are connected to the land. In English, many of the images are connected to the sea.
3.1.1 The Chinese geography idioms
    The land is very important to the people’s live. Also the agriculture is the most important activity in the people’s common live. There are so many idioms use the geographical words to explain something. There are some example could show it.
(1) Juan tu chong lai (卷土重来)[19]
Stage a comeback
(2)Mian ru tu se (面如土色)[20]
Look ashen; look pale
e.g. turn pale with fright
(3) Yi bai tu di (一败涂地)[21]
Fail completely; suffer a crushing defeat; be routed.
e.g. We just can’t possibly fail completely, after all the  preparation we’ve made.
(4) Hu tian qiang di (呼天抢地)[22]
Lament to heaven and knock one’s head on earth—utter cries of anguish.