英美跨文化作业.doc

Different Symbolic Food between China and Britain（中国和英国之间不同象征意义的食物） Different Symbolic Food between China and BritainThere are always certain foods loaded with cultural symbolic meanings besides their concept meanings both in China and Britain. The folklorist Qu Manga puts forward the notion of symbolic food culture after years study of the food folk custom, which means that food symbolic culture is the culture with symbolic meanings in diet. It takes humans basic daily needs and lifestyles as cultural symbolic signs and shows each single mans feeling, hope, desire, characters and values through vivid and various ways of thinking and techniques of expressing such as analogy and association of ideas.(1)Foods with symbolic meanings in Chinese There are mainly two kinds of cultural symbolic food in Chinese idioms. One feature of Chinese characters is that one character with several pronunciations or one sound with numerous characters. The other type of symbolism in food is analogy according to the shape or color of the food. “饺子”jaozi, dumplings (with meat and vegetable stuffing)The Chinese people make“饺子”(jiaozi) indispensable in celebrating the Spring Festival.“饺子”(jiaozi)has the similar pronunciation of“交子”which means the midnight and gathering and happiness in Chinese culture. As early as Ming and Qing Dynasty, the custom of eating“饺子”(jiaozi) during Spring Festival has been very popular among the Chinese people. Since Spring Festival is the first day of the year by the Lunar Calendar, the custom of eating“饺子”(jiaozi)on Spring Festival bears a good hope and good luck for the following year. “桃”peaches There are two reasons why peaches become the very important symbolic food in Chinese culture. First, peach trees are very easy to plant and they can produce huge amount of fruits. Chinese people use“桃李满天下”to refer to those teachers who has taught numerous talented students successful in various fields. People often use“桃李”(peach and plum) to refer to students. Peaches are of some mythological and religious, because in ancient Chinese mythology it is said that there was a peach tree of immortality which produces fruits every 3,000 years in the garden of the Queen Mother of the West, furthermore, if someone eats only one peach of immortality, he or she would have another 600 years life-span. So peaches have been considered one of the most important symbolic food praying for longevity among the people.“鱼”，fish Fish represents luckiness in the Chinese food culture, which originated from ancient totem worship. Archaeologists has excavated ancient painted potteries with fish pattern and human face which are Painted Pottery Culture of New Stone Age and Bingo Culture age (半坡文化时期). The symbolic meaning of eating fish in Chinese food culture is“连年有余” “年年有鱼”，which is a blessing word suggesting a wealthy life. Here“余”is the phonogram of“鱼”which symbolizes surplus and wealth. The Chinese people always sacrifice a huge living carp to gods and ancestors in Spring Festival. Fish is also an indispensable dish for family reunion dinners on the eve of Spring Festival which indicating“连年有余”.(2) Foods with symbolic meanings in English idioms In English culture, foods with the strongest symbolic meanings are bread, milk, wine, honey as well as apples.BreadBread is regarded as the staple food and the food of fife in English speaking countries. Moreover, bread is also a symbol in Bible and Christianity. According to the Bible, John 6, Jesus imparted his disciples that I tell you the truth, it is my Father who gives the true bread from heaven. It can be easily concluded that, bread could not only satisfy peoples living needs but also carries some religious values. Lots of English idioms with symbolic cultural meanings derived from bread. Such as,Ones daily breadEarn ones breadBeg ones breadBread and butter (the way of making money or job)The bread and butter of a business (the main source of income)Out of bread (which means out of work)Bread and water (which refers to a simple diet)Wine According to the Bible, the grapevine was the first plant that Noah grew after theflood. Beyond that, a grapevine full of grapes was the first symbol which seen by Israelis when they arrived at the Holy land. From then on, the grapevine becomes the gift bestowed by God and a very significant symbol which represents spiritual and revival of life in the traditional Christianity. Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. (This idiom has the similar meaning with another idiom Wine has drowned more than sea. In ancient Greece and Rome, Bacchus is the god of wine and Neptune is the god of the sea.) The first glass for thirst, the second for nourishment, the third for pleasure, and the fourth for madness.The vine brings forth three grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness and the third of sorrow.Honey As a very important cultural symbol, Honey is highly appreciated by god, prophets and poets and has a very close relation with purity, aspiration, eloquence and the blessings of God. As the New Testament Matthew of the Bible goes, Johns clothes were made of camels hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. All in all, honey symbolizes sweetness, therefore, lovers may call each other honey” and even newly-married period of happiness is called honeymoon. Honeymoon comes from old British rites. It is said that the newly-married British couple must drink something made of honey for one month so as to indicate sweet love and happy life. There are many idioms with cultural meanings about honey: be as sweet as honey honey is not for the ass mouth. (we shouldnt feed ass with honey, which means that wed better not give good things to those who dont appreciate them.) It was no honeymoon. (It was not as pleasant as the honeymoon; there is trouble or problem.)Milk Milk plays such a vital role in the westerners daily life that it also carries symbolic meanings, which are beauty and wealth. In English, a land flowing with milk and honey refers to a rich and abundant land and the milk of human kindness refers to the nice and kind human nature. There are a lot of English idioms about milk with deep cultural meanings, such as, There is no use crying over spilt milk. come/go home with the milk (those who are stay up late out and return home until day break.) bring somebody to his milk (help somebody keep a clear head or force somebody to surrender) suck in with ones mothers milk(characteristics which are developed from childhood.) Apple The Bible mentions that Eva was expelled by God because of her secretly eating forbidden fruit. According to scholars textual research, the forbidden fruit then is justapple. The loss of Gods grace is resulted from eating of the apple. Since then, humanshave been suffering from tribulation and hard working in order to maintain life. Thus,apple became incarnation of temptation incarnate. We may pick some idioms derived from the apple, for instance, the apple of ones eye( one that is treasured and loved by others.) apple sauce( a left-handed compliment or nonsense talking.) in apple-pie order (in order) the rotten apple(the bad man out of all the good men.) app