Abstract: Plant is an integral part of human life. People are accustomed to using plant metaphors to express human features and appearance. Therefore, there are numerous plant expressions existing in English and Chinese. Plant metaphor, as an important part of metaphors, serves as a tool to construct concepts. Owing to the cultural differences, plant metaphor means differently in different context. In order to better guide and promote the cross-cultural communication, this paper firstly collects a large number of plant metaphors in English and Chinese, then analyzes them from the cultural perspective and summarizes the similarities and differences of them. Finally, this paper points out that understanding the metaphor can not be separated out of the historical and cultural environment . 

Key words: plant metaphors; conceptual metaphors; cross-culture; contrastive study

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction1

2. Brief Account of Conceptual Metaphor.2

2.1 Definition of Conceptual Metaphor

2.2 Classifications of Conceptual Metaphor

2.3 Metaphor and Culture

3. Plant Metaphors in English and Chinese.4

3.1 Plant Metaphors in Chinese

3.2 Plant Metaphors in English

3.3 Factors on Formation of Plant Metaphors

4. Analyses of Plant Metaphors in English and Chinese.8

4.1 Working Mechanism of Plant Metaphors

4.2 Classification of Plant Metaphors in English and Chinese

4.3 Differences of Plant Words in Chinese and English

4.4 Similarities of Plant Metaphors between Chinese and English

5. Conclusion.10

Bibliography12

Acknowledgement.13