TheNon-equivalentPhenomenaofEnglish-ChineseWordsandExpressionsfromCross-culturalPerspective【Abstract】AsisknowntouswhosemajorisEnglish,therealequivalencebetweenEnglishwordsandChineseonesareequaltoeachotherinsuchculturalaspectsasthemeaning,theeffect,thescopeandthefeelingtrend.YetthereisnoabsoluteparallelismwhenwetranslateChineseintoEnglishordotheopposite,whichisresultingfromthetwolanguagesbelongingtodifferentculturaltradition.So，goingonwithcomparisonbetweenthetwokindsofcultureandprobingintothedifferencesbetweenthetwolanguagesareverysignificanttothetranslatorsandthelanguagelearners.Inthelanguages,wordsandexpressionsarethemostactiveandthemostpositivesothatitisnecessaryforustopayattentiontoanalyzeandcomparetheculturalcontentscontainedinwordsandexpressions.Mainly,itisreflectedbythenon-equivalentphenomena,theculturalsettingsandtheconceptsofwordsandexpressionsandsoon.Onthewhole,culturereferstotheentirewayoflifeofasociety.Somefollowingcausesthatresultinnon-equivalentphenomenaofEnglishandChineseare:1thedifferencesbetweenlifeexperience；2thedistinctworldviewoftheworldwidepeople;3thelanguagesandtheculture.Someapproachesofestablishingculturalequivalenceare：1theword-for-wordtranslationpreservingvividstatementofthesourcewords；2adoptingEnglish-Chineseidiomswhicharealikeinconnotation；3thefreetranslation；4thetransliteration；5theliteraltranslationwiththeexplanatorynotes；6thetransliterationwiththeannotation.AnalyzingtheEnglish-Chinesenon-equivalentphenomena,researchingintothevacantpositioncausedbytheacross-culturaldiversity,masteringandtacklingcommommeansandprincipleswillbehelpfultotheresearchwetakeup，especiallyprobingintothedifferences.Keywords:non-equivalentterms；across-culturaldifferences;culturalconnotation；loanword.Introduction:theculturalbackgroundofthelanguagesFirstofall,letmeclarifythebackgroundinreferenceofsomeexamples.AlongwiththedevelopmentofAppliedLinguisticsandPsycholinguistics,theAmericanscholar,Goodman(1982)negatedthetraditionalreadingtheoryandposeda“psycholinguisticreadingmodel”,whichconsidersthatreadingisnottheprocessofpassivereadingliterallyanymore.Aswecansee,heindicatesthatthereaderswillfindithardtoreadtheforeigners’booksthatcontainthenon-equivalentphenomenaofEnglish-Chinesewordsandexpressionsiftheydonotrenewthereadingways.Ratheritistheprocessofactive“guessing–confirming”andinteractionbetweenthereadersandthereadingcontents.Theroleofculturalknowledgeisinreadingcomprehension.Readingcomprehensionisacomplexprocessoftheinteractionbetweenthewriter’slanguageandthereaders’priorbackgroundknowledgeormemoryschemata.Itisfunnythatthewritersarebetteratwritingwhilethealiensarepoorinreadingtheforeignpassages.AndIbelievethatthewriters’bookswillnotbethebest-sellers.“Everystageofcomprehensioninvolvesreader’sbackgroundknowledgeofculture(Anderson,1997,14:369).”Phillips(1984)pointedout:“asuccessfulreadingofanypassage,dependsuponacombinationoflinguisticknowledge,cognitiveskillandgeneralexperienceandknowledgeoftheworld,whetheracquiredbyexperienceorbylearning,influencegreatlythereadingcomprehensionprocess,forthemorethereaderbringstothetext,themoreistakenaway”.Indeed,inthereadingcomprehensionprocess,readers’linguisticelementisveryimportant,butsometimeswecannotreadbehindthelinesexceptbythehelpofbackgroundknowledgeofculture,becausethemeaningsofwordsareacquiredinacertainci...
