English Idioms论文.doc

On the Infulence of Historical Development and Geography Environment on the Formation of English Idioms Introcduction When opening Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, one can see such an entry: “Idiom (n.) Phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and which must be learnt as a whole unit.” English is a language particularly rich in idioms. Lots of cultural information is embodied in idioms. In some senses, idioms are the reflection of the environment, life, historical culture, etc. They are commonly used in all types of language, informal and formal, spoken and written. In brief, idioms are fixed phrases. They go through the test of history and cannot be separated. They are an important part of the general vocabulary of every language. English idioms are usually widely and commonly used all over the world. They contain brief structures and profound meanings, and are also a group of words with the meaning different from the literal one. As an English learner, we study English everyday; learning its literary works, grammatical functions, use them and so on. Sometimes, we come cross some sentences that we can’t understand, such as, “There is a black sheep” or “Don’t be a bad apple”, “go over my head” , “Don’t put your problems at my doorstep”, “just bear with me”, “heap coal of fire on one’s head” etc. Of course we can comprehend the meaning of every single word. Why do we have difficulty in understanding them? Because of a low level of linguistic competence in the target language, people who learn English as a second language are at a distinct disadvantage in understanding English idioms. We must know the origins of English idioms so that we can learn English well. The research to English idioms has a long history. Scholars’study focuses on the following aspects: the oringins of the idioms, comparison between English idioms and Chinese idioms, and the translation of English idioms. What’s more, they