Proverbs, Idioms and Sayings

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Proverbs, Idioms and Sayings
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Definition of Proverb

• Saying something will often, or even normally,
  produce certain consequential effects upon the
  feelings, thoughts, or actions of the audience,
  or of the speaker, or of other purpose of
  producing them We shall call the performance of
  an act of this kind the performance of a
  perlocutionary act.

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 Proverbs and culture

• In order that English proverbs may be utilized in
  an appropriate fashion by Chinese speakers of
  English it is important that the non-native
  speaker understand the cultural foundation behind
  the phonological, lexical, and syntactic
  structure of such utterances.

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Directive and Non-directive Proverbs(????????????
)

• Directive act is described by Bach and Harnish as
  the act that express the speakers attitude
  toward some prospective action by the hearer and
  his intention that his utterance, or the attitude
  it express, be taken as a reason for the hearers
  action.

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Directive and Non-directive Proverbs

• Non-directive the act that express the
  speakers belief and his intention or desire that
  the hearer have or form a like belief.
• Non-directives can be further classified into
  three categories based on content or syntactic
  form Moral Aphorisms, Homilies, and Aphoristic
  Sentences.(???????????????????????????????????????
  ????)

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The main features of Chinese proverbs

• 1.the immense number for almost all conceivable
  situations
• 2.   the distinctive Chinese quality
• 3.  the number reflecting social inequalities and
  the feelings of those deprived and oppressed.
• 4. the influence of Buddhism on Chinese customs
  and thinking
• 5.   focus on social harmony, or brotherhood.

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???????? ?????

• 1. ????? Look before you leap
• ---While the English proverb is oriented toward
  physical action, leap and look, constituting
  three-dimensional imagery, the Chinese saying is
  mathematically linear thrice and non-physical
  think, a more static imagery.

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• 2. ??????(??????) Spare the rod and spoil the
  child
• The oldest version of this proverb is in the
  Old Testament of the Bible(Proverbs 2334) He
  that spareth his rod hateth his son but he that
  loveth him chastenth him betimes.
• Samuel Butler wrote the following couplet
  Love is a boy by poets styled/Then spare the
  rod, and spoil the child.

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• 3. ???? Dont count your chickens before they are
  hatched.
• 4. ???? Dont put all your eggs in one basket
• 5. ???? Let sleeping dogs lie.
• 6. ?????? Dont put off until tomorrow what you
  can do today.

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??????

• 1. ???? Birds of a feather flock together.
• 1. ???? Beauty is only skin deep.
• 2.  ???????? Cleanliness is next to godliness(Red
  is next to scarlet )
• 3.  ???????? All that glitters is not gold.
• 4.   ????? Charity begins at home.
• 5.    ???????? People who live in glass houses
  shouldnt throw stones

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• 6.      ???????? People who live in glass houses
  shouldnt throw stones
• 7 ???? Better late than never.
• 8. ????? Many hands make light work.
• 9. ???????? The grass is always greener on the
  other side of the fence.
• 10. ????? Haste makes waste.
• 11. ???? A stitch in time saves nine.
• 12. ?????? Its foolish to cry over spilt milk.
• 13. ??????? A new broom sweeps clean.
• 14. ????? ????? Absence makes the heart fonder.
• 15. ?????? A barking dog seldom bites.

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• 16. ????
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• 17. ?????
• Where theres smoke, theres fire.
• 18. ?????? ??????
• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• 19. ??????
• Penny wise, pound foolish.
•  

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???????????

• 1. gilding the lily????? The English proverb
  implies sth. already fine, good or beautiful by
  adding sth in an attempt to make it better.
• 2 ??????? hang up a sheeps head and sell
  dog-meat. Try to palm off sth. inferior to what
  it purports to be.

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Idioms

• Of all the different kinds of English idioms,
  perhaps the hardest to learn are those comprising
  the forty or so most common verbs in various
  combinations with about a dozen prepositions or
  adverbs like up, down, in, out, on, off. The
  different meanings of such combinations amount to
  several hundred, and the confusion that they
  cause for the learner is immense.

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• Before he gets the hang of how to use them hell
  make a lot of mistakes. Some mistakes will cause
  people to hold their sides with laughter, but
  that shouldnt put him in a stew. He should learn
  to put up with such things. You might say thats
  part of the game.

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????????????

• 1. ?????????
• All aboard!?????/??!
• run afoul of???,???/ ?????????
• back and fill????????????,??????/??????,????
• burn ones boats????
• in the same boat????????

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• in commission(??)????/?????
• out of commission(??)?????/???
• hail from(?)??./ (?)??
• take in sail????/????????
• smooth sailing???????????
• turn a tide(?)????/?????
• in deep waters????
• in rough water??????????
• pour oil on troubled waters????/????

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??????????????

• floating capital ???? floating money??
• floating cargo ??? floating population????
• floating fund ???? floating supply ????
• floating goods ????,???? floating trade????
• floating island ??,??(??) floating voter??????
• floating loan ????

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2. ??????????

• tenderfoot(???????)???,??????
• horse sense??????????
• bite the dust????????(??)??????

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3. ???????????

• skid road(????)????????????????
• on the skid????????

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4. ??????????

• pan out(????????)??????
• stake a claim(???)??????????????????????
• claim jumper??????????????????
• make a stake????
• grubstake(??????????????????)????????