从语言学角度看隐喻

I have collected some metaphors both in English and Chinese around the concept of color so as to compare their similarities and differences.

Red: No matter in English-speaking countries and china, red is always related to celebrations and festivals.

Red-letter: worth to be commemorative and festive.

To paint the town red: means to have spree instead of really paint the town

red.

Roll out the red carpet for sb.: to welcome sb. ceremoniously.

开门红：to begin well, to make a good start.

红双喜：is the traditional symbol of happy event.

Besides, red also can be used to express some emotions.

To see red: means to make somebody angry.

Red flag: means the things that make people angry.

红光满面: we can not translate it as your face is very red, because in

English it means you are in embarrassment. Correctly, it can be

translated as you look the very picture of health and energy.

White: to our Chinese, it represents purity and innocence. But in English, sometimes it does not mean that. For example, white lie, we can not call a lie innocent, instead, it means the lie is of no harm. Also, many English-speakers are confused about the meaning of 红白喜事，since they celebrate a marriage, the bride always wear white wedding veils. So they feel antipathy for us Chinese to connect white with funnels.

In addition, sometimes, in Chinese the 白 refers to the color, but in English, there is not a corresponding word – white when we translate Chinese into English. For example, 白菜（Chinese cabbage），白熊（polar bear），白蚁（termite）and so on. Under some conditions, 白 has nothing to do with color. For instance, 白费事(all in vain), 白送(free of change).

Black: both in English and Chinese, black is related with something bad or immoral. For example: blacklist(黑名单)，black market（黑市），black-hearted（黑心的）and so forth. While, interestingly in business English, in the black has good meaning, and it means to gain money. Furthermore, the phrase in the red means deficit.

Blue: in English, blue usually can be used to represent unhappiness. For instance, in a blue mood or having the blues means being in bad mood or depressed. Moreover, blue can represent aristocrats with high social status and power. He is a real blue blood(他是真正的贵族). In American English, blue book(蓝皮书)，which is used to insert the names of famous people.

Although the same color, it represents different meanings under different cultures. Through metaphors, it becomes easy for us to understand unfamiliar things. But we do need to be cautious about the metaphors so as to avoid the misunderstanding.