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te at funerals would be offensive. So care should be taken in translating the phrase红白喜事. To avoid misunderstanding, we can put it simply as weddings and funerals. Talking about red and white, there is an interesting coincidence in Chinese and English. In Chinese, those who are popular and find favor with their bosses are called红人(red guy literally). But Irish people call them the white-headed boy. In this sense, red equals white in the two cultures. We have a famous drama called《白毛女》. If we translate it literally as 《A White-haired Girl》, those Westerners will be confused and it will be very hard to see the profound meaning behind it�In old China, folks in general were made ghosts, while things have changed a lot in new China. In addition, here is a collection of expressions containing the word white. the white area�an anti-revolutionary area a white day�a lucky day white light district�ever-bright area a white elephant�something burdensome and valueless; huge burden show the white feather�show fear a white slave�someone who is forced to be a slave days marked with a white stone�happy days a white war�a war without bloodshed; an economic competition bleed white�extort every cent from someone 2.3 Black In both Chinese and English, there are various terms indicating that black often carries a negative meaning: blackmail(勒索),blacklist（黑名单),black-hearted(黑心的)，black market(黑市),etc. But in the following sentence, can you guess the meaning? Since he took over the business, the company has been in the black. In the example above, black has a good meaning�running the business profitably. The term in the black reminds me of the phrase in the red which is just opposite to the former one. Both terms come from the color of the ink used in keeping accounts. Interestingly, we have an appropriate equivalent in Chinese-赤字,probably bought from English. Besides, black implies gloom, disgrace, misfortune, extreme anger, etc, as can be seen in the following examples. the black art�enchantment black and blue�full of bruises black day�unlucky day black dog�unhappy a black look�an angry look; glare at somebody in a black mood�in low spirits black sheep�evil member of the herd a black stranger�a stranger out and out turn black white�confuse right and wrong 2.4 Blue It seems that blue is a favorable word to Chinese�the blue sky, as often as not, can arouse us to yearn for a better future; the blue sea full of uncertainty induces boundless imagination. Naturally, we take it for granted that the famous song Love is Blue equals a romantic love story. In Western culture, however, blue does not associate with happiness and imagination, but gloom and depression. He has been in a blue mood (or having the blues) since he knew that his failure in the entrance examination. In this example, those two terms mean a sad or gloomy mood. Similarly, a blue Monday carries the same feeling. Usually after the happy weekends, we are likely to feel reluctant to attend school or go back to work, thus coming the expression-a blue Monday that can be accepted and understood by both cultures. Blue is also often associated with high social status or being aristocratic. He is a real blue blood means he is from an aristocratic family. In addition, in U.S., a book with the names of famous figures, especially top government officials, is called blue b