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bitch (狗杂种)”, “you dog (狗东西)”, “that cur (小杂种狗)”, etc. [10] “Owl (猫头鹰)” is very popular with the western. The Greeks use “owl” to stand for Athens, which is famous for its many owls. And it’s said that Athena, the woman patron saint was given an owls as her mark. It symbolizes wisdom, calmness, gravity and steadiness. In dispute among birds and beats, it is the owl that they go to for advice, and we can see such idiom “as wise as an owl”. If we use “owlish” to describe somebody, we want to say he is clever or serious, e.g. “Patrick peered owlishly at us through his glasses. (帕特里克透过他的眼镜严肃而机智地审视着我们。) ” But in Chinese, the figurative meaning of the word “owl” is quite different. “Owl” is described as the devil, ill omen and evil. People are afraid of seeing an owl, especially seeing its entering the house, so there are proverbs which go like these: “夜猫子进宅，无事不来”; “夜猫子抖擞翅，大小有点事儿”. The mere sight of an owl or the sound of its hooting might cause people to draw back in fear. [11] To Chinese people and English people, “bear” has quite different figurative meanings. To Chinese people “bear” means “cowardly and timid” or “stupid”, such as “笨熊”, “瞧那熊样”, etc. However, in English, people use “bear” to refer to those persons having special ability, for instance, “He is a bear at music. (他是音乐天才。)” Another example is an insect---cricket (蟋蟀), which, however, means totally different to both the Chinese and the English. In Chinese culture, “cricket” refers to a small, brown, jumping insect which makes a shrill sound by rubbing its front wings together. It is often used to express “grief” and “desolation”, which is reflected in the following example “独申旦而不寐兮，哀蟋蟀之宵征” written by Song Yu in the book of 《九辩》. But in English, since Shakespeare used “as merry as crickets” in Henry IV, the English and American people have used “cricket” to symbolize joy all the time. For example, C.Kingley once wrote in his Two Years Ago that “I have not had all the luck I expected, but… am as merry as a cricket. (虽然我没有得到想要的一切好运，但我却很高兴。)” [12] 2.3 Different animal association vehicles and similar figurative meanings Different animal words have similar cultural connotations in English and Chinese languages and people use different animal words to express similar meanings. Even though the animal association vehicles are different, they have similar figurative meanings. For instance, agriculture is the foundation of China’s economic development, so the cattle (牛) play a great role in Chinese culture. There are so many expressions which use “cattle” as association vehicles, such as “壮实如牛”, “牛气冲天”, “象老黄牛一样辛勤工作”, “过着牛马不如的生活”. However, in the Middle Ages, horse was not only the inseparable part of Knights’ lives, but also the animal kept and used by the imperial families. So English people give horse many good figurative meanings such as “as strong as a horse”, “to work like a horse”, “get on one’s high horse”. Similarly, Great Britain is an island country, so fishery is important. Therefore, there exists such figurative expression “to drink like a fish (牛饮)”. [13] In English, there are many figurative expressions using the word “horse” as association vehicles, e.g. “change horse (换马)” is likened to “change groups or leaders (换班子或领导人)”; “from the horse’s mouth (第一手的)”; “talk horse (吹牛)”, etc. To Chinese people, “tiger” is referred to as the king of animals and stands for power, vigor and bravery. So there are many expressions with the letter “虎”: “英雄虎胆”, “龙争虎斗”, “藏龙卧虎”, “如