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erstanding of the allusion of this English idiom, we may translate it as “别无选择”. “To cross the Rubicon” is another example. As “Rubicon” is the name of a river in middle Italy, most Chinese people cannot understand the idiom. Caesar and Pompey were leaders of two military groups, which were separated by the river “Rubicon”. As only by crossing the river, could Caesar fight with Pompey, so whether cross the river or not was a decision that had to be made by Caesar and now people use “to cross the Rubicon” to express the meaning of making up one’s mind. Thus, this idiom should be translated as “断然处置” according to its allusion.
Many English idioms come from famous literary works. For example, “to mind one’s eyes” comes from Dicken’s Barnaby Rudge, meaning “to be careful”; “catch 22” from American author Joseph Heller’s novel entitled Catch 22, meaning “in a dilemma”, “one’s pound of flesh” comes from the famous drama The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, meaning “the exact amount of anything that is owned to a person, esp. when this will cause the person who has to pay it back a great deal of trouble or pain”.　　

3.2.3 Habits and Customs
Social customs is a habit of living style in one nation, involving all fields of the life. It is the distinctive social customs between China and Britain that result in the differing points in some of the idioms.
Food and drinks are one common social customs that go into everyday life. Known to all, British prefer bread, butter, jam and cheese, so there are many English idioms concerning these daily food, for example, “earn one’s bread” (养家糊口), “butter up” (讨好), “big cheese” (大人物), “hard cheese” (倒霉), “have jam on it” (好上加好), etc. Although Chinese are food of rice, much different with British customs, and Chinese idiom “小菜一碟” has the same indication with the English idiom “a piece of cakes”, both of which describe an easy task. Thus, English idiom “bread and cheese” should be translated into “粗茶淡饭” rather than “面包和奶酪” in Chinese, and the correct translation for “take the bread out if someone’s mouth” is “抢走别人饭碗”.
Figurative idioms “above the salt” and “below the salt” come from the old customs at feasts when salt was expensive and a symbol of high social status. Traditionally, seats above the salt were reserved for those important and powerful guests or relatives whereas seat below the salt are for those ordinary ones. Idiom translation is simplified after the understanding of the social customs. The correct translation for “above the salt” is “尊为上宾”, and for “below the salt” is “当陪客，无足轻重”.
3.2.4 Religious Belief
Religious belief, as an ideological idea, all along penetrates into every aspect of the human society and nation life. It contributes to the development of language, as well.
Religion being an essential part of peoples’ spiritual life, its influence on language is far and profound. In the language of both Chinese and English, there are plenty of idioms concerning the religious beliefs.
In terms of religious belief, the Chinese people adore the Buddha while the westerners show their great respect to the God. Greatly influenced by Buddhism, Chinese have many relative idioms, such as, “借花献佛”, “临时抱佛脚”, “僧多粥少”, etc. At the same time, Christianity also has reflection in the English, which is one of the western languages, such as,
God bless you. 愿上帝保佑你
God forbids. 苍天不容
God helps those who help themselves. 自助者天助
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