people believe in Christianity,and you can see some common expressions related to Christianity:in the right church,but in the wrong pew ( this says that you have the wrong seat though you enter the right church,which means apparantly that is right,but that is wrong in the point of details); God helps those who help themselves.Buddism has great influence on our country."Buddism was introduced to China at the end of Dynasty Han,which was more than thousand years ago.Chinese language also has some common expressions that are relevant to Buddism after that.Therefore,Chinese people belive that Buddha controls all kinds of things in the natural world,and expressions related to it has a great amount.For instance,borrow sth.to make a gift of the Buddha; never burn incense when all is well,but clasp Buddha's feet when in distress; admire somebody from the bottom of one's heart; repent and be saved; pay homage to the Buddha; however persuasive Buddha is,evil is still stronger and so on.
Literary Quotaion
China and Great Britain have centuries-old history,and most parts of the daily expressions are based on the resource of their plenty folklores and literary quotations.For exmaple,terms "cross the Rubicon" is originated from the literary quotation of Rome;
"castle in the air" is originated from fairy tales and mythes; "hang by a thread" is derived from a tale of Greece.Anther example like "cat's paw",which is derived from Aesop's Fables,is used as a metaphor as "man who is used as a tool" or "a foolish man".Pandora's box means "endless disasters".Meet one's waterloo,Penelope's web are have the similar meaning of it.In Chinese expressions,they are mostly from literary quotations,nursery tales and legends,like "hope for gains without pains","pretend to like something which one really fears" and so on,which are from fables,while "Chang Er Flies to the Moon" is from a legend.
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翻译完了,这是我自己翻译的.