2。1 The definition of cultural background knowledge

Cultural background knowledge can also be called world culture。 The British anthropologist Edward Taylor defined the culture as “Culture is a complex including the knowledge, belief, art, law, morality, custom and any other capabilities and habits by man as a member of society。 ” 。 At the present, in English teaching, the cultural background knowledge has got more and more attention。

Language is closely related to the culture。 Language is the component of the culture and language is a carrier to the culture。 The language reflects the culture and the culture permeates the language。

In conclusion, when learning English, we should not only learn the language point, but also we should learn some cultural background knowledge。 

2。2 The types of cultural background knowledge

2。2。1 Regional Culture

    The regional culture is formed from natural conditions and geographical environment。 It shows that different nations take different speech ways to express the same thing or phenomenon。 These words related to the natural environment present strong regional characteristics, although they greatly enrich the language and linguistic form。 The regional characteristics will cause serious barriers to foreign language learners on reading comprehension。 

For example, British which is located in the north side of the Atlantic and with the oceanic climate has constantly changing weather。 So, weather became the conversation topics, when meeting acquaintances, they always talk about the weather “Lovely weather isn’t it?” But in China, people will say “Have you eaten?” From ancient time, Chinese people like to talk about eating。 As another example, the literal meanings of “east wind” and “west wind” are completely equivalent in English and Chinese, but they give completely different feelings to people。 In Britain, “east wind” is a cold wind blows from the European continent which is similar to the west wind or north wind in China。 So for the English“east wind” is piercingly cold。 On the contrary, “west wind ” seems warm。 There is no lack of poems about “west wind”,such as <Ode to the West Wind>。 Therefore, in order to really understand the text’s connotation, we must possess the regional cultural background knowledge。  文献综述

2。2。2  Custom Culture

Custom culture, throughout daily life and communicative activities, is formed from national customs。 Take color for instance, “Mr。 Green is a very white man。”  in this sentence, “white”means “loyalty”。 The phrase “gives somebody a red carpet of reception”means welcome some important people。 “Red” represents happiness。 Therefore in China, when Spring Festive is coming, Chinese always put red lanterns on the door。 In different countries, with different cultural background, the same colors have different meanings。 At western wedding, the bride was in white wedding dress which symbolizes purity and holiness。 But, “white” in China often used at the funeral。 Hence, when we read an English text reading, we should know different colors in different countries stand for different meanings。 

2。2。3 Religious Culture

In human society, religious culture has the deepest and most widespread influences not only on the economy, politics, and literature, but also on people’s thought and behavior。 For example, “as poor as a church mouse”, this metaphor has religious color。 In Western churches, there are not any offerings。 So, this metaphor means “penniless”。 Only if we know religious culture, could we comprehend completely the connotation of English text。 In Western countries, Christianity is the main religion。 But in China, the Buddhism,Taoism and Confucianism are the main religions。 Therefore, “God” and “the Buddha”have been influenced national language for thousands of years。 In British and American, there are some words like “God bless you”, and “for God’s sake”; In China, there are some proverbs like “present Buddha with borrowed flowers”。