In the western culture, white is a symbol of elegance, noble, purity, lucky and happiness etc。 In English traditional weddings, the bride is always in the white dress, which is called “white wedding” to express purity。 “Snow white” is the embodiment of intelligent, kindness and beauty 。Therefore, this figure wins the children’s sympathy and love around the world。

3。2 Black

In ancient China, “黑” is the symbol of respect, solemn, honest and straightforward。 In the opera masks, people usually use black masks to express a figure’s characters of upright, pitiless or honest。 In addition, due to the color itself without light, it makes people feel sinister, horrible and diabolic。 For example, the ugly things which are not to be pulged is called “黑幕”, the members in the reactionary clique are called “黑帮”,the contraband goods are called “黑货”, the trading places of contraband goods are called “黑市”, the money gotten by the illegal means are called “黑钱”。 

“Black” is also the symbol of evilness in the western culture。 “Black deeds” and “black lies” refer to the deeds or lies with some evil purposes。 “The black economy” means business work which is done without power of the officials and government so that the citizens can avert paying money they earned by themselves。 “Black Friday” is a famous day in American, which refers to an unlucky day on which Christian suffered Crucifixion, until today ,it means a type of computer virus which flares up to destroy data in computers on Friday。 Besides, we also use “red letter day” to express an unlucky day。 文献综述

3。3 Red

In the west, red symbolizes violence and bleeding, for instance, the red rules of tooth and claw; red hands; red battle; red revolution; red activities。 In red alert and red adventure story, it means danger and tension。 The expression red-ruin means the bleeding scene after the war。 Sometimes red is associated with female。 Red lady means prostitute。 We can infer from those words that even though red expresses Tess’s youth and beauty, it implies the danger and tragedy to come into being sooner or later。 Red is also related to economy on behalf of liabilities and losses such as red figure, red balance and red moon”。 

However, the Chinese have a special affection and deep love for “red”。 They think it stands for happiness, warmness, brightness, success and wealth。 In Chinese, “开门红” means to begin well or to make a good start; “红光满面” means one`s face is glowing with health; “红颜知己” means a bosom friend with a pretty face or a beautiful intimate woman friend; “红极一时” means to be well known for a time or to enjoy popularity for a time; “红颜薄命” means the beautiful women who suffer unhappy fates; “红双喜” means the double happiness written in red which is put up onto the wall of the new couple`s house before getting married; “红火” means flouring which is used to describe business; “红歌星” means the singer who is extremely popular at that time; “红娘” means go between or matchmaker; “红运” means good luck; “红榜” means the honor roll; “红包” means a red paper envelope containing money as a gift, tip or bonus。 “红蛋” refers to the eggs dyed red on the happy occasion of the birth of a child and given as gifts to friends and relatives。 Almost all the connotations of red in Chinese is approving。来*自-优=尔,论:文+网www.youerw.com

3。4 Green

In China, green is a favorable color。 It is the life color of plants。 As is associated with spring, grass lands, forests and lakes, the ancient people used to consider it as youth, peace, hope, security, good luck and freshness。 Green reminds people of environment protection as our earth is seriously polluted。 Chinese government is paying more and more attention to the protection of ecological environment as more and more forests are disappearing。 Green Olympic is one of the themes of Beijing Olympic Games in 2008。 Its cultural connotation is to take the project construction, market development, procurement, logistics, accommodation, dining and other large activities with the idea of sustainable development caring for environmental protection, resource protection and ecological protection。 The term “绿色食品” means the kind of food without chemical pollution。 Moreover, green is also associated with women in Chinese culture。 “绿云扰扰” is used in ancient literature to describe the beautiful and long hairs of concubines in the imperial palace。  颜色词的文化内涵在汉英语言中的对比研究(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_83356.html