Color and Tone in English 1000 Word Composition

White represents sacredness, blue represents hope, black represents mystery, and brown represents profundity.

Color is closely related to human life and is an important field for human beings to understand the world. Color not only has physical properties, but also has rich cultural connotations and extended meanings, so it is an important topic in language, culture and translation studies.

The number of words expressing colors in languages of different nationalities in the world is different, and the classification is also different. There is little difference in the classification of basic color words between English and Chinese. There are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple in Chinese, and red (red), white (black), green (green), yellow (yellow), blue (blue), purple (purple), gray (gray) and brown (brown) in English. The following lists the special meanings of several main color words in emotional expression and the differences between them and Chinese emotional attitudes.

Red (red)

From the emotional color point of view, regardless of Chinese and western cultures, bright red is often associated with festive auspicious days and celebrations, expressing a warm, cheerful, enthusiastic, passionate and enterprising mental state.

However, westerners deeply feel that "red" is a kind of red representing danger from the cultural tradition of bullfighting, which means cruelty, fanaticism, disaster, triviality and bloodiness. Such as red tape and bureaucracy; A carnival in which towns are painted red; Blush is angry and blushes after drinking; Finally, in English, red can also be a color word indicating economic color, meaning "debt" or "loss", because when the net income on the account book is negative, people register in red. Such as: red digital deficit; There is a deficit and debt.

Yellow (yellow)

In the feudal society of China for thousands of years, yellow was regarded as the symbol of the emperor, representing nobility, majesty, wealth and glory. For example, the yellow robe is the position of the emperor, and his career is prosperous. The golden appearance makes the colors extremely noble, such as "the golden wall is brilliant" and "the golden rule".

But in English, yellow does not mean the above, but means "meanness", "cowardice" and "cowardice". For example, turning yellow means being timid and afraid; Yellow dog, despicable guy, coward

Green (green)

Green is the color of grass and trees, symbolizing youth, vigor and vitality.

Whether in English or Chinese, the symbolic meaning of green is the same. Green reminds people of the harmony and tranquility of nature. For example, being green means when you are in your prime; Young and old are old and strong.

At the same time, in English, green can also mean immature and unskilled. Such as: green hands and inexperienced people, novices; Green as grass is childish.

Besides, in English, green can also mean "jealousy, jealousy". It is said that diseases such as jealousy and unhappiness can lead to excessive secretion of yellow bile, and one of its symptoms is blue or pale face or eyes. Therefore, the jealous Green is very jealous.

In English, green is economic and can be used to represent things like money. For example, green pound refers to green pound, which refers to the high exchange rate pound used to calculate agricultural products within Europe; Green-backed dollar bills; Green power is the power of money, because the back of the dollar is green; Green land projects refer to newly launched projects and emerging enterprises that need funds.

Blue (blue)

Blue is very attractive in the hearts of people in China, Britain and the United States, which makes people have infinite beautiful reverie. Blue is often used to describe the sky and the ocean, showing the breadth of nature or people's hearts, such as blue sky or blue sea and blue sea.

But in English, people often use blue to describe people's emotions, which is derogatory and means "depression"; "melancholy"; "Boredom" and other unpleasant emotions. For example, depression is depression; Listless and unhappy; It was completely unexpected.

Blue is a color word with economic color, which can represent laws, regulations, stocks and the like. For example: blue book；, a publication of the British Parliament; Blue law Blue law refers to the American law that prohibits business transactions on Sundays.

Blue is a color word for identity, status and identity. It can represent a royal (noble) family with high social status, great power or prominent birth. For example: blue-blooded aristocratic family; Blue Ribbon Blue Ribbon, the highest honor; Blue Brick University refers to famous universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. But there are exceptions, such as blue-collar refers to the blue-collar class, refers to manual workers.

Purple (purple)

As can be seen from the above, yellow stands for kingship in Chinese and occupies a prominent position. But purple is a symbol of kingship in English, because western emperors and bishops have a tradition of wearing purple robes. The addition of purple robe means rising to a prominent position, so purple is called "benevolent position" and "prominent position"

For example, born in/to the royal family, he was born in the emperor's family and had a high status; Marry a rich family (a woman) to a prince or a noble; Be promoted to cardinal.

Besides, in English, purple can also express people's feelings and anger. Turn purple with anger and go on the rampage.

White (white)

From the perspective of emotional color, regardless of Chinese and western cultures, the symbolic significance of white mainly focuses on its own color, indicating purity, innocence, kindness and femininity.

In English, white can also mean timidity and timidity. For example, show the white feather means timidity, timidity and sluggishness, which originated from the cockfighting competition in the west. People always think that a rooster with white feathers on its tail must be timid and not good at fighting, and later it is extended to be timid.

There are also some derogatory meanings such as hypocrisy, morbidity and lies. For example, a white elephant is expensive and useless, a white grave hypocrite, and a white lie.

In addition, in China culture, white is also a mourning color. People in China wear white mourning clothes and white flowers at funerals.

But westerners think that white is elegant and pure, so white is the favorite color of western culture and the main color of the bride when she gets married. When the bride got married in the church, she wore a white wedding dress and white gloves. This is contrary to the tradition that brides in China wear red cheongsam, which reflects the different social customs and cultural backgrounds between China and the West. Nowadays, people often learn from westerners at weddings, and the bride also wears a white wedding dress and white gloves, which shows the integration of Chinese and western cultures.

In addition, white is a symbol of power and status in the eyes of westerners. For example, the White House refers to the White House and the US government; Whitehall Whitehall refers to the British government; White-collar workers refer to white-collar workers and mental workers, indicating their status in society.

Black (black)

Whether in Chinese or English, black can be an emotional word to express people's bad mood, such as symbolizing anger and irritability. For example, in Chinese, his face turned black with anger. The "green" here refers to the black face.

At the same time, black is called "dead color" in English, which is often associated with "bad", "bad" and "evil", symbolizing suffering, robbery and misfortune. For example: black list blacklist; Black sheep, black sheep; Blakeman devil; An unlucky day; Black Friday refers to "a day of great disaster and ominous disaster", because two economic crises in American history 1869 and 1873 happen to be Fridays.

But black means "profit". If the black map is profitable; Have a surplus in the dark; Countries with black numbers refer to countries with surplus balance of payments.

Black also symbolizes solemnity, majesty and dignity. On solemn occasions, dignitaries and celebrities like to wear black; Almost all members of the symphony orchestra wear black suits to show dignity and solemnity.

Although the number of color words in Chinese and English vocabulary is limited, they reflect the cultural psychology and aesthetic taste of two different nationalities. Color words not only have direct surface meanings in dictionaries, but also have pragmatic meanings of cultural feelings.

Therefore, in the process of learning English, it is of great significance for students to correctly understand the cultural background, customs and historical and geographical background of words with different colors in English and Chinese, and to correctly imagine and understand the possible extended meanings of words.

The wisdom of different regions, cultures and nationalities shines and focuses here. Only by correctly understanding the connotation of these colors can we correctly understand English and the culture of English-speaking countries.