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Man,at,leisure,,cassia,flowers,fall,,Quiet,night,,spring,mountain,is,empty.(一)
Analysis on the Language Text Difference between Chinese and English from Poetry
Abstract： With the differences in Chinese and English poetry， this paper discusses the difference between Chinese and English language texts from the four aspects of speech， syntax， semantics and grammar of language texts， in order to explain the above difference is only the Chinese and English language itself， while it is not absolute having or not， but it is relatively strong and weak. The mutual interaction and influence between ethnic languages are the language development rules and trend of the past， present and future. Keywords： poetry； language； speech； syntax； semantics； grammar；
Poetry is a unique language， which is also a literature form with unique format and connotation. It has a certain rhythm and rhyme， so people will always contact poetry and songs together， thinking that poetry is a musical thought. Reading poems is not only reading the language itself， but also through the surface of language， reading its implied meaning， so it is called “poetry is outside the language.”. As Yan Yu said in his “Canglang poetry” that the conception of Tang poetry is “just as voice of the air， color of the phase， moon of the water and the image of the mirror， the statement is intended to infinity.” But due to the difference between Chinese and English language texts and the difference between the language culture， history and ideology， it is not easy to make foreign readers obtain the resonance， shock and pleasant feelings with the local readers from the original texts as much as possible. This paper， through the difference between Chinese （mainly Tang and Song poetry） and English poetry， illustrates the difference between Chinese and English language texts. The basic difference of language text is reflected in the four aspects of speech， syntactic， semantic and grammar， namely， it refers to sound， shape， meaning and method of the four aspects.
1 Chinese and English Speech Difference
The uniqueness of poetry is reflected in its music and its rhythm and rhyme， and there are different features in Chinese and English poetry. Western poetry rhyme will have a lot of rhyme change places， and a short poem will have several rhyme feet， for example， Shakespeare’s sonnets， and its rhyme is ababcdcdefefg g. And Chinese poetry are mostly with one rhyme， such as five character poetry， five character poetry， seven character poetry and even later poetry and songs. The reason is that Chinese speech is single syllable form. It is a sound a word or a word a sound. In more than 1300 single syllables， removing the four tone features， it only has 429 syllables， which can form hundreds of thousands of words， thus it is easy to find the rhyming words. 2 Chinese and English Shape Difference
You can read most Chinese poems and you will feel they have very obvious features： landscape poems are very prominent. The poetry has much scenery description， because the character appearance seems like strong picture， so the characters’ picture features induce poets to describe the outside world as much as possible， and the emotional image is expressed. In Chinese poetry， although there are many landscape sentences， yet it is not purely describing scenery， which should be integrated with emotion. The emotion and landscape fusion makes people forget themselves and the emotion and landscape integration is the basically qualified poetry. Su Dongpo said： “reading Mojie’s poems， pictures in the poetry； wathing Mojie’s picture， poetry in the picture.” An ancient Greek scholar said that， painting is poem with sound， and poetry is painting without sound. Painting and poetry are not disposable artistic forms. If there is no picture meaning， it only has boring preaching， which is often plain poetry. The Chinese characters have the congenital benefit， so no matter what content the text expresses， with the text， there is a poetry picture effect. For example， Ma Zhiyuan’s “Tianjingsha”： “withered vine trees faint crow， bridge flowing water and people. With the sun falls down， heartbroken men in the horizon.” What a beautiful artistic conception. So， for the poetry carrier， Chinese characters producing visual image makes readers have the picture feeling. For example， Wang Wei “to frontier”： “desert straight down the long river”. The desert on Long River， wide and narrow， only the vast desert shows the river long； smoke arc and straight， see the wild wind static sound elimination， only on one； the sunset is still round， writing the Hu sky frontier mountain are thin cloud， and the setting sun as dyeing， lonely smoke line， sunset round， long river twists， deserts tract， straight， round， curved， round， square， the shapes are prepared， similar to gauge moment painting and writing， which is fantastic. This sentence is scenery sentence， but it is very beautiful. Every Chinese reads it， he will go into this artistic conception. This is the superiority of Chinese character. When you translate Chinese poetry into English and French， foreign people will think Chinese poetry is nothing， what are mountain， water， tree and bird？ Only the scenery is the poetry？ He doesn’t think that it is poetry. Because in English poetry， English letter symbolic makes English poetry abstract and single. The type is strong， and the expression is straight， good at reasoning. To illustrate a truth， people often use logic closely related words， using the different discourse structure， morphological structure and grammar structure to make it into a game， which makes people carefully taste， feeling its smart idea. So the westerners are used to intuitive， strict logical reasoning of English poetry and they don’t understand why the Chinese poetry is so moving. In addition， Chinese and English shape also causes the difference of poetry in arrangement form. The Chinese poetry arrangement is square， just like the chopping bean curd， smooth and clean. The English poetry is in a neat feeling in sound value.
3 Chinese and English Semantic Difference
In Chinese and English poetry translation， it often has one to multiple phenomenon， namely， a Chinese poem will have different styles of English translation version. Also， for an English poem， it will have many Chinese translation versions， such as the Wang Wei of Tang Dynasty writing “bird singing”.
There are three translation versions for this：
1： Bird- Chirpping Hollow
The light beams of the moon on the earth softly rain，
The night is quiet ， the spring mount empty，
The moon’s up- rise the birds doth f righten
To cry now and then in the springtide hollow .
（Xu Yuanchong “150 pieces of Tang and Song poetry）
2： The Dale of Singing Birds
I hear osmanthus blooms fall unenjoyed；
When night comes， hills dissolve in the void.
The rising moon arouses birds to sing；
Their fitful twitters fill the dale with spring.
（ Sun Dayu translated， 1997，Ancient Poetry English translation version）
3 ： Bird- Singing St ream
Man at leisure. Cassia flowers fall.
Quiet night. Spring mountain is empty.
Moon rises. Startles- a mountain bird，
It sings at times in the spring stream.
（ Sam Hamill Poetry Review ）
The above three translation versions are from famous people. Different translation versions reflect different understandings of translators for the original poem， reflecting different language styles. For example， （1） The amount of words and style choice. From translation 1 to 3， the words are less and less. Taking translation 3 as an example， in language style， translation 3 is simple and plain， which is loyal to the original poem. （2） Singular and plural form choice. Translation 1 and 2 are consistent， and the two have “bird” translation method as plural. The translation 3 chooses singular form. （3）Words， phrase meaning selection. The original “Jing”， translation 1 uses Frighten， translation 2 uses arouse， and translation 3 uses startles. The original poetry “Shi ming” translations are almost the same. Translation 1 uses To cry now and then. Translation 2 and 3 are almost the same. Translation 2 is more vivid， specific and accurate in word selection， but the syllable quantity is slightly more， using the plural. Its translation is their fitful twitters， and also for rhyme， to sing is used in the first line of the poem， and the semantic meaning is slightly repeated. Translation 3 is slightly inferior to the word selection for “ming”， but the original meaning and sentiment of the whole poetry are the same. The whole poetry has only 5 grammar function words in 26 characters， apart from the punctuations. It avoids English to cause poetry “fat” obstacle because of using function words， grammar word and logical word not related with poetry meaning. The above processing methods different from original poetry can illustrate that the three translators have different understanding of the poetry， on the other hand， it illustrates that English and Chinese language semantic features are the cause of one-to-multiple phenomenon. In English， the same meaning or similar meaning vocabulary can be different in structure， for example， “singing” concept， English vocabulary are sing， sings， singing， sang， singer. Apart from the first sing， in a certain meaning， the four latter represent composite concepts from basic concept， so they include a basic concept， main concept （sing）， and a more abstract concept， about the person， number， time， condition， function or other several combined together. A general “sing” is noted as several specific and clear singing. In contrast， the Chinese “singing” concept is for multiple uses， whether you sing or he sings， at this moment or not， in structure， “sing” word is still forming as one， without any change， because the Chinese singing character has no “fundamental component （sing-）， and grammar component （such as-s， -ing， -ed）， without main body concept and subordinate concept difference.
4 Chinese and English Grammar Difference
Chinese poetry types are complex and diverse. Compared with English poetry， there is a special type， which is palindrome poem. The palindrome poem is the poem that can be read right and reverse， such as Wang Rong’s “spring outing palindrome poem”：
It reads： lotus pool shining the moon， and the curtain blows along the wind.
Reverse reading： wind towards curtain， and the moon shines the lotus pool.
As Qian Long wrote on the couplet： guests on the natural habitat and it are even guest from the sky.” And the couplet： “ people over Buddhist temple， Buddhist temple over people” can only be the Chinese language to play the flexible creativity function. English has great difficulty to translation and creating palindrome poems， which is mainly decided by the difference of Chinese and English grammar. The grammar difference is lexical aspect and syntactic difference. In lexical aspect， Chinese language texts don’t have the prefix， suffix， tense， voice and property， number， grid and a lot of things （Gu Zhengkun， Chinese language text comparison and western and Chinese cultural trend”）. Thus， its positioning function is relatively flexible， and you can put a Chinese character in different places， and it can express the meanings， for example， “Shang”， can be used as a verb， interpreted as “to”， which can also be used as adjective， and contrast to “down”， which can also be used as adverb， after verb， such as “climbing up to mountain top”. Its external form doesn’t have changes， and its semantic function can have flexible change with the position change. So， its creativity in this aspect should be very high. In addition， lexical structure and grammar structure are too flexible， which cannot be positioned， unable to locate， which is not easy to develop towards meticulous rigorous aspects. It is difficult to use lexical and syntax form to achieve more accuracy in surface meaning， using language shape structure to compensate， such as writing a mountain character， which seems to be like a mountain（of course， in modern character， the pictograph has been greatly reduced）. This has made up its relatively undeveloped features in logical aspect， in order to achieve a kind of macro global exact effect. But English is not， and its positioning function has mechanical and relatively fixed properties （Gu Zhengkun， “Chinese and western language text comparison and Chinese and western cultural trend）. Its positioning function is attached to the vocabulary， and even if you have changed the position， verb is still verb， and adjective is still adjective. The benefits of this are ideographic and stable. Each word has is position， which has strict hierarchy relationship， and is a legal language.
In summary， we take different features of Chinese and English poetry as an example， which mainly focuses on the difference of Chinese and English language in the four aspects of speech， syntactic， semantic and grammar.
References
[1]Guan Shijie. Cross-cultural communication [M]. Beijing： Beijing University Press， 1995. 348.
[2]Xu Yuanchong. Talking about the translation of Tang poetry [M]. 5. Poetry translation art 6. Beijing： China Translation and Publishing Company， 1987. 408.
[3]Hu Yushu. Modern Chinese[M]. Shanghai： Shanghai Education Press， 1995.23.
[4]Lin Yutang. Poetry translation art [M]. Beijing： China Translation Publishing Company， 1987. 53.【Man,at,leisure,,cassia,flowers,fall,,Quiet,night,,spring,mountain,is,empty.】
Man,at,leisure,,cassia,flowers,fall,,Quiet,night,,spring,mountain,is,empty.(二)
Evaluation of Plant Metaphors in A Dream of Red Mansions
【Man,at,leisure,,cassia,flowers,fall,,Quiet,night,,spring,mountain,is,empty.】 Abstract This work attempts to evaluate the plant metaphors used in A Dream of Red Mansions， aiming at： 1） Identifying the metaphorical expressions associated with plant used in the book； 2） finding out the correlation between plant metaphors and their evaluation； 3） exploring the experiential bases of the operational model of abstract reason in Chinese embodied in A Dream of Red Mansions， achieved via metaphor mapping the concrete concept � PLANT onto the abstract concept？ How is it achieved？ The results indicate that the cognitive approach to metaphor postulates that all conventional conceptual metaphors are grounded in our bodily and physical experience. Once a metaphorical mapping is set up， it will impose its structure on real life through the creation of new correspondences in experience. If the metaphor is the message， the conceptual metaphor provides a method of representation through which we may identify its salient features. As a result， the evaluation of the plant metaphors can contribute significantly to our understanding of the plant metaphors within Chinese culture.
Key words： Plant metaphors； Cognitive analysis； Experiential grounding
TIAN Xiaoli （2012）. Evaluation of Plant Metaphors in A Dream of Red Mansions. Higher Education of Social Science， 3（3），
DOI： http：//dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.hess.1927024020120303.4300
INTRODUCTION
A Dream of Red Mansions， the great classical Chinese novel written in the mid-eighteenth century， has been popular in China throughout the long history. As one of the four great Chinese classical novels， it is also a gem in the world cultural treasure house. Few other Chinese novels have been appreciated and discussed by so many people for such a long time. This fact proves the greatness of the novel and the unique position it holds in the long history of Chinese literature. The examples are all selected from the Chinese novel of A Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin and Gao E. The translations are all from A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang in English and published by Foreign Languages Press in 1978.
According to Lakoff， every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions. Cultural assumptions， values and attitudes are not a conceptual overlay， which we may or may not place upon experience as we choose. Therefore， Lakoff and Johnson （1980， p. 57） observe， “It would be more correct to say that all experience is cultural through and through， that we experience our ‘world’ in such a way that our culture is already present in the very experience itself”. This paper explores the partial nature and the experiential basis of metaphor for the discussion of the cultural universality and variation. 1. THE PRIMACY OF PLANT METAPHORS AND THEIR INDISPENSABLE ROLES IN A DREAM OF RED MANSIONS
Plant metaphors have the domain of PLANTS as their source domain. They map the image-schematic structure of the PLANTS domain onto abstract domains， thus enable us to talk about and think of those domains in plant terms. In the process of collecting materials， we find that only a little research has been done on plant metaphors from the cognitive perspective. A large number of plant metaphors exist in Chinese language， but little research has been done from this aspect. The cognitive linguistic view maintains that conceptual metaphors are based on a variety of human experiences， including correlations in experience， various kinds of nonobjective similarities， biological and cultural roots shared by the two concepts， and possibly others.
Given that agriculture was an established source of livelihood in the East it is not surprising that it forms one of the most productive metaphor source domains in A Dream of Red Mansions. This gives justification for focusing on plant metaphors， rather than any other types of metaphors in this research.
Metaphors that highlight the isomorphism between spiritual and natural experience can be accounted by two conceptual keys： SPIRITUAL IS NATURAL and HUMANS ARE PLANTS.
HUMANS ARE PLANTS has been identified in other studies of metaphor （Goatly， 1997， p. 43） and is based on transfer from the inanimate domain of plants to the animate one of people. Human beings can be understood in terms of plant. As can be seen from the data analysis， there are such conceptual metaphors as PEOPLE ARE TREES， PEOPLE ARE FLOWERS， and PEOPLE ARE BUDS. The direction of these conceptual metaphors goes from a higher source to a lower source. The examples below are some typical metaphors：
【第五十一回】我和你们一比，我就如那野坟圈子里长的几十年的一棵老杨树，你们就如秋天芸儿进我的那才开的白海棠，连我都禁不起的药，你们如何禁得起。
（wo he ni men yi bi， wo jiu ru na ye fen quan zi li zhang de ji shi nian de yi ke lao yang shu， ni men jiu ru qiu tian Yuner jin wo de na cai kai de bai hai tang， lian wo dou jin bu qi de yao， ni men ru he jin de qi.）
（Chapter 51： When I compare myself with your girls， I’m like a big poplar scores of years old in the graveyard， while you’re like that white begonia in bud with Chia Yun gave me last autumn � how can you take medicines too potent even for me？）
Different plants need different environment conditions. Poplar is a kind of plant with strong vitality， a fast-growing deciduous tree. Meanwhile white begonia is a tender tropical or subtropical plant that requires precise circumstance and temperature. The young girls living in “大观园” （Grand View Garden） are chaste and innocent who just resemble the quiet and elegant white begonia. Paoyu names himself “a big poplar” for being a man much stronger than the girls. 【第六十五回】三姑娘的浑名是“玫瑰花”。
（san gu niang de hun ming jiao “mei gui hua”.）
（Chapter 65： The third young lady has the nickname Rose.）
Rose is a plant having prickly stems， pinnately compound leaves， and variously colored， often fragrant flowers. Everyone loves pretty and fragrant rose except its dense and erect thorns. The third young lady Tan-chun’s high and upright； efficient and able character just matches the nickname “Rose”.
【第七十一回】谁知一个人芽儿也没有。
（shei zhi yige ren ya er ye mei you.）
（Chapter 71： But to my surprise there was no one at all.）
These examples show that HUMANS ARE PLANTS is a very pervasive metaphor in A Dream of Red Mansions； it is classified as a conceptual key because it accounts for a group of related conceptual metaphors such as PEOPLE ARE TREES， PEOPE ARE FLOWERS， PEOPLE ARE FRUIT， and SPIRITUAL GUIDING IS NUTURING etc.. They are summarized， with the example， in Table 1.
The isomorphism � or structural equivalence � between the natural and the spiritual domains applies to both entities （as in nominal forms） and behavior （as in verbal forms）.
Another group of metaphors that are commonly found in the parables in A Dream of Red Mansions are based on knowledge of organic process in terms of its stages and the relationship between environmental factors and natural outcomes. The parables can be viewed as extended metaphors in which Lakoff’s invariance principle operates. Metaphorical mappings preserve the cognitive topology （that is， the image-schema structure） of the source domain， in a way consistent with the inherent structure of the target domain. For example， there is image based knowledge that the conditions that encourage natural growth are also those that encourage spiritual growth. We can see this in an excerpt from the parable of the Grand View Garden.
At first sight， it is only a magnificent garden where talent pretty young girls live. Actually， how similar it is to that little graveyard Taiyu buries drop blossoms！ It is in the Grand View Garden that finally all the beauty’s fate is just as the flowers fading and falling. It overlaps the blossom graveyard in decadent desperation and inside sadness. More extensively speaking， it could be regarded as the “Tai Xu Huan Jing” in man’s world because both are extremely prosperous and grand. Meanwhile， they not only share the same beautiful nature scenery but also correspond in the story narration for nearly all the beauties’ fate in Grand View Garden has already revealed early in “the Register of Twelve Beauties of Jinling” and twelve songs called “A Dream of Red Mansions” which are seen and listened to by Paoyu in “Tai Xu Huan Jing”. 宝钗 ― 牡丹 ― 艳冠群芳 ― 任是无情也动人
Pao-chai � peony � beauty surprising all flowers �Though heartless she has charm.
探春 ― 杏花 ― 瑶池仙品 ― 日边红杏依云栽
Tan-chun � apricot-blossom � fairy flower from paradise � A red apricot by the sun grows in the clouds.
李纨 ― 老梅 ― 霜晓寒姿 ― 竹篱茅舍自甘心
Li Wan � old plum-tree � cold beauty in frosty dawn � Content to stay by the bamboo fence and thatched hut.
湘云 ― 海棠 ― 香梦沉酣 ― 只恐夜深花睡去
Hsiang-yun � crab-apple-blossom � deep in a fragrant dream � So late at night the flower may fall asleep.
麝月 ― 茶縻 ― 韶华胜极 ― 开到茶縻花事了
Sheh-yueh � rose � flower of final splendour � When the rose blooms， spring flowers fade.
香菱 ― 并蒂 ― 联春绕瑞 ― 连理枝头花正开
Hsiang-ling � two flowers on one stem � double beauty linked with good fortune � Double flowers bloom on a single stem.
黛玉 ― 芙蓉― 风露清愁 ― 莫怨东风当自磋
Tai-yu � hibiscus flower � quiet and sad in wind and dew � Blame not the east wind but yourself.
袭人― 桃花 ― 武陵别景 ― 桃红又是一年春
His-jen � peach-blossom � exotic scene at Wuling �Another spring returns and the peach blooms red.
Nevertheless， illusion after all is an illusion； no matter how brilliant it had been， the prosperity eventually cannot be everlasting in reality except that in the fairyland.
Why is the same plant changed into different meanings？ The author thinks different people may discover or create different similarities. Similarity is an important principle of metaphor. Zhao Yanfang （2001， p. 97） insists， “The principle of similarity refers to the tendency of people to regard the same or similar things as a unit. The principle of similarity is indispensable in constructing conception and language. The same or similar things are easily given similar names and similar things are used to make metaphors to each other”. Actually， in many cases， these similarities are not physical. They are psychological.
The meaning of the parable depends on knowledge of the effects of various environmental factors on the growth process： These can be either positive or negative and imply a further conceptual metaphor： CONDITIONS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH ARE CONDITIONS OF NATURAL GROWTH.
The conceptual metaphor CONDITIONS OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH ARE CONDITIONS OF NATURAL GROWTH represents the cognitive basis for the parable of the flowers and the similar parables.
For instance， in Chapter 58《红楼梦》第五十八回：宝玉因想道：能病了几天，竟把杏花辜负了！不觉已到 “绿叶成荫子满枝” 了！因此仰望杏子不舍。
（“What a shame！” he thought. “Just those few days in bed and I missed the apricot blossom.” And in among the green leaves now the young fruit hangs from every bough. He stood and gazed at the tree.） They were Du Mu’s lines， written on his last visit to Hu-zhou， when he met with the beautiful young dancer of a dozen years before and found that she was now a married woman with a brood of children. How did it go？
On the surface reading， it seems easy to show the reader a picture of flourishing apricot in the prosperous mid-spring. However， the real schema and intention in author’s mind is exactly reversed， which hidden in the key sentence “绿叶成荫子满枝”. This is a literary allusion originating from the Du Mu’s poetry《叹花》：
自是寻春去较迟，不须惆怅怨芳时，
狂风落尽深红色，绿叶成荫子满枝。
（The spring-time blossoms， white and red，
Before the thieving wind have fled；
And in among the green leaves now，
The young fruit hangs from every bough.）
The last line “子满枝” is not only describing the scenery of fruits hanging on the tree but also forming a metaphor to refer to many having lots of children， which is the real story happened to the poet himself. Du Mu had ever fallen in love with a young girl when he visited HuZhou. However， after 14 years he revisited here and found the young girl had already married for 3 years and raised 3 children. Hence， he wrote this poetry for pathos. Obviously， Paoyu at this very moment is in the same mood with the poet Du Mu. He quotes the line in the poetry to show his worry on this young nice girl’s marriage in the future. He thought of Xing Xiu-yan’s betrothal. It would only be a year or two now before she married. The organic cycle provides a prototype model for a spiritual cycle of birth， development， enlightenment， death and rebirth. The weeping willow and the blooming peach blossom actually make the sharp contrast to the sadness in Paoyu’s heart， which also indicate that Paoyu has forefeeling of his big family’s declining even though it is still in its prosperous spring.
2. EVALUATION OF PLANT METAPHORS
What is perhaps the most salient discourse role of plant metaphors is their powerful rhetorical role in providing an evaluation； it is very rare for any of the plant metaphors not to convey a very important covert evaluation of positive or negative forms of behavior. We may infer from this a further conceptual metaphor that accounts for this pattern of evaluation： HUMANS ARE FLOWERS. This may remind us of metaphors related to flowers such as peach blossom that were used to convey the charming and lovely girl in the data. The rhetorical role of evaluation is best described here as appraisal since it conveys both a positive emotional feeling towards those young girls living in Grand View Garden. We should recall that the difference between a successful and a disastrous harvest for the agricultural people that inhabited the region of the East would have been the difference between prosperity and material comfort on the one hand and poverty and famine on the other. It is not， then， surprising that the domain of plants serves as a very potent source for evaluation in the Chinese culture.
In some cases the particular types of plant are important in determining the nature of an evaluation. Different types of plant can be chosen to convey either positive or negative evaluations.
2.1 Positive Evaluation
I will first illustrate some positive evaluation that is conveyed by valued plants. In the following examples words in bold show the plant metaphor and italicized words communicate a positive judgment.
【红楼梦】【第六十八回】俏丽若三春之桃，清洁若九秋之菊。
（qiao li ruo san chun zhi tao， qing jie ruo jiu qiu zhi ju.）
（Chapter 68： She was pretty as peach-blossom in spring， simple and austere as chrysanthemums in autumn.）
【红楼梦】【第三回】闲静时如姣花照水，行动处似弱柳扶风。
（xian jing shi ru jiao hua zhao shui， xing dong chu si ruo liu fu feng.）
（Chapter 3： In repose she was like a lovely flower mirrored in the water； in motion， a pliant willow swaying in the wind.）
【红楼梦】【第四十九回】大太太的一个侄女儿，宝姑娘一个妹妹，大奶奶两个妹妹，倒像一把子四根水葱儿。
（da tai tai de yi ge zhi nv er， bao gu niang yi ge mei mei， da nai nai liang ge mei mei， dao xiang yi ba zi si gen shui cong er. ）
（Chapter 49： Lady Hsing’s niece， Miss Pao-chai’s cousin and Madam Chu’s two cousins are as pretty as four fresh young shallots. They really are！）
While all these uses are metaphorical， the evaluation that is implied is based on world knowledge of attributes such as providing fruit， decorative， height etc.. Knowledge of these attributes provides the image basis for metaphorical uses.
2.2 Negative Evaluation
Negative evaluation can also be conveyed through the use of plant metaphors， though this is much less common because of the general aridity of region leading to a positive evaluation of whatever is fertile. Negative evaluation is based on knowledge of attributes that impede the successful cultivation of fruiting plants or that are potentially harmful to man. It is knowledge of the lack of productivity and harmfulness of certain types of plant that forms the basis of their evaluation in metaphor. The following examples are some typical instances of negative plant metaphors. 【红楼梦】【第六十九回】心中一刺未除，又凭空添了一刺，说不得且吞声忍气，将好颜面换出来遮掩。
（xin zhong yi ci wei chu， you ping kong tian le yi ci， shuo bu de qie tuo sheng ren qi， jiang hao yan mian huan chu lai zhe yan.）
（Chapter 69： Before she had rid herself of one thorn in her side， here ― out of the blue ― was another！）
【红楼梦】【第一百一回】你们一心一计和和气气的，省得我是你们眼里的刺似的。
（ni men yi xin yi ji he he qi qi de， sheng de wo shi ni men yan li de ci shi de.）
（Chapter 101： You can live in peace and harmony， without me as a thorn in your side.）
【红楼梦】【第七十八回】袭人本来从小儿不言不语，我只说他是没嘴的葫芦。
（Xiren ben lai cong xiao er bu yan bu yu， wo zhi shuo ta shi mei zui de hu lu.）
（His-jen’s always been so quiet I felt she was rather stupid.）
【红楼梦】【第一百十九】这几天竟是如在荆棘之中。
（zhe ji tian jing shi ru zai jing ji zhi zhong.）
（Chapter 119： These days he felt on thorns.）
【红楼梦】【第四十四回】你们淫妇忘八一条藤儿，多嫌着我，外面儿你哄我！
（ni men yin fu wang ba yi tiao teng er， duo xian zhe wo， wai mian er ni hong wo！）
（Chapter 44： You whores and bitches have ganged up against me， yet you make such a public show of trying to please me.）
3. SUMMARY
In conclusion， plants are a productive source domain of evaluating metaphors in A Dream of Red Mansions. They are extensively used for evaluation and persuasion because of the importance of agriculture and consequent familiarity with the farming cycle and the attributes of plants. We have also seen that knowledge of both the stages of plant growth， and the influence of the environment on the successful growth of plants， are very important types of knowledge that account for the isomorphism between spiritual and natural domains.
REFERENCES
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