学习文件dragon draft

Western dragon and Eastern dragon Years ago, a Canadian girl told me: “Emperors in China must be extremely violent and brutish.” I wondered: “Why do you think so?” “Because Chinese emperors were the kids of dragon.” I spent a long time to explain the different image of dragon in the west and in the east. There exist a lot of differences in eastern culture and western culture, even the same object has opposite meaning in different culture. I’d like to discuss the differences between western dragon and eastern dragon, which confused the Canadian girl. To make you understand, I will tell you the differences in three ways: the origin and appearance of dragon, the stories of dragon and the symbolizations of dragon. To start with, let me introduce the origin and appearance of dragon. In the West, dragon looks like a dinosaur with wings, they have strong body, long and bold neck, a head with horn and sharp tooth and a long tail [1]. However, dragon is the totem of Chinese ancestors. It is combined by deer’s horn, camel’s head, rabbit’s eyes and snake’s neck [2]. Now that we have explored the origin and appearance of dragon, let’s turn to the stories of dragons. There are many myths about dragons in the west. In ancient Greece story, Kadmos killed the huge thrilling dragon and pulled its tooth out, he planted the tooth and build the Thebes [3]. In the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the braves fight with dragons to win the goblet of fire [4]. To the contrary, in China dragon has different stories. It’s said that Confucius was born under the protection of dragons. On the night when Confucius was born, two black dragons flied down from sky and landed on the roof of Confucius’s mother’s house. What’s more, two goddess came from the heaven and gave little Confucius a bath [2]. So much for the stories, what about the symbolizations of dragons. In the west, dragons live in caves or fed by evil witches to protect their towers. They love money and treasures, so they keep a great many of treasures in their caves. Western dragons’ skins were protected by powerful magic. In addition, they can attack others by spurting. For example: red dragon can spurt out fire, blue dragon can spurt out electric [1]. In the east, dragons symbolize good luck and stateliness, it also refers to talented people. We call ourselves descendants of the dragon and dragon is thought to be the symbol of emperor. Emperors of China use dragon to symbolize their loyalty and stateliness. You can see dragon everywhere in China. They are painted on the spring festival picture, carved on the buildings, casted on the bronze ware. There are also many customs related to dragon, for example: you can see dragon dance and dragon boat racing on the Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon means differently in different culture environment and understand the difference can help us have a better understanding of other culture and have a better communication with foreign friends. 511 words Works Cited [1]: 龙骑士城堡. 龙骑士城堡. 奇幻词典. 2008. Web. November 2010. [2]:刘志雄 杨静荣. 《龙与中国文化》. 人民出版社, April 2004. Print. [3]: Calame, Claude. Trans Daniel W. Berman. Myth and History in Ancient Greece: The Symbolic Creation of a Colony. Princeton: Princeton University Press, July 2 2003. Print. [4]: Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, July 8th 2000. Print.