Abstract：Chinese and English both are languages most widely used in the world. There are more than 1,300,000,000 people who speak Chinese all around the world, and 1,800,000,000 people who use English as their mother tongue or second language in the world. It means that everyday more than 25% of the world’s population is using English or Chinese to communicate. Therefore the translation between Chinese and English seems extremely important. Bassnet(1990)holds that translation is the communication between and inside cultures．The equivalence of translation is the cultural functional equivalence between the source text and the target text．Therefore，translation is not a pure behavior of language．It roots deeply in the culture of the language．In the recent 30 years, there are two main trends of translating research. One is the emphasis on communication theory instead of translation theory; the other is the change from seeing translation as a matter of Interlingual Transference to that of Intercultural Communication Activities. This thesis states the necessity of the research by revealing the close connection between or among language，culture and translation．A survey study with 100 sophomores as subjects was conducted in late 2005．The study shows that to avoid cultural mistranslation ,the translator must qualify himself with the following attributes：First，he must be well informed of the source and target cultures；second，he should make an accurate assumption of the target language readers’ culture knowledge so as to make a correct judgment，that is，to strive to realize cultural functional equivalence in translation practice．
In view of the inextricable relationship between language and culture，translation is inevitably an intercultural activity ,rather than a simple process of Interlingual Transference．
This essay will discuss about the cultural functional equivalence from the following aspects, the definition of the English idiom, cultural orientation and mistranslation, techniques of idioms translation and English idioms and customs.
Key word:Culture, Translation, Idiom, Background, Cultural Equivalence
摘要：汉语和英语都是在世界上使用最广泛的语言。世界上有超过13亿人讲中文,有逾18亿人以英语作为他们的母语或第二语言。这意味着每天有超过25%的世界人口正使用中文或英文来沟通。因此, 中英文翻译工作是极为重要的。Bassnet理论认为,翻译是文化之间的沟通。翻译的等价性是指， 源文本和目标文本之间的文化功能对等。所以，翻译不是一个纯粹的语言行为。近三十年, 翻译研究有两大趋势，一是把重点放在交流技巧,而不是翻译理论;文章通过揭示语言、文化、翻译之间的紧密联系,阐明了研究的必要性。一项以100个二年级的学生为研究对象的调查研究在2005年年末展开。研究显示,为避免文化误译,译者要胜任以下特征:一方面,他必须充分了解源语言和目标文化;另一方面,他应该准确推测目标语言的读者的文化背景知识,从而形成一个正确的判断,那就是,努力实现文化的功能对等翻译。
从语言与文化密不可分这一角度来看,翻译毫无疑问是一种跨文化交际活动不可避免,而不是一种简单的语言迁移过程。
这篇文章将从以下几方面讨论文化功能对等原则,英语习语的含义、文化定位和误译、习语翻译技巧和英语习语与风俗习惯的关系。
