Abstract: Metaphor is not only a figure of speech but also a mode of thought, a universal cognitive mode. It involves itself in people’s cognitive activities. We human beings are living in a colorful world. Color cognition plays an important role in people’s daily life. The differences in cultural customs, geographical position, historical tradition, religious belief and psychology etc.,lead to the differences of metaphors formed from color terms. With profound cultural connotation, color metaphors have caused great obstacles in cross-cultural communication between English and Chinese. Therefore, the study of metaphorical contrastive study of basic color terms in English and Chinese has great applicable values in the learning of English and Chinese，especially for the English learner in China. Besides, it can enhance their learning of color terms and cross-cultural understanding in particular.
Key words: metaphor; basic color terms; contrastive study; culture
摘要：隐喻不仅是一种修辞方式，而且是一种思维模式，直接参与了人类的认知过程。颜色是一种普遍的自然现象，人类对颜色的认知是人类对外部世界认知和经验的重要组成部分。英汉两个民族对各种颜色词的感受和理解存在着许多共同性，但是由于英汉民族文化风俗、地理位置、历史传统、宗教信仰、民族心理等差异，导致英汉颜色词隐喻意义的差异。随着中西文化交流的不断深入，人们已经认识到具有深刻文化内涵的颜色隐喻常常成为跨文化交际中的一个交际障碍。因此，对英汉颜色词隐喻的研究，不仅有利于加深持母语者对本民族语言的认识，更能够帮助外语学习者，尤其是中国的英语学习者对英语颜色词及其中所蕴含的文化内涵的理解。
关键词：隐喻；基本颜色词；对比研究；文化
