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intercultural communication to lead to the failure of communication. Once a foreigner said, “The Jones family live like fighting cocks ever since he got that new well paid job at the ministry.” The structure is very simple but many people make a wrong understanding. The problem lies in the phrase “fighting cocks”. To Chinese “fighting cocks (打斗的公鸡)” is usually used to describe two people living an unpeaceful life. In ancient China, the palaces or the folks liked gamecock to make a pleasure, which brought out the association. But in English, “live like fighting cocks” means “to enjoy the best possible food or life”. So the correct understanding of this sentence is that “自从琼斯在部里找到一个薪水丰厚的新职位后，他家过得很舒服。” [21] Therefore, we should pay attention to the figurative meanings of animal words to make cross-cultural communication successful. 4. Translation of animal metaphors 4.1 Importance of translation Translation is a dialogic process. It is not only an inter-lingual activity but also a cross-cultural communication event. The purpose of translation is to transfer the source language into the target language to obtain the maximal equivalence. So translators play an important role in the process of translation. They should consider how to deal with the images of the words and how to express the figurative meanings correctly and properly. Meantime, they should think over not only the language structures and national features in source language but also the cultural backgrounds and the expressions in target language. Animal words contain many cultural meanings. In the process of translating animal words, the big problem is how to get the same or nearly the same effect culturally in the target language as that of the source language. 4.2 Methods of translation 4.2.1 Keeping image of animal association vehicles English culture and Chinese culture have much in common, so the English and the Chinese share the same or similar feelings or attitudes to some animal words. And they use the same animal images to express the similar figurative meanings. Therefore, we can adopt literal translation to keep the original association vehicles. To a certain extent, this method helps to keep the source national sense and makes the target language readers to understand the source language culture. For example: (1) 俗话说得好，叫做“杀鸡吓猴”，拿鸡子宰了，那猴儿自然害怕。（李宝嘉：《官场现形记》） The saying has it well, “kill the chicken in order to frighten the monkey”. If the chicken is killed the monkey is certainly scared. [22] (2) 楚兵罢食尽，此天亡楚之时也，不如因其机而遂取之。今释弗击，此所谓养虎遗患也。（司马迁：《史记.项羽本纪》） The troops of Chu are short of food, which shows the gods want to wipe them out and take up the state. If we don’t launch an attack upon them and let them go, what we shall do is to nourish a tiger to be a source of the trouble in the future. [23] (3) Advice and correction roll off him like water off a duck’s back. 劝导对他好像水过鸭背似的不起作用。[24] (4) You stupid ass! How could you do a thing like that? 你这头蠢驴！怎么会干出那种事儿来？ [25] Let’s have a look at some other examples: dark horse (黑马), paper tiger (纸老虎), lamb duck (跛脚鸭子), as pure as a swan (像天鹅一样圣洁), etc. Keeping image of association vehicles can make language vivid and vigorous and preserve the original style. Adopting this method not only reproduces the source language meaning and charm but also benefits the cultural exchange between Chinese and English. 4.2.2 Changing image of animal association vehicles English language and Chinese language have some cultural