中國古代神話中記載女媧為人面蛇身，見於馬王堆出土文物。 今日少數民族中，尚有對蛇崇拜的風俗。 印度弄蛇人 a snake charmer 能吹簫引蛇起舞。
西方偶有詩人欣賞蛇蜿蜒曲折之美姿，poets sometimes admire the intuitive, introspective, refined and collected attributes of snakes；但大多數人對蛇的特徵，見諸文字的，便有 : acute, cunning, proud, vain, vicious 敏銳，狡猾，驕傲，自負，凶猛，不一而足。
SERPENT 比 snake 更普遍地比喻惡人，或在修辭上指魔鬼，而很少指長有麟片、無肢，大家都熟悉的爬行動物 snake。宗教上，文學上，the serpent in the Garden of Eden 便是伊甸園的蛇 ; the old serpent 等於魔鬼撤旦。《聖經舊約》 《古蘭經》 《猶太人古經》都記述：蛇引誘人類女祖夏娃偷食禁果之事。主觀上，SERPENT 給人可怕，力大的印象，而 SNAKE 則冰冷而奸詐。A snake in the grass 是陰險的小人，暗藏的敵人，偽善的朋友，也可以指潛伏的隱患和危機。To nourish a snake in one’s bosom : 在胸口養了一條毒蛇，比喻引狼入室，a snake is often a metaphor for treason and ingratitude。
蛇的動作，有特別說法 ：
We often say : a snake slithers, slides, winds its way；蛇 curl up 盤繞的行動稱為 coil : the snake coils around a child；蛇盤成的圈狀，一般稱為 fold。
To snake is to crawl ；it refers to a snake’s winding movement 蛇行， 彎彎曲曲地移動，to snake 也可以指伸入厨房通渠的動作。The procession snaked its way through narrow streets 隊伍沿着狹窄的街道曲折而行。A snake spits and hisses 蛇發怒時，發出呼呼噝噝的聲音。
一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井繩，snakebite is a wound that you get when a poisonous snake bites you 毒蛇咬傷。 Venom 是毒蛇分泌的毒液。Fangs 指毒蛇上顎尖利的毒牙。
蛇頭鼠眼 蛇鼠一窩
Snake oil 指毫無用處或效果成疑的推銷品 a patent medicine of dubious value。 美國人所謂「蛇油」，大概都是不老實的 snake oil salesman/peddler 推銷員，誇張騙人的萬應靈藥。
Snake pit 既可指蛇洞 a man-made pit filled with poisonous snakes, 也可指蛇窩：a place which is extremely unpleasant or dangerous 令人反感或極其危險的地方。
蛇有蛇洞，鼠有鼠穴。蛇頭鼠眼，蛇鼠一窩，snake and rat share the same features and the same den， 蛇和鼠，總給人聯想在一起。
西方人用上 You dirty rat 是極度侮辱對方的稱呼：you dirty double-crossing rat 是英語犯罪小說，背叛者的代名詞。
A rat is a scoundrel, a deserter, an informer, or simply a despicable individual。
At various times，a rat 可以指政黨的變節者 a deserter of a political party；罷工行動中的工賊 a strike breaker or a scab；警方密探 a police spy ； 出賣情報的叛徒 an informer。
總之，a rat is an unpleasant person 討厭的人；卑鄙的小人；騙子。
A pack rat 馱鼠，則比較有趣，指喜愛收藏雜物的人 a person who collects, saves, or hoards small useless items。
成語方面，老鼠的出現，花樣多多
試列舉一些最流行的說法 ：
to smell a rat 對某事感到不對勁而生疑心 to guess that something wrong or dishonest is happening. She says that the business is making a lot of money, but I smell a rat somewhere. The figures are too good to be true。
look like a drowned rat 渾身濕透 because rats do not like water；bedraggled 弄濕 means made wet or untidy by rain。
the rat race 為爭權奪利的工作；拼個你死我活的生活方式 : fierce competition in unpleasant situations or a hectic urban environment such as big cities because rats are engaged in s relentless struggle for survival。
rats leaving a sinking ship 老鼠跳船；老鼠放棄將沉的船 a deserting person leaving a company or organization when it is in trouble。
to rat 告密 is to inform somebody in authority about something wrong that somebody else has done 。
to rat on your friends 出賣朋友；you can say someone rats you out if he is disloyal to you；記着：You can’t rat out your teammates。
to rat on something 背棄做某事的承諾 to go back on or to renege on an agreement undertaking；背信棄義，可以說：ratting on a promise：Nobody likes being ratted on a promise, especially when so much depends on keeping things secret 。
逢星期二、五刊登
