| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-8页 |
| Chinese abstract | 第8-9页 |
| Contents | 第9-12页 |
| List of tables | 第12-13页 |
| List of abbreviations | 第13-14页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第14-16页 |
| ·Significance of this study | 第14页 |
| ·Research questions | 第14-15页 |
| ·Theoretical framework | 第15页 |
| ·The structure of this paper | 第15-16页 |
| Chapter 2 Theoretical Background of Aspect | 第16-30页 |
| ·General introduction | 第16-17页 |
| ·The traditional notion of aspect | 第17-24页 |
| ·Lexical aspect | 第17-21页 |
| ·Grammatical aspect | 第21-24页 |
| ·Perfective and imperfective aspects | 第22-24页 |
| ·Perfect aspect | 第24页 |
| ·The innovative notion of aspect | 第24-30页 |
| ·Klein's proposal | 第25-26页 |
| ·Liao's proposal | 第26-30页 |
| Chapter 3 Comparison between the English and the Chinese aspectual Systems | 第30-42页 |
| ·The Chinese aspectual system | 第30-35页 |
| ·Lexical cycle | 第30-35页 |
| ·The compositional level | 第30-32页 |
| ·The viewpoint level | 第32-35页 |
| ·Functional cycle | 第35页 |
| ·Comparison between the English and the Chinese aspectual systems | 第35-40页 |
| ·Differences in the lexical cycle | 第36-37页 |
| ·Differences in the functional cycle | 第37-39页 |
| ·Differences related to past-time adverbs | 第39-40页 |
| ·Summary | 第40-42页 |
| Chapter 4 Theoretical Review of Second Language Acquisition | 第42-46页 |
| ·The role of the native language | 第42-44页 |
| ·Universal Grammar | 第44-46页 |
| Chapter 5 Empirical Study | 第46-70页 |
| ·Hypotheses | 第46-47页 |
| ·Methodology | 第47-52页 |
| ·Participants | 第47-48页 |
| ·Instruments | 第48-50页 |
| ·Procedures | 第50-52页 |
| ·A pilot study | 第50-52页 |
| ·The formal study | 第52页 |
| ·Results and analysis | 第52-70页 |
| ·The criteria of count for cloze and translation | 第53-56页 |
| ·Statistical comparisons by tense | 第56-58页 |
| ·Statistical comparisons by verb type | 第58-61页 |
| ·Analysis | 第61-70页 |
| ·Errors involving the perfect aspect | 第61-63页 |
| ·Analysis of errors | 第63-70页 |
| Chapter 6 Conclusion | 第70-74页 |
| ·Answers to the hypotheses and research questions | 第70-73页 |
| ·Answers to the hypotheses | 第70-72页 |
| ·Answers to research questions | 第72-73页 |
| ·Suggestions for future research | 第73-74页 |
| References | 第74-80页 |
| Appendices | 第80-85页 |
| Appendix A Verbs Tested across Vendler's Four Categories in This Study | 第80-81页 |
| Appendix B Test in the Study | 第81-85页 |
