| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract (in English) | 第4-5页 |
| Abstract (in Chinese) | 第5-10页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第10-13页 |
| ·The Theme of the Thesis | 第10-11页 |
| ·The Approach to the Study | 第11-12页 |
| ·The Arrangement of the Thesis | 第12-13页 |
| Chapter Two Vagueness and Its Inevitability in News Reporting | 第13-31页 |
| ·Conception of vagueness | 第13-21页 |
| ·The Origin of the Vague Theory | 第13-14页 |
| ·The Definition of Vagueness | 第14-16页 |
| ·Related Notions | 第16-21页 |
| ·Generality | 第16-17页 |
| ·Ambiguity | 第17-18页 |
| ·Fuzziness | 第18-19页 |
| ·Distinction Among Vagueness & Its Related Notions | 第19-21页 |
| ·The Treatment of the Term of “Vagueness”in This Paper | 第21页 |
| ·Inevitability of Vagueness in News Reporting | 第21-28页 |
| ·Features of News | 第21-23页 |
| ·Definition of News | 第21-22页 |
| ·Classification of News | 第22页 |
| ·Essential Elements of News | 第22-23页 |
| ·Inevitability of Vagueness in News Reporting | 第23-28页 |
| ·The Natural World Is Vague | 第23-25页 |
| ·Vague Thinking: an Endowment of Man | 第25-26页 |
| ·Vagueness Inherent in Language | 第26-27页 |
| ·Vagueness in News Reporting Per Se | 第27-28页 |
| ·Existence of Vague Phenomenon in News Language | 第28-31页 |
| Chapter Three Previous Studies of Vagueness and News Discourse | 第31-42页 |
| ·A Brief Review of Vagueness Research | 第31-35页 |
| ·Previous Studies of News Discourse | 第35-40页 |
| ·The Discourse Approach in Media Research | 第35-36页 |
| ·Discourse Analysis of News | 第36-40页 |
| ·The Textual Analysis of News in the Press | 第36-39页 |
| ·Text Semantics | 第37-38页 |
| ·Superstructures: The News Schema | 第38页 |
| ·Style and Rhetoric | 第38-39页 |
| ·Social Cognition and Sociocultural Contexts | 第39-40页 |
| ·The Present Study | 第40-42页 |
| Chapter Four A Study of Pragmatic Functions of Vagueness in News Reporting | 第42-69页 |
| ·Theoretical Basis for the Study | 第42-61页 |
| ·Vagueness and Co-operative Principle | 第42-50页 |
| ·Co-operative Principle to Vagueness | 第42-43页 |
| ·Textual Analysis | 第43-50页 |
| ·Placeholder Words | 第44-46页 |
| ·Representation of Amounts | 第46-50页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Approximators | 第46-47页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Round Numbers | 第47-48页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Non-numerical Quantifiers/ VagueQuantifyingExpressions | 第48-49页 |
| ·Summary | 第49-50页 |
| ·Relevance Theory in Vagueness | 第50-61页 |
| ·Relevance Theoretic Approach to Vagueness | 第50-52页 |
| ·Textual Analysis | 第52-61页 |
| ·Representation of Amounts | 第53-57页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Approximators | 第53-55页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Round Numbers | 第55-56页 |
| ·Approximating Quantities with Vague Quantifying Expressions | 第56-57页 |
| ·Propositional Attitudes | 第57-60页 |
| ·Role of Context | 第60页 |
| ·Summary | 第60-61页 |
| ·Pragmatic Functions of Vagueness in News Reporting | 第61-69页 |
| ·Meeting the Reading Habits of Audience | 第61-63页 |
| ·Conforming to the Basic Criteria of News Reporting | 第63-64页 |
| ·Adding Piquency and Spice to News Stories | 第64页 |
| ·Preventing Speaking in an Over-Definite or Absolute Way | 第64-65页 |
| ·Strengthening the Credibility of News Reporting | 第65-66页 |
| ·Avoiding the Negative Effects of News Reporting | 第66-69页 |
| Chapter Five Advantages and Disadvantages of Use Of Vagueness in News Reporting | 第69-72页 |
| ·Advantages of Appropriate Use | 第69-70页 |
| ·Disadvantages of Inappropriate Use | 第70-72页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第72-74页 |
| Bibliography | 第74-77页 |
