| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| English Abstract | 第4-6页 |
| Chinese Abstract | 第6-10页 |
| ChapterOne Introduction | 第10-12页 |
| ·Cognitive Linguistics: the Macro Background | 第10-11页 |
| ·Aims of the research | 第11页 |
| ·Organization of the thesis | 第11-12页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第12-32页 |
| ·Classical Theories of Metaphor | 第12-13页 |
| ·Contemporary Theory of Metaphor | 第13-16页 |
| ·Two Categories of Metaphor | 第16页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence, Linguistic Competence and Communicative Competence | 第16-23页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence | 第16-20页 |
| ·Cultural Justification for Metaphoric Competence | 第16-18页 |
| ·Definition of Metaphoric Competence | 第18-19页 |
| ·Psychological Process of MC and Its Meta-cognitive Nature | 第19-20页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence, Communicative Competence and Linguistic Competence | 第20-23页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence as Facilitator of Language Learning | 第23-28页 |
| ·Contribution to Development of Linguistic Competence | 第23-24页 |
| ·Contribution to Development of Communicative Competence | 第24-26页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence and Conceptual Fluency | 第26-27页 |
| ·Three Theses | 第27-28页 |
| ·Previous Research | 第28-32页 |
| Chapter Three Methodology | 第32-38页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第32页 |
| ·Research Design | 第32-37页 |
| ·Subjects | 第32-33页 |
| ·Instruments | 第33-37页 |
| ·Metaphoric Competence Test | 第33-36页 |
| ·Score report of TEM4 | 第36-37页 |
| ·P rocedures | 第37-38页 |
| ·Pilot Study | 第37页 |
| ·Main Study | 第37-38页 |
| Chapter Four Results and Discussion | 第38-46页 |
| ·General Picture of the Subjects’MC | 第38-41页 |
| ·Correlation between MC and English Proficiency Holistically | 第41-42页 |
| ·Correlation between MC and English Proficiency Analytically | 第42-46页 |
| Chapter Five Implications and Applications | 第46-51页 |
| ·To L2 Teaching | 第46-49页 |
| ·To L2 Learning | 第49-51页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第51-53页 |
| ·Major Findings of the Research | 第51页 |
| ·Limitations of the Research | 第51-52页 |
| ·Suggestions for Future Research | 第52-53页 |
| Bibliography | 第53-57页 |
| Appendix I | 第57-63页 |
