| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-10页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第10-12页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第12-16页 |
| ·Orientation of the Current Study | 第12-14页 |
| ·Significance of This Research | 第14-15页 |
| ·Organization of the Thesis | 第15-16页 |
| Chapter Two English Euphemism:An Overview | 第16-28页 |
| ·English Euphemism:A General Account | 第16-22页 |
| ·Origin of English Euphemism | 第16-18页 |
| ·Definition of English Euphemism | 第18-20页 |
| ·Classification of English Euphemism | 第20-22页 |
| ·Previous Studies on Euphemism | 第22-26页 |
| ·Studies from the Rhetorical Perspective | 第22-23页 |
| ·Studies from the Sociolinguistic Perspective | 第23页 |
| ·Studies from the Semantic Perspective | 第23-24页 |
| ·Studies from the Fuzziness Perspective | 第24-25页 |
| ·Studies from the Pragmatic Perspective | 第25-26页 |
| ·Limitations of Previous Studies | 第26-28页 |
| Chapter Three The Relevance Theoretic Account of English Euphemism | 第28-38页 |
| ·A Brief Introduction to the Relevance Theory | 第28-31页 |
| ·Ostension and Inference | 第28-29页 |
| ·Relevance,Contexual Effects and Processing Effort | 第29页 |
| ·Context | 第29-30页 |
| ·Two Principles of Relevance | 第30-31页 |
| ·Optimal Relevance | 第31页 |
| ·The Application of the Relevance Theory in English Euphemism | 第31-36页 |
| ·Euphemism and the Principle of Relevance | 第32页 |
| ·Euphemism and Contextual Effects | 第32-33页 |
| ·Processing Effort in Euphemism | 第33-34页 |
| ·Relevance-theoretic Interpretive Procedure | 第34-36页 |
| ·Merits and Demerits | 第36-38页 |
| Chapter Four The Adaptation Theoretic Account of English Euphemism | 第38-49页 |
| ·A Brief Introduction to the Adaptation Theory | 第38-43页 |
| ·Making Choices | 第38-39页 |
| ·Three Properties of Language | 第39-41页 |
| ·Four Angles of Investigation | 第41-43页 |
| ·The Application of the Adaptation Theory in English Euphemism | 第43-47页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Mental World | 第43-44页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Social World | 第44-46页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Physical World | 第46-47页 |
| ·Merits and Demerits | 第47-49页 |
| Chapter Five Revisiting English Euphemism Under the Relevance-Adaptation Model | 第49-64页 |
| ·The Framework of the Relevance-Adaptation Model | 第49-51页 |
| ·Analysis of Euphemism Under the Relevance-Adaptation Model | 第51-61页 |
| ·Euphemism as a Result of Choice-making | 第51页 |
| ·Relevance as the Prerequisite of Euphemistic Communication | 第51-53页 |
| ·Presumption of Relevance Deciding Linguistic Choices in Euphemistic Communication | 第53页 |
| ·Euphemistic Communication as an Integrated Process Between Linguistic Forms and Contextual Correlates | 第53-61页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Social World | 第53-57页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Mental World | 第57-59页 |
| ·Adaptation to the Physical World | 第59-61页 |
| ·Summary of the Analysis | 第61-64页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusions and Suggestions | 第64-67页 |
| ·Summary of the Major Findings of the Thesis | 第64-65页 |
| ·Limitations of the Present Study | 第65页 |
| ·Suggestions for Future Research | 第65-67页 |
| References | 第67-70页 |
