| Abstract | 第1-6页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-9页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第9-14页 |
| ·Motivation and significance of the study | 第9-10页 |
| ·Background of the study | 第10-12页 |
| ·Background information of refusal speech act | 第10-11页 |
| ·Background information of A Dream of Red Mansions and The Story of a Noble Family | 第11-12页 |
| ·Research questions | 第12页 |
| ·The organization of the thesis | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第14-29页 |
| ·Politeness views | 第14-19页 |
| ·Brown & Levinson's concepts of "face" and politeness | 第14-16页 |
| ·Leech's politeness principle | 第16-18页 |
| ·Gu Yueguo's concept of politeness in Chinese culture | 第18-19页 |
| ·Speech act theory | 第19-22页 |
| ·John Austin's speech act theory | 第20-21页 |
| ·John Searle's speech act theory | 第21-22页 |
| ·Indirect speech act and politeness | 第22-23页 |
| ·Previous studies on refusal speech act | 第23-29页 |
| ·Studies on refusal speech act abroad | 第24-25页 |
| ·Studies on refusal speech act at home | 第25-29页 |
| Chapter Three Research Methodology | 第29-33页 |
| ·Data collection | 第29-30页 |
| ·Data analysis | 第30-33页 |
| ·The sequence of refusals | 第30-31页 |
| ·The classification of refusal strategies | 第31-32页 |
| ·Contextual variables | 第32-33页 |
| Chapter Four Data Analysis and Discussion | 第33-53页 |
| ·The different strategies of Chinese refusal speech act | 第33-46页 |
| ·The classification of strategies | 第33-40页 |
| ·The different use of refusal strategies | 第40-46页 |
| ·Social factors in the different use of the strategies | 第46-53页 |
| ·Relative power | 第46-50页 |
| ·Social distance | 第50-53页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第53-56页 |
| ·The summary of main findings | 第53-54页 |
| ·Limitations and implications of the Study | 第54-56页 |
| References | 第56-60页 |
| Acknowledgements | 第60页 |
