| Acknowledgements | 第3-4页 |
| Abstract | 第4-5页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-11页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第11-13页 |
| 1.1 Introduction to the study | 第11页 |
| 1.2 Necessity and significance of the study | 第11-12页 |
| 1.3 Organization of the thesis | 第12-13页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第13-26页 |
| 2.1 General review of studies on metaphors abroad | 第13-16页 |
| 2.1.1 Traditional and contemporary views on metaphors | 第13-14页 |
| 2.1.2 Classification of metaphors | 第14-16页 |
| 2.1.3 Main characteristics of metaphors | 第16页 |
| 2.2 General review of studies on metaphors at home | 第16-18页 |
| 2.3 Review on TIME AS SPACE metaphors in English and in Chinese | 第18-23页 |
| 2.3.1 Three special cases of TIME AS SPACE metaphors in English | 第19-21页 |
| 2.3.2 Two models of TIME AS SPACE metaphors in Chinese | 第21-23页 |
| 2.4 Review of studies on FRONT/BACK metaphors in English and in Chinese | 第23-24页 |
| 2.4.1 Review of studies on FRONT/BACK metaphors in English | 第23页 |
| 2.4.2 Review of studies on FRONT/ BACK metaphors in Chinese | 第23-24页 |
| 2.5 Originality of the study | 第24-26页 |
| Chapter Three Theoretical Framework | 第26-31页 |
| 3.1 Grounding of conceptual metaphor theory--experientialism | 第26-27页 |
| 3.2 Essence of conceptual metaphors | 第27-28页 |
| 3.3 Working mechanism of conceptual metaphors:cross-domain mappings | 第28-31页 |
| Chapter Four Methodoloigy | 第31-35页 |
| 4.1 Research questions | 第31页 |
| 4.2 Data collection | 第31-32页 |
| 4.3 Procedure of data analysis | 第32-35页 |
| Chapter Five Results and Discussion | 第35-64页 |
| 5.1 Working mechanism of FRONT/BACK metaphors in English and Chinese | 第35-38页 |
| 5.2 General view of FRONT/BACK metaphors both in English and Chinese corpora | 第38-40页 |
| 5.3 Comparison between FRONT metaphors in English and Chinese | 第40-50页 |
| 5.3.1 English and Chinese FRONT metaphors in time domain | 第40-43页 |
| 5.3.2 English and Chinese FRONT metaphors in condition domain | 第43-48页 |
| 5.3.3 English and Chinese FRONT metaphors in social relation and status domain | 第48-50页 |
| 5.4 Comparison between BACK metaphors in English and Chinese | 第50-59页 |
| 5.4.1 English and Chinese BACK metaphors in time domain | 第50-52页 |
| 5.4.2 English and Chinese BACK metaphors in condition domain | 第52-56页 |
| 5.4.3 English and Chinese BACK metaphors in social relation and status domain | 第56-59页 |
| 5.4.4 Special Chinese word "前后" with different metaphorical expressions | 第59页 |
| 5.5 Discussion | 第59-64页 |
| 5.5.1 Causes of the similarities between English and Chinese FRONT/BACK metaphors | 第59-60页 |
| 5.5.2 Causes of the differences between English and Chinese FRONT/BACK metaphors | 第60-64页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第64-67页 |
| 6.1 Summary of major findings | 第64-65页 |
| 6.2 Implications of the study | 第65页 |
| 6.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study | 第65-67页 |
| Bibliography | 第67-70页 |
| Publications | 第70页 |
