| 摘要 | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract | 第6-12页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第12-15页 |
| ·Research Background | 第12-13页 |
| ·Research Hypothesis | 第13-14页 |
| ·Organization of the thesis | 第14-15页 |
| Chapter 2 Literature Review | 第15-30页 |
| ·Evolution of Different Views on Metaphor | 第15-18页 |
| ·The traditional views | 第15-17页 |
| ·Comparison theory | 第16页 |
| ·Substitution theory | 第16页 |
| ·Interaction theory | 第16-17页 |
| ·The cognitive view--Conceptual metaphor theory | 第17-18页 |
| ·Definition of Metaphoric Competence | 第18-20页 |
| ·Definitions of Metaphoric Competence in the West and in China | 第18-19页 |
| ·A working definition of metaphoric competence used in this thesis | 第19-20页 |
| ·An Overview of Studies on Children’s Metaphoric Competence | 第20-26页 |
| ·Previous studies on children’s metaphoric competence in the West | 第20-24页 |
| ·Previous studies on children’s metaphoric competence in China | 第24-26页 |
| ·Limitations of previous studies | 第26-27页 |
| ·Types of conceptual metaphors used in the present study | 第27-30页 |
| Chapter 3 Research Methodology | 第30-37页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第30页 |
| ·Participants | 第30-31页 |
| ·Materials | 第31-33页 |
| ·Procedures | 第33-35页 |
| ·Procedure for the Picture Matching Part | 第33-34页 |
| ·Procedure for the Sentence Comprehension Part | 第34-35页 |
| ·Data Collection and Coding | 第35-37页 |
| Chapter 4 Results and Discussions | 第37-58页 |
| ·Results of Participants’ Performance in the Picture Matching Part | 第37-44页 |
| ·Age-related Findings | 第37-41页 |
| ·Gender-related Findings | 第41-43页 |
| ·Type-related Findings | 第43-44页 |
| ·Results of Participants’ Performance in the Sentence Comprehension Part | 第44-49页 |
| ·Age-related Findings | 第45-46页 |
| ·Gender-related Findings | 第46-47页 |
| ·Type-related Findings | 第47-49页 |
| ·Discussions | 第49-56页 |
| ·Discussion based on Age-related findings | 第49-52页 |
| ·Discussion based on the First Research Question | 第49-50页 |
| ·Discussion based on the Third Research Question | 第50-52页 |
| ·Discussion based on Gender-related findings (the Fourth Research Question) | 第52-53页 |
| ·Discussion based on Type-related findings | 第53-56页 |
| ·Discussion based on the Second Research Question | 第53-55页 |
| ·Discussion based on the Fifth Research Question | 第55-56页 |
| ·Characteristics of children’s metaphoric competence | 第56-58页 |
| Chapter 5 Conclusion | 第58-61页 |
| ·Summary of major findings | 第58页 |
| ·Implication of the study | 第58-60页 |
| ·Limitation of the study and suggestions for future studies | 第60-61页 |
| References | 第61-65页 |
| Appendix A | 第65-66页 |
| Appendix B概念隐喻理解测试题 | 第66-67页 |
| 在校期间研究成果及发表的学术论文 | 第67-68页 |
| Acknowledgement | 第68页 |
