| Acknowledgements | 第1-6页 |
| Abstract | 第6-9页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第9-13页 |
| List of Figures and Tables | 第13-14页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第14-18页 |
| ·General description of the study | 第14-15页 |
| ·Need and significance for the study | 第15-17页 |
| ·Overall structure of the thesis | 第17-18页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第18-43页 |
| ·Definitions of some key terms | 第18-26页 |
| ·Prepositions | 第18-20页 |
| ·Polysemy | 第20-21页 |
| ·Metaphor and spatial metaphor | 第21-24页 |
| ·Metaphorical mapping | 第24-25页 |
| ·Source domain and target domain | 第25-26页 |
| ·Theoretical foundations for the study | 第26-32页 |
| ·Conceptual Metaphor and Metaphorical Concept | 第26-27页 |
| ·The prototype theory | 第27-29页 |
| ·Image Schema theory | 第29-31页 |
| ·Container metaphor | 第31-32页 |
| ·Review of previous studies | 第32-43页 |
| ·Metaphor Study: Four Influential Views | 第32-38页 |
| ·The Substitution View | 第32-33页 |
| ·The Comparison View | 第33-34页 |
| ·The Interaction View | 第34-35页 |
| ·The Cognitive View | 第35-38页 |
| ·Studies of prepositions both at home and abroad | 第38-40页 |
| ·Studies of the preposition in both at home and abroad | 第40-43页 |
| Chapter Three Methodology | 第43-46页 |
| ·Research Questions | 第43页 |
| ·Description of the materials | 第43-44页 |
| ·Data collection and analyzing procedures | 第44-46页 |
| Chapter Four Results and Discussion | 第46-59页 |
| ·The general picture of the frequency distributions of in with its spatial and non-spatial meanings | 第46-47页 |
| ·Frequency distributions and cognitive analysis of the spatial meanings of in | 第47-49页 |
| ·Frequency distributions of the spatial meanings of in | 第47页 |
| ·Cognitive analysis of the spatial meanings of in | 第47-49页 |
| ·Distributions and analysis of non-spatial meanings of in | 第49-59页 |
| ·Distributions of non-spatial meanings of in and the target domains involved | 第49-50页 |
| ·Cognitive analysis of the non-spatial meanings of in | 第50-59页 |
| ·The domain of Time | 第51-52页 |
| ·The domain of Scope | 第52-54页 |
| ·The domain of State | 第54-55页 |
| ·The domain of Manner | 第55-56页 |
| ·The domain of Events | 第56-57页 |
| ·The domain of Activities | 第57-59页 |
| Chapter Five Conclusion | 第59-62页 |
| ·Major findings | 第59-60页 |
| ·Pedagogical implications | 第60-61页 |
| ·Limitations and suggestions | 第61-62页 |
| References | 第62-65页 |
| 攻读学位期间发表的论文 | 第65页 |
