| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| Abstract | 第5-6页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-7页 |
| Contents | 第7-9页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第9-11页 |
| Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework | 第11-22页 |
| ·Speech Act Theory | 第11-12页 |
| ·Austin’s contribution to Speech Act Theory | 第11-12页 |
| ·Searle’s development of Speech Act Theory | 第12页 |
| ·Studies on politeness | 第12-22页 |
| ·The social-norm view | 第13-14页 |
| ·The conversational-maxim view | 第14-17页 |
| ·Grice’s Cooperative Principle(CP) | 第14-15页 |
| ·Lakoff’s maxims of politeness | 第15页 |
| ·Leech’s Politeness Principle(PP) | 第15-16页 |
| ·Gu’s modification of PP | 第16-17页 |
| ·The face-saving view | 第17-20页 |
| ·Brown and Levinson’s face theory | 第17-20页 |
| ·Definition of"face" | 第17-18页 |
| ·Face threatening acts(FTA) | 第18页 |
| ·Strategies for doing FTA | 第18-19页 |
| ·Factors influencing the choice of strategies | 第19-20页 |
| ·Mao’s construct about"face" | 第20页 |
| ·The conversational-contract view | 第20-22页 |
| Chapter 3 The speech act of refusal | 第22-27页 |
| ·Four categories of refusals | 第22页 |
| ·Face threats embodied in refusal | 第22-27页 |
| ·Threats to the speaker’s positive face | 第23-24页 |
| ·Threats to the speaker’s negative face | 第24-25页 |
| ·Threats to the hearer’s positive face | 第25页 |
| ·Threats to the hearer’s negative face | 第25-27页 |
| Chapter 4 Early contrastive studies on refusals | 第27-32页 |
| ·Contrastive studies of English-Japanese refusal strategies by Beebe & Takahashi and Kumagai | 第27-28页 |
| ·Contrastive studies of English-Chinese refusal strategies by Liao & Bresnahan | 第28-32页 |
| Chapter 5 Contemporary contrastive studies on refusals | 第32-44页 |
| ·Contrastive study of English-Chinese refusal strategies by Wang Aihua | 第33-35页 |
| ·Contrastive study of English-Chinese refusals by Wang Aihua and Wu Guiliang | 第35-38页 |
| ·Contrastive study of English-Chinese refusal strategies by Yao Jun | 第38-39页 |
| ·Study of Chinese refusals by Xie,Chen and Hu | 第39-41页 |
| ·Study of Chinese refusals by Zhu Yue and Li Jiayu | 第41-44页 |
| Chapter 6 Criticism on contemporary contrastive studies | 第44-53页 |
| ·General features | 第44-49页 |
| ·Generalization versus particularization | 第44-46页 |
| ·Inheritance versus creation | 第46-47页 |
| ·Discourse completion test versus observation | 第47-49页 |
| ·Limitations and suggestions | 第49-53页 |
| ·Inappropriateness of the statistical method | 第49-50页 |
| ·Limitation in the application of the theoretical framework | 第50-51页 |
| ·Isolation from the context | 第51页 |
| ·Dissatisfying definition of the influencing factors of FTA | 第51-52页 |
| ·Insufficiency of particularized studies | 第52-53页 |
| Chapter 7 Conclusion | 第53-54页 |
| Bibliography | 第54-55页 |
