Chapter 2 A Theoretical Framework for This Study

2.1 Introduction

Metaphor can be studied in many different ways and at many different levels（Sternberg et al 1998:277）.As this research is principally applied linguistics oriented, it confines itself mainly to the study at the practical level.In other words, it will not examine the strengths and weaknesses of the existing metaphor theories as is followed by many other studies（Searle 1998; Murphy 1996:173-204）.Rather, it will try to reveal the real nature of metaphor based on a comparative analysis of Aristotle's and Lakoff & Johnson's theories, aiming to throw some light on the implications their theories have on language, especially foreign language learning and teaching research and practice and thus provides a theoretical framework for the present study.