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ces which could be traced back behind the phenomenon of language, both of which serve to probe into the art of translation; Therefore, in one sense, it is highly valuable to combine the study of comparison and contrast between English metaphor and Chinese metaphor, the culture differences and translation skills into a whole 2. English metaphor Metaphor is a figurative phenomenon, an important tool in language communication; what’s more, it has a closed relationship with many subjects,[3]P1 such as Literature, Aesthetics, Sociology, Philosophy, Logic and so on, for metaphor can permeate into one’s subjective thinking and concept of aesthetic. One’s personality, including philosophy, culture, standard of aesthetics and so on, will be reflected through the metaphor one uses. Therefore, metaphor should be studied from a more profound and higher level. 2.1 Authoritative Definition Various definition of metaphor have been proposed and some of them are quoted below. i ) metaphor: (example of the) use of a word or phrase to indicate something different from (thought related in some way to) the literal meaning, as in ‘I’ll make him eat his words’ or ‘she has a heart of stone’. ( Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Diction the fourth edition ) ii) metaphor: a way of describing something by comparing it to something else that has similar qualities, without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’, ‘the sunshine of her simile’ is a metaphor. ( Longman Dictionary of Contemporary 1995 ) iii) metaphor:隐喻(一种修辞手段如 drowning in money, food for thought 之类). ( The English-Chinese Dictionary 1993 ) iv) “By metaphor .I mean any figurative expression: the transferred sense of a physical word; the personification of an abstraction; the application of a word or collocation to what does not literally denote, i.e, to describe one thing in terms of another”. Peter New Mark [4]P123 v) metaphor: a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another. ( Web’s Now World Dictionary ) 2.2 Structure in English metaphor Metaphor comes from the ancient Greece words ‘meta’ and ‘pherein’ ‘meta’ means ‘across’, ‘pherein’ means ‘change’; Therefore the basic function of metaphor is to transform something from one place to another.[5]P1 From semantic view, there are three basic factors composing a metaphors: the tenor, the vehicle, the ground, not all of which need to be presented in a metaphor, that is, some of them may be hidden. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish three factors from each other when facing a metaphor. (5) All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players. (Shakespere) (6) I have seen the mermaids riding seawards on the wave. (T.S.Eliot) In example (1) ‘stage’ is the vehicle, its literal meaning is the raised floor on which plays are performed in a theatre which exit in our real life, while ‘world’ is the tenor, and the ground of this metaphor is that both are full of illusion and absurdity. In (6) ‘riding’ is the vehicle, which literally means an action to travel long controlling and sitting on a horse, and the ground is the situation that the mermaids floating on the waves lightly. However, not all vehicles and tenors in metaphors refer to the reality in our life just as example (5) and (6) do, they may refer to the abstract concept implied in the context, and also they may refer to some kinds of quality or condition qualities.