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Chapter OneINTRODUCTION

This thesis aims to discuss conceptual metaphor and its cognitive process inEnglish ball sports news. In this chapter, the research background, purpose andsignificance, and research procedure of the research and the layout of this paper will beintroduced.

1.1 Research Background
Where there is language, there is metaphor. As a universal phenomenon inlanguage,metaphorhasalways beenthe researchfocusoflinguists.Systematic analysisof metaphor can date back to Aristotle, who defined it as a kind of rhetorical. In thework of Aristotle, Rhetoric and Poetics, metaphor is analyzed from many aspects indetails including definition, working system and main functions of metaphor. Heconsidered that metaphor is a kind of decoration and ornament in language. Besides,metaphor only exists in literary works and only used by men of literature and writing.With the development of modern linguistic, the study of metaphor has turned tothe level of human cognition. Different from the traditional studies focus on rhetorical,cognitive metaphor regards it as not only a kind of rhetorical but also a matter ofcognition. Lakoff and Johnson are the representative of cognitive metaphor study, theirMetaphors We Live By is the master work in this field. As Lakoff points out, metaphoris a common phenomenon, “it is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but inthought and action” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:3). Metaphor is a kind of cognitionphenomenon that can reflect human beings’ modes of thinking, it is the necessarycognitive tool in the composition of the system of human thought, and it is conceptual.Based on the embodied philosophy, conceptual metaphor is different from traditionalmetaphorical theories in its adoption of mapping happens between two domains,namely, target domain and source domain. One domain is more abstract and the otheris more concrete. Lakeoff said “the essence of metaphor is understanding andexperiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980:5).
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1.2 Purpose and Significance of this Research
This paper aims to discuss three questions about conceptual metaphor in Englishball sports news:1. Is there any conceptual metaphor in English ball sports news? Linguists haspointed out that metaphor exists in any kinds of language and in any types of texts, thus,the author aims to confirm that there exists conceptual metaphor in English ball sportsnews through texts analyzing.2. How many kinds of conceptual metaphors in English ball sports news, and whatare they? After confirming the existence of conceptual metaphor in English ball sportsnews, the author then will classify the conceptual metaphors based on Lakeoff andJohnson’s conceptual metaphor theory.3. How to understand these conceptual metaphors in English ball sports newsthrough the mechanism of conceptual metaphor? Based on the conceptual metaphortheory, the author will discuss the cognitive process of these metaphors in English ballsports news.Since this research is carried out with authentic corpus, therefore, it is of theoretical and practical significance.Theoretically, this paper serves as the complement in the field to exploreconceptual metaphor in news texts. This paper proves that metaphor exists in Englishball sports news, and it can be understood through the mechanism of conceptualmetaphor. On the basis of mapping process of conceptual metaphor in sports news, th