正如维特根斯坦所言，语言是一种“游戏”，但这种“游戏”背后是有隐含规则或规律的，这就需要去认真探讨和研究。本书从语用、认知视角对一些语言现象，如英汉请求回应、英汉中动结构、英汉名词性领属结构、“Ulysses”象似性和英汉时间隐喻进行了多角度考察。该研究对语言研究者或爱好者有较高的学术参考价值与实用价值。

Chapter One A Contrastive Study of Responses to Requests in English and Chinese
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Subjects
1.3 The Questionnaire
1.4 Instrument-The Discourse Completion Test
1.5 Quantitative Findings Concerning Request Responses among Americans and the Chinese People
1.6 Contextual Variables in the Responses to Requests
1.7 Tentative Analysis of the Common Features of Request Responses
1.8 Limitations and Further Research
1.9 Conclusions
Chapter Two Middle Construction in English and Chinese:A Cognitive Semantic Study
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Orientation and Motivation of the Study
2.1.2 The Concept of Middle Construction
2.1.3 Aims and Hypotheses of the Study
2.1.4 Layout and Scope of the Study
2.2 Literature Review
2.2.1 Middle Construction
2.2.2 Construction Grammar
2.3 Middle Construction in English
2.3.1 Classification of Middle Construction in English
2.3.2 Characteristics of Middle Construction in English
2.4 Middle Construction in Chinese
2.4.1 Middle Construction in Chinese
2.4.2 The Classification of Chinese Middle Construction
2.4.3 The Characteristics of Chinese Middle Construction
2.4.4 The Selectional Restriction of Middle Verbs in Chinese
2.4.5 Particularity of Chinese Middle Construction
2.5 Conclusions
2.5.1 Findings of the Study
2.5.2 Limitations of the Study
2.5.3 Suggestions for Further Research
Chapter Three A Comparison of Nominal Possessives in English and Chinese from a Cognitive Perspective
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Orientation of the Title
3.1.2 The Significance of the Present Study
3.1.3 Methods
3.1.4 The Aims of the Present Study
3.1.5 Layout and Scope of the Study
3.2 Literature Review
3.2.1 Traditional Grammar
3.2.2 Transformational and Generative Grammar
3.2.3 Cognitive Linguistics
3.3 Concepts of Possession
……
Chapter Four Iconicity in Ulysses
Chapter Five A Cognitive Approach to Temporal Metaphors in English and Chinese
References