摘要：Metaphor has long been a hot topic for linguistic scholars. Traditionally, metaphor has been viewed as a pure linguistic phenomenon and studied as a rhetoric device. Contrary to the traditional view of metaphor, American linguists Lakoff and Johnson think that metaphor is not only a form of human language, but also a matter of human action and thought. Political discourse has always been considered to be bearing strong smell of politics and influenced by ideology. Therefore, it’s usually abstract and hard for people to understand. The present thesis attempts to apply conceptual metaphor theory and in American Presidential Inaugural Addresses. They like employing metaphor to express their own political thought and standpoints to persuade infect and motivate people by means of mapping concrete familiar concepts onto abstract political concepts.
关键词：conceptual metaphor; American presidential inaugural addresses
