Abstract:
 Euphemism is widely used in the process of communication. People would prefer euphemistic speech in order to surpass different communicative obstacles and avoid the direct embarrassments. This thesis attempts to do a comprehensive analysis of English euphemisms and Chinese euphemisms by analyzing their linguistic and cultural characteristics. This thesis falls into five chapters. Chapter One introduces the definition and classification of euphemisms in English and Chinese. Chapter Two illustrates pragmatic functions of euphemisms. Chapter Three states the similarities between Chinese and English euphemisms. Chapter Four explains the differences between English euphemism and Chinese euphemism. Chapter Five is a conclusion of all the findings and discoveries made in this thesis. Euphemism as a social phenomenon, is observed everywhere in all human societies and it is used in all human interactions. We can get the reflection of the social value and moral attitude from euphemism. The significance of this paper is to help readers to get more knowledge about Chinese and English euphemism. In terms of this, much research has been done because of its prominence in language. A lot of great works came into being during the study of euphemism, which lay a foundation for further research. Through the comparison of English euphemism and Chinese euphemism，we can see that euphemism is a linguistic,  social and cultural phenomenon. Its generation and development are the outcome of various socio-psychological and pragmatic factors.

Key words: euphemism; contrastive study; differences and similarities

摘要：
在交流中人们经常用到委婉语。人们会喜欢委婉的讲话，以超越不同的交际障碍，避免了直接的尴尬。这篇论文将尝试对英语委婉语和汉语委婉语进行全面分析，比较其语言和文化的特点。 这篇论文分为五个章节。 第一章介绍了英语和汉语中的委婉语的分类与定义。 第二章说明了委婉语的语用功能。 第三章指出英汉委婉语之间的相似之处。 第四章说明英语委婉语与汉语委婉语的差异。 第五章是本论文的结论部分。委婉语作为一种社会语言现象，在人类社会中无处不在，用于所有的人类交流，委婉语也反映我们的社会道德价值。这篇文章的意义在于帮助读者能够获得更多有关英汉委婉语的知识。前人对委婉语在语言中的重要性已经进行了大量的研究，出现了大量伟大的著作，为进一步的研究提供了基础。 通过英语委婉语和汉语委婉语的对比，我们可以看到委婉语是一种语言现象，也是一种社会文化现象，它的产生和发展是各种社会心理和语用因素的结果。

关键词：委婉语；对比研究；异同

1 Introduction
Language is the carrier of the culture. It is the tool for people’s daily communication. Enright said “A language without euphemisms would be a defective instrument of communication.” Hugh Rawson also emphasized that “Euphemisms are embedded so deeply in our language that few of us, even those who pride themselves on being plain-spoken, ever get through a day without using them.” Apart from those, a great many works came into being , such as Mencken’ The American Language in 1936 and the year 1983 also witnessed the publication of Kind Words—A Thesaurus of Euphemisms, compiled by Neaman and Silver.