【正文】 there appeared an episode in 1972 when President Nicoson visited China. Chinese Premier Zhou went to Shanghai to receive American visitors. He found that Mr. and Mrs. Nicoson were arranged to live in Room15, Kissinger in Room14, but some state councilors in Room13? The Western people often take Number 13 as a taboo. After entering their apartments, Premier Zhou was aware that these Western visitors seemed unhappy. So he explained:” it is a pity that we have made a serious mistake. We ignored the special Western culture.” He continued,” There was an old Chinese fable that when a man was afraid of ghost, the more he thought, the more he felt terrified. At the time he felt no fear, he began to look for the ghost, but the ghost disappeared…Number 13 in Western cu lture looked like the Chinese ghost.” Hearing his story, the American visitors laughed heartily. At last they cooled down. From this example, we can realize the necessity of the cultural infiltration in language munication. So we must pay attention to the social influence of euphemism. This avoidance function is the first munication function of euphemisms[13]. Such function is often used in the following situations: . The euphemisms for God and devil The Ten Commandments of Bible has prescribed, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain。 to push up daisies。 to launch into eternity。 “mit suicide” is called “selfdeliverance or selfviolence”. People often use initialing to avoid talk about some diseases directly, such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)。 “to make a woman pregnant” is called “to spoil/ruin a woman?s shape”. Some one even called 英語 畢業(yè)論文 vii“to be pregnant” “to be caught” or “to be fallen”. Some vague expressions also show a kind of restless mood, such as: that way, in a certain/particular/delicate condition etc. The use of humor is another feature of euphemism for “being pregnant”. American people are likely to say “to have a watermelon on the vine”, or “to swallow a watermelon seed”. British people are likely to say “to have a bun in the oven” or “to have an Irish toothache” (to make fun of Irish people who are pregnant as monly as having a toothache). . Courtesy Another reason to use euphemism is that it avoids the harsh and direct word in a polite way, and makes the sentence sound more pleasant. To grasp the polite function of euphemism can help you build a good relationship with others. The polite functions are especially reflected in the occupations, or trades. It relate with Politeness Principle of Leech[17]. It is obvious that advertisement is aimed at helping businessmen propaganda their goods, for the sake of soliciting customs. As a pleasant way, using euphemisms in advertisements has bee more and more widespread. Now, “secondhand store” has been replaced by “resale store”, “super”, “giant”, “special”, such words, have bee more popular. Moreover, we can often see the same phenomenon about the expressions for classes of cabins. To defend passengers ?honor, “First Class” is changed to “Deluxe Class”, “Second Class” is to “First Class”, “Third Class” to “Business Class”, and “Economic Class” to “Tourist Class”. This function undoubtly plays an active role of improving the progress of society: . The euphemism for the office and trade For example, “mental hospital or mental health center” is a euphemism for “madhouse”。 housewife→domestic engineer。 dustman for garbologist。 “penniless” is called “out of pocket, in reduced circumstances, badly off, needy etc.”。 to child, it is called “chubby”. On the contrary, if someone is too thin, euphemism is also used. To male, it is called “l(fā)ean”, and to female, it is called “slim, slender, willowy or svelte”. . The euphemisms for poverty and unemployment The topic of poverty and unemployment might cause some embarrassment, so people often use euphemism when their talks concern such things. For example, “dismissal” is often called “l(fā)ay off, ease out, get the walking ticket/pink slip”。 “undertaker” also has many expressions: bereavement counselor, grief therapist, funeral director, funeral service practitioner. Besides “engineer” housewife also can be called “household executive”, “homemaker”, even “domestic manager”。 packing engineer。 “pornographic movies” is called “adult films”。 “l(fā)eprosy” is called “Hansen?s disease”。 to be at peace, to be asleep in the Arms of God。 to be no longer with us。 treatment→health care。 the period of economic depression→a period of economic adjustment。 in debt→ in difficulties。 to rape somebody→to do violence to somebody。 “dirty” is called “ be lack of proper health habits”.[7] . Semantic method . Synonym For example, “tight” is used instead of “stingy”。 ask you to g o away→call your carriage for you。 “mortician” refers to “undertaker”. There also appeared some beautiful names for barbershop: hair salon, beauty parlour, and stylist parlour. . Ellipsis That is to omit the offensive words while speaking, such as to be expecting (a baby), to have (sexual) relations with somebody, to take precautions (against pregnancy), to depart (from this world). Of course, such phrases should be put into a certain context, which can express the meaning of euphemisms. . Periphrasis It is an expression of beating around the bush. Though it is a muddled acting, its aim is to avoid offending others, and to be more polite[6]. If someone asked a woman whether she was knitting a tiny garment, he meant that he wondered whether she was pregnant. Such way of speaking is humorous, sweet and agreeable, such as to die→to close one?s eyes, to expire, to breathe one?s last。 to degenerate→to go astray。本文主要闡述了 英語 委婉語的構(gòu)成方法以及它的社會影響，并著重從修辭手段，語義手段，構(gòu)詞手段及語法手段對委婉語言作了較全面的分析，并對委婉語在交際中的語用功能和表達方式做了一些探討，從委婉語的 “避諱 ”功能， “禮貌 ”功能和 “掩飾 ”功能三個方面探討了委婉語在社會生活中的運用，了解委婉語在