【正文】 tor engineer engineer woman engineer surgeon surgeon female surgeon pilot pilot female pilot judge judge female judge lawyer lawyer lady lawyer general general woman general scientist scientist lady scientist B. Sexism in Meaning In semantics (1981)Geffery Leech classified meaning as conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, associative meaning, affective meaning, collective meaning, all of which are consisted of the most prehensive meaning of words. Sexism is showed in all these meaning. 1. Sexism in Conceptual Meaning Conceptual meaning means logical, cognitive or denotative It is also called denotative meaning, which is basic meaning in munication. In general, conceptual meaning contents little sexism. However, the basic meaning of some words reflects injustice towards female. For example, the definitions of “man” in Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Chinese Dictionary (Extended fourth edition) are as follows: (1)adult male human being。 (3) [sing](without the or a) the human race。 “humankind”. If not, the two sentences could be changed into: (3) Woman is a social animal. (4) Women remake nature. From analysis above, it is clear to see that the status of female is lower than male, from point of conceptual meaning. 2. Sexism in Connotative Meaning Connotative meaning means what is municated by virtue of what language refers It is extension of conceptual meaning. In sexist words, connotative meaning conveys clearly sexism. a. Original Connotation in Words’ Gender Different words such as woman, female, lady and so on express female adult, which have different connotative meanings and whose ranges of using are changing continuously. However, these female words are endowed by the society with the meaning of weak and ignorant. For instance, the denotative meaning of woman is female adult, but it contents derogatory sense of weak, liking crying, sentimental, attached, passive, narrowminded and being gossip from connotative meaning. Although it also has the meaning of diligent, kindhearted and patient, the derogatory sense is more. It is often to say “She is a woman after all”, which expresses obviously the meaning of looking down upon female. b. Changes of the Connotation of the Sexpaired Words There are many pairs of sexpaired words such as, lord lady, barodame, mastermistress, call boycall girl, bachelorspinster, governorgoverness, mister madam, etc. These words are semantically equivalent originally, but with the changes of their meaning, feminine words gradually gain derogatory even obscene connotation. However, the masculine terms remain their mendatory connotation. The following are the examples: “Governor”, in the extended fourth edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s EnglishChinese Dictionary, means “person appointed to govern a province or state (especially a colony abroad).”10 “Governess” refers to “(especially formerly) woman employed to teach young children in their home (usually living as a member of the household)”.11 In old English, these two words respectively refer to a man or woman who exercises a sovereign authority in a colony, territory or states. As time goes by, the meaning of the word “governess” is “woman who is employed to teach young children,” or “wom an having regular sexual intercourse with one man to whom she is not married.” But the word “governor” keeps its original meaning basically. “Mistress” is originally explained as a woman in a position of authority, control, or ownership, as the head of a household like a housekeeper, or something personified as female that directs or reigns. Similarly “master” is an employer, one who has control over or ownership of something or the man who serves as the head of a household. It even has the mendatory sense which means one who defeats another, a victor or Jesus. But, gradually “mistress” refers to a woman who has a continuing sexual relationship with a married man usually who is not her husband and from whom she generally receives material supports. Contrarily, the meaning of “master” remains still. As for “bachelor” and “spinster”, both refer to unmarried or single person. But “bachelor” implies an unmarried man who lives a happy and perhaps libertine life, while “spinster” conjures up an image of an old, indifferent, solitary and unappealing woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying. In a word, those changes of connotation of the feminine words are the typical examples of existence of social prejudice against woman. 3. Sexism in Associative Meaning Associative meaning is meaning that hinges on referential meaning, less stable, more cultural specific. A lot of words convey looking down upon female in associative meaning in English. Lakoff thinks, “the essence of metaphor is to u nderstand and inspect something through the other thing.” Most of the metaphors of female are passive while metaphors of male are active. The following are some metaphors referring to women, which indicate the images and positions of women in people’s ideo logy. a. Metaphors with Animal Words In English, almost all the animals could be used to refer to females, furthermore, most of them are in negative connotation. For example, “bitch” originally means female dog, fox, otter or wolf. However, it makes people associate a spiteful woman sometimes. So people cannot talk about this word among females but they can do this free from all inhibitions with the poultry raisers. Furthermore, people can use “chicks, birds, kittens, and lambs” to refer to young ladies. Th ese indicate that men hope women submit to them like small animals forever. As we know, these animals are obedient to people and are being regarded as people’s pet. However, when females are not young and lose their charm, they will be called “cows, dogs,