Probing Metaphorical Thoughts in <i>Historical Records</i>

In order to broaden the depth and width of the study of <i>Historical Records</i>, and then help its dissemination and inheritance. From the perspective of cognitive linguistics, based on the consideration of metaphor as the contrast of words, the interaction of ideas and the means of cognition, adopted Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor mapping theory, this paper studies the metaphorical mechanism of <i>Historical Records</i> from three aspects at the macro level and from six aspects at the micro lever. Finally three conclusions were reached. First, although Sima Qian did not put forward any metaphorical theory, his narrative style in <i>Historical Records</i> contains rich metaphorical thoughts. Second, metaphor runs through the three major narrative types of romance, tragedy, and satire in <i>Historical Records,</i> respectively metaphorizing Sima Qian's idealism, compassion, and criticism. Third, <i>Historical Records</i> is not only good at using the basic metaphors proposed by contemporary scholars but also using extended metaphors such as syntagmatic metaphor, paradigmatic metaphor, and complex compound metaphor creatively and skillfully. It can be seen that Sima Qian is not only a master of history and literature, but also a great metaphorist of his generation.