Abstract:  Euphemism plays an important role in people’s social communication and it exists in almost every culture and society. This thesis mainly explores the differences of pragmatic functions between English and Chinese euphemisms; and conduct comparative analysis from two aspects: cosmetic function and evasive function. Cosmetic function mainly includes the conceal of the social problem and political situation; and the evasive function is embodied in contraindication of death, circumbendibus of physiological characteristics. It is hoped that, through the analysis of this paper, the readers could use euphemisms effectively in their cross-cultural  communication. 

Key words ：pragmatic function；comparative analysis；euphemism 

摘 要:  委婉语存在于人们的社交生活中，几乎所有的文化和社会中都有委婉语。本文主要从探求英汉委婉语的语用功能的不同之处着手，主要体现在掩饰功能和避讳功能等方面。掩饰功能包括社会问题的掩饰和在战争和政治场合的掩饰；避讳功能则体现在对死亡现象的禁忌，盥洗及与生理特性相关的委婉表达，疾病及生理缺陷的委婉现象和贫困及失业的委婉说法等方面。希望通过本文的分析使读者在交际中更加有效地使用委婉语。

关键字:  语用功能；对比分析；委婉语