Abstract: Time is often understood in terms of space. Researcher on temporal metaphors in English have traditionally focused on two distinct ego-centered Metaphors, the Time - Moving and Ego – Moving metaphors. Those two metaphors both map future events in front of the observer and past events behind the observer. Recent findings of conceptual analysis have suggested that there are still other kinds of spatial frames of reference in temporal thinking: The empirical evidences support the psychological reality of the Time-RP metaphor. Three-part spatial model (absolute, intrinsic, relative) can be extended to temporal metaphor is at least theoretically plausible. After reviewing the related finding of spatial frames of reference in temporal thinking, the implications for further research are discussed at the end of this paper.

Key words: temporal metaphor, frames of reference, time- and ego-moving, ego- and time-reference-point, 3-part spatial model