本文基于图形-背景理论旨在研究两个戴望舒《雨巷》英译本中，图形与背景对意象和意境再创造的作用，并阐释产生偏差的语境原因。认知诗学作为一种认知语言学和心理学相结合的新方法，其本质是从认知心理学的角度考察认知与文学的关系。而图形-背景理论作为认知语言学的重要组成部分之一，以突显原则为基础，被视为文学研究的基本特征，为深入研究语言使用和文学作品的本质提供了新的视角。基于这一理论，本文发现米歇尔·叶创造性的翻译倾向以及对中文与中国文化的不熟悉使得忧郁情绪削弱，画面呈现不够流畅。然而，杨宪益和戴乃迭在传达阴郁、绝望、孤独和沉闷的情感方面却更胜一筹，保留了原始的人物和地面选择。

This article aims at investigating the role of figure and ground in recreation of images and artistic conceptions in two translations of Yu Xiang written by Dai Wangshu from the perspective of figure-ground theory and illustrating the contextual reasons leading to deviations. Cognitive poetics is a new approach which aligns itself with cognitive linguistics and psychology. The essence of it is to investigate the relationship between cognition and literary from the perspective of cognitive psychology. And figure-ground theory, as one of the most important parts of cognitive linguistics, is based on the prominence principle and treated as a basic feature concerned in literary studies, provideing a new angel to deep out the nature of language usage and literary works. With the application of this theory to the research, this article finds that Yeh’s inclination of creative translation and her unfamiliarity with Chinese and Chinese culture results in the weakening of melancholy mood and less fluid picture. Yet Yang and Dai are superior at conveying those gloomy, desperate, solitary and dreary affections by reserving the original selection of figure and ground.