话题链是构建语篇衔接与连贯的一种统摄机制。本文研究发现，话题链在古代汉语、现代汉语以及现代英语中以零形或有形的手段统摄整个篇章，造就了古代汉语、现代汉语以及现代英语各自不同的篇章衔接与连贯形式和文体风格。本文拟以古代汉语散文《五柳先生传》的现代汉语译文以及现代英语译文为例，阐述话题链在汉英篇章翻译中的统摄功能，提出对话题链进行解构与重构是汉英篇章翻译过程中不可或缺的重要环节之一。

The topic chain is a mechanism governing the establishment of cohesive and coherent texts. The present research indicates that topic chains incorporate themselves in the textual structuring in the classic Mandarin, the modern Mandarin and the modern English in one way or another, resulting in different cohesive /coherent devices or styles in the languages. The author of this paper take The Story of Mr. Five-Willow-Tree as a prototype to account for the role of topic chain in the process of text translation. It is concluded by claiming what constitutes as one of the most crucial components indispensable to text translation is the process of deconstructing a topic chain in the source text and reconstructing it in the target text respectively.