This paper，with conceptual metaphor induction test， aims to empirically compare the differences of conceptual metaphor induction competence of 251 Chinese tertiary English majors of grade 1 to 4 and 24 American university students． The results indicate: 1) the source domain categories of conceptual metaphor induced by 1-4 grades of English majors are quite similar; 2) the source domain categories of conceptual metaphor induced by Chinese English majors and American university students are quite similar． The conceptual metaphor induction results don't show any differences because of the different English proficiency levels of the subjects． Therefore it can be concluded that: 1) language proficiency may not be the key variable for the conceptual metaphor induction competence; 2) the empirical results don't support the view that there exists mental representation of conceptual metaphors in every cognitive subject．