A method for an Ethernet to bear ATM cells includes: mapping the ATM virtual connection information in the first ATM cell received from the ATM network to an Interworking Identifier (IW ID); combining the IW ID and the cell payload of the first ATM cell into an Ethernet frame; and transmitting the Ethernet frame in an Ethernet network. An apparatus for an Ethernet to bear ATM cells is also disclosed. The embodiments of the present invention implement network interworking on the data link layer (layer 2) and enable an ATM network to perform ATM emulation in a metropolitan area Ethernet (MEN) independently of the upper-layer protocol, thus facilitating the user.