书城外语看古希腊神话故事学英语
32078000000020

第20章 希腊神话故事(18)

10.award[?w??d]v.给与;判定

例句 The judges awarded both finalists equal points.

裁判员判定决赛双方分数相同。

11.intervene[,?nt?vi?n]v.干涉

例句 He ruled himself not to intervene.他克制自己不要干预。

12.cloud[klaud]v.(使某事物)变得阴沉、暗淡、不清楚、不明朗或不清晰

例句 Steam clouded the mirror.蒸汽把镜子弄得模糊不清。

13.slaughter[sl??t?(r)]v.大量屠杀(动物或人)

例句 Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered.

数百名无辜平民惨遭杀害。

14.diminish[d?m?n??]v.减少;降低

例句 Nothing could diminish her enthusiasm for the project.

什么也不能降低她对这项计划的热忱。

神话背后的习语

Ajax 有勇无谋的人

长达十年的特洛伊战争(Trojan War)中造就了许多大英雄,希腊名将埃阿斯(Ajax)就是其中一位。埃阿斯身材魁梧、臂力过人、武艺高强,在战争中曾与特洛伊人的骄傲——赫克托(Hector)大将交过手,两人不分胜负,神只适时制止了这场搏斗,两位英雄相互钦佩对方,临别时互赠了礼物,埃阿斯赠给赫克托一条腰带,赫克托回赠埃阿斯一口宝剑。但在与奥德修斯争夺阿基里斯的盔甲这件事上,他显得冲动鲁莽、有勇无谋,最后还搭上自己的命。因此在英语里,人们用“埃阿斯”(Ajax)表示“冲动鲁莽、有勇无谋的人”。

例如 He thought that his rival was just an Ajax.他认为他的对手只是一位有勇无谋的人。

For such an Ajax,let him be your assistant,but never be a leader.对于这位有勇无谋的人,让他做你的助手,而绝不能让他当领袖。

19.Jason

Jason was the son of Aeson,the rightful king of Lolcus.But he was overthrown by his own half brother Pelias.So he sent his baby son Jason to the Centaur for safekeeping.

Twenty years later,Jason grew up and was told of the secret of his birth.He went back to Iolcus for his throne.His uncle said to him,"To take my throne,which you shall,you must go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece."Jason happily accepted the quest.

He assembled a great group of heroes,which was known as Argonaut(阿尔戈英雄),and their ship after the Argo.They met so many troubles and finally got the destination Colchis.The Fleece was owned by the king Aeetes.He promised to give him only if he could perform three certain tasks.At the beginning,Jason was so depressed.But with the aid of Medea(Aeetesdaughter),he eventually did it.He then sailed away with Medea.Medea distracted her father,who chased them,by killing her brother Apsyrtus and throwing pieces of his body into the sea.Sadly,Aeetes stopped to gather them.

Jason 伊阿宋

Possessed the Golden Fleece,Jason went back to Lolcus.However,his uncle didnt keep his promise.He had to escape to Corinth with Medea.There,Medea gave birth to three sons for him.When Medea got older and older and became ugly,Jason was fall in love with Creusa(daughter of the king).He forced her to divorce.The king was determined to expel her out of his country.Medea demanded him to delay one day in order to arrange her children.The king accepted.

Medea took her revenge by presenting to Creusa a cursed dress as a wedding gift that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on.Then,Medea killed her children she born to Jason fearing that they would be killed or enslaved as a result of their mothers actions.When Jason come to know of this,Medea was already gone.She fled to Athens in a chariot sent by her grandfather.Jason died lonely and unhappily.

19.伊阿宋

伊阿宋是埃宋的儿子,埃宋曾是伊俄尔科斯合法的国王,但后来政权却被他同父异母兄弟珀利阿斯推翻了。因此他把还在襁褓中的儿子送给了半人半马的怪物肯陶洛斯保护看管。

二十年后,伊阿宋长大成人后被告知了自己的身世。他回到伊俄尔科斯想夺回王位。他的叔父跟他说“要想从我身上拿回原本属于你的宝座,你必须取回金羊毛。”伊阿宋高兴地答应了。

他召集了一群英雄,这些英雄以阿尔戈英雄名号而闻名,他们的船以阿尔戈命名。他们历尽艰险终于来到目的地科尔契斯王国。金羊毛归国王埃厄忒斯所有。只要他能完成三个任务,国王就答应把金羊毛给他。一开始,伊阿宋非常沮丧。但是在美狄亚(埃厄忒斯的女儿)的协助下,他最终完成了三个任务。然后他和美狄亚私奔了。途中,为了让追击他们的父亲分心,美狄亚杀死了自己的亲兄弟阿普绪耳托斯,并把他的尸体剁成碎块,抛入大海,悲痛欲绝的国王被迫停下来搜集爱子的尸体。

拥有金羊毛后,伊阿宋回到了伊俄尔科斯,可是他的叔父没有兑现诺言。他不得不和美狄亚逃往科林斯王国。在那里,美狄亚为他生了三个儿子。当美狄亚越来越老,变得很丑的时候,他爱上了国王的女儿克利攸塞。伊阿宋强迫美狄亚与自己离婚。国王决定把美狄亚驱逐出境。美狄亚请求延迟一天,她好安顿好她的孩子,国王答应了。

美狄亚向克利攸塞赠送了一件带诅咒的衣服作为结婚礼物,伺机报复。那件衣服一穿上就黏住公主的身体,并烧死了她。然后美狄亚杀死了为伊阿宋生的孩子,因为她担心自己的行为会给孩子们招来杀身之祸或让他们沦为奴隶。当伊阿宋赶来知道这件事的时候,美狄亚已经走了。她坐着外公派来的马车飞去了雅典。最后,伊阿宋孤单悲伤地死去了。

单词短语透视

1.rightful[ra?tf?l]adj.正当的;合法的

例句 Ill return the money to its rightful owner.

我会把这笔钱还给它合法的主人。

2.overthrown[,?uv?θr?un]v.打倒,颠覆,推翻

例句 The Czar of Russia was overthrown in 1917.

俄国沙皇一九一七年被推翻。

3.safekeeping[,se?fki?.p??]n.安全保护,妥善保管

例句 Your will should be left with your lawyer for safekeeping.

为了安全起见,你的遗嘱将会留给你的律师保管。

4.quest[kwest]n.寻求;寻找

例句 What is your quest?您寻求的是什么?

5.fleece[昀i?s]n.绵羊之类动物的毛

例句 These sheep have fine thick fleeces.这些绵羊的毛又细又厚。

6.assemble[?sembl]v.集合;聚集;收集

例句 The whole school was assembled in the main hall.

全校师生在大礼堂集合。

7.after[ɑ?ft?(r)]v.依照;仿照

例句 Weve named the baby after you.

我们是用你的名字给这个婴儿取名的。

8.destination[,dest?ne??n]n.目的地

例句 Tokyo was our final destination.东京是我们的最终目的地。

9.perform[p?f??m]v.做,执行,履行(某事)

例句 How do you perform this process?您如何执行该步骤呢?

10.depressed[d?prest]adj.沮丧的

例句 He seemed a bit depressed about his present work situation.

他似乎对他的工作现状有点沮丧。

11.distract[d?str?kt]v.使某人分心;分散或扰乱某人的注意力

例句 Children are so easily distracted.儿童很容易分心。

12.stop to 停下来去做另一件事

例句 We stop to eat some bread.我们停下来吃面包。

13.keep ones promise 遵守诺言

例句 The government has kept its promise to cut taxes.

政府遵守诺言减了税。

14.divorce[d?v??s]v.离婚

例句 Davids parents divorced when he was six.

戴维的父母在他六岁的时候就离婚了。

15.expel[?kspel]v.驱逐;赶走;开除

例句 Two attaches at the embassy were expelled from the country.

大使馆的两名随员已被驱逐出境。

16.delay[d?le?]v.推迟(某事);延期

例句 We must delay our journey until the weather improves.

我们必须把旅行推迟,等天气好转再说。

17.arrange[?re?nd?]v.安排;整理;布置

例句 She arranged all her business affairs before going on holiday.

她在度假前把业务都安排好了。

18.present[pr?z?nt]v.将某物赠予或交给某人

例句 They presented a sum of money to the college in memory of their son.他们向学院赠送了一笔款项以纪念他们的儿子。

例句 The whole family seemed cursed.整个家庭似乎受到了诅咒。

20.enslave[?nsle?v]v.使某人成为奴隶

19.cursed[k??s?d]adj.被诅咒的;存心不良的

例句 Her beauty enslaved many young men.

她的美貌使很多青年男子为之倾倒。

21.chariot[t??r??t]n.敞篷双轮马车(古代用于战争或竞赛)

例句 I drove my chariot to the vineyard gate,and there I saw the two Kings.我驾着战车来到葡萄园的门口,看到了那两个国王。

神话背后的习语

to be a Jason 表示“当了负心人;做了薄情者;抛弃了妻子”

伊阿宋用情不专,美狄亚为他做了那么多,帮他成就了一番事业,而他却移情别恋。在西方文学中,他成为“负心汉、薄情郎”的代表,就像中国古代的陈世美,to be a Jason就表示“当了负心汉;做了薄情者;抛弃了妻子”。