英语中希腊神话典故.docVIP

英语中的希腊神话典故 　　Its All Greek To Me... 　　 　　宁波的Lydia问： 　　Tom，你好，我是一名英语系的学生。在一次考试中，我碰到了“Achilles heel”这个词组，当时怎么也猜不出它的意思，只好空在那里。后来经老师讲评才得知这个词源于希腊神话。后来，我留心地注意了一下，发现在英语中类似的词汇好像还真不少，所以想请你帮忙总结一些英文中比较常用的这类词语。 　　 　　Tom： 　　英语中有很多词语都源于希腊神话故事。应Lydia的要求，本次，我就讲讲其中一些最为常用的表达法，以及它们背后的故事。如果你能在别人面前讲出这些典故，相信大家都会对你刮目相看的。 　　 　　Theseus the Minotaur 　　Theseus was the Athenian kings son who travelled to Crete and killed the terrible Minotaur, a monster that was half-man, half-bull. The Minotaur lived in a complex underground maze called the Labyrinth. Today, a labyrinth means a difficult maze, or anything that is very convoluted and confusing (e.g. a labyrinth of rules and regulations). 　　 　　特修斯和弥诺陶洛斯 　　特修斯是雅典国王之子，曾前往克利特岛杀死了可怕的半人半牛怪物――弥诺陶洛斯。弥诺陶洛斯生活在一个名叫拉比林特斯（Labyrinth）的复杂地下迷宫里。而今“labyrinth”的意思是一个难解的迷宫，或者那种非常令人费解与迷惑的事情（例如“a labyrinth of rules and regulations”）。 　　 　　Hercules 　　Known in Greek as Herakles, he was the son of Zeus - king of the gods - and a mortal woman. He was famous for his amazing strength. He once killed his own children in a bout of temporary insanity, and was punished by having to undertake twelve near-impossible tasks for his cousin, King Eurystheus. From his name, we get the word Herculean, meaning incredibly strong or powerful (e.g. Herculean strength) or very difficult (e.g. a Herculean task). 　　海格立斯 　　在希腊语中被称为赫拉克勒斯的他，是宙斯（众神之王）和一个凡间女子所生之子。他以其惊人的力量而著称。因一时的精神失常，他曾杀死了自己的孩子，并受惩必须为其堂弟欧律斯透斯国王处置12项几乎不可能完成的任务。从他的名字中，我们得到了一个词“Herculean”，意思是不可思议的强壮或强大??例如“Herculean strength”）或是非常困难（例如“a Herculean task”）。 　　 　　The Trojan War 　　The greatest Greek fighter in the war with the Trojans was Achilles, who was invulnerable except in one place - his heel, and that was just where the Trojan Paris fatally wounded him with an arrow. So a crucial weakness is called an Achilles heel. 　　The siege of Troy came to an end when the Greeks pretended to depart, leaving behind a massive wooden horse as a gift. In fact, the horse contained soldiers, and when the Trojans brought it