the apple of discord

　　the wedding of peleus and the sea-goddess thetis2 were held and all gods were invited. but her absence3 of one goddess was clearly noticeable. it was eris, the goddess of discord. as she planted seeds of discord wherever she went, it was natural that her presence at the ceremony was not desirable. she had good reason to feel angry. so she decided to make fun of4 the group at the party. eris slipped5 into the hall after the couple left and rolled on the floor a golden apple , having the words, “for the fairest”. it caused a violent quarrel among the three goddesses, hera , athena and aphrodite. zeus found it advisable to send them before a shepherd boy on mt ida, paris by name , for judgment. hermes, the messenger, took the apple in his hand and led the goddess away.

　　paris was son of priam, king of troy. as his mother dreamed at his birth that she was bearing a piece of burning wood, the babe was regarded as representing the destruction of the city itself. to save the kingdom from possible disaster6 , the parents had the helpless infant left on top of mt ida to die. however, he survived his ill fate. brought up by the herdsmen, he became a strong, handsome lad. he was secretly united with oenone, a fair and faithful mountain fairy maiden. on this particular day, as he was taking care of his sheep on the mountain side, the youth was surprised to see four human beings standing before him. hermes told him about his mission and left. the three holy beauties then competed with each other, showing themselves up before the shepherd. hera promised to make him king of asia. athena undertook7 to help him get imperishable fame in war; whereas aphrodite offered to secure for him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. the primitive instinct of the boy thus moved, aphrodite won the prize , and the other two goddesses left in anger and became deadly enemies of troy.

　　閱讀自測(cè)

　�、�. fill in the blanks with proper words in the passage :

　　1. but the absence________ one goddess was clearly noticeable.

　　2. it was natural that eris, the goddess of discord, her presence________ the ceremony was not desirable.

　　3. he decided to make fun________ the group at the party.

　　4. eris slipped________ the hall after the new couple left.

　　5. as his mother dreamed ________ his birth that she was bearing a piece of burning wood, the babe was regarded representing ________ the destruction of the city itself.

　�、�. questions :

　　1. who rolled the golden apple on the floor?

　　2. who were the three goddesses to compete to win the apple ?

　　3. who at last won the title of“ the fairest”and what was the disaster?

　　參考答案

　�、�. 1. of 2. at 3. of 4. into 5 . at / as

　�、�. 1. eris rolled the golden apple on the floor. 2. the three goddesses were hera, athena , aphrodite. 3. aphrodite at last won the title of“ the fairest”, but it made the other two goddesses become the deadly enemies of troy.

　　參考譯文

　　蘋果挑爭(zhēng)端

　　珀 琉斯和海神西蒂斯結(jié)婚時(shí)邀請(qǐng)了所有的神靈。但是, 顯然有一位女神不在邀請(qǐng)之 列, 她就是厄里斯——— 不和女神。由于她在所到之處撒播不和之種, 人們自然不希望她出 席婚宴。厄里斯理所當(dāng)然地感到憤怒。她決定嘲弄宴會(huì)上的眾神一番。當(dāng)新娘新郎退場(chǎng) 后, 厄里斯偷偷溜進(jìn)了大廳, 往地板上拋出了一個(gè)金蘋果, 上書“ 獻(xiàn)給最 美的神”。這在赫 拉、雅典娜和阿佛洛狄特三位女神之間引起了激烈爭(zhēng)執(zhí)。宙斯認(rèn)為將她們帶到愛(ài)達(dá)山上一 位名叫帕里斯的牧羊人那里, 讓他來(lái)裁決才是明智的。海爾墨斯作為使者, 手持金蘋果, 領(lǐng) 著三位女神離開(kāi)了。

　　帕里斯是特洛伊國(guó)王皮安姆的兒子。由于他母親在生他時(shí), 夢(mèng)到自己手持一根燃燒的 木頭, 于是人們認(rèn)為這孩子會(huì)給城市帶來(lái)毀滅之災(zāi)。為了使王國(guó)免遭可能之禍, 國(guó)王及王 后把尚無(wú)自理能力的孩子扔到了愛(ài)達(dá)山頂。就這樣, 孩子還是擺脫噩運(yùn), 活了下來(lái)。在牧 人們的精心撫養(yǎng)下, 孩子長(zhǎng)得既強(qiáng)壯又英俊。他偷偷地與漂亮忠誠(chéng)的奧諾妮山神結(jié)了婚。 在這個(gè)不同尋常的一天, 帕里斯正在山腰照看羊群, 驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)四個(gè)人站在他面前。海爾 墨斯講完帕里斯所要做的事情之后就離去了。三位美麗的女神立即爭(zhēng)吵起來(lái), 競(jìng)相在這位 牧羊人面前表現(xiàn)自己。赫拉許諾讓他成為亞細(xì)亞國(guó)王, 雅典娜愿意幫助他在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中得到不朽 的榮譽(yù), 而阿佛洛狄特則保證讓他得到世上最 美的女人的愛(ài)。小伙子原始的本性被激發(fā) 了出來(lái), 阿佛洛狄特得到了金蘋果, 而另兩位女神則怒氣沖沖地離開(kāi), 成了特洛伊城的死 敵。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)評(píng)

　　還記得那個(gè)砸在牛頓頭上的蘋果嗎? 它可算得上是蘋果家族中最值得驕傲的一員。 今天這個(gè)蘋果也不遜色, 它在女神中間挑起的嫉妒和氣憤竟然引發(fā)了那場(chǎng)持續(xù)十年之久、 從而使眾多無(wú)辜百姓飽受戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)之苦的特洛伊之戰(zhàn)。一直以來(lái), 我們認(rèn)為神都是十全十美 的。而希臘神話的一大特點(diǎn)就是眾神都有鮮明的性格, 她們也有七情六欲, 也會(huì)為了美貌 和榮譽(yù)爭(zhēng)風(fēng)吃醋。這是不是在提示我們: 希臘神話中的神靈所具有的人性要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于“ 神 性”呢?

　　閱讀導(dǎo)釋

　　1. 本篇選自希臘神話。希臘神話指古代希臘人就他們的神和英雄、宇宙的性質(zhì)和他們自己 的宗教活動(dòng)所推出的全部神話和故事。它在西方社會(huì)流傳極廣, 對(duì)現(xiàn)代西方文學(xué)、宗教、 藝術(shù)等方面有著舉足輕重的影響。另外, 希臘神話中的很多詞語(yǔ)也極大地豐富了英語(yǔ)詞 匯。這篇the apple of discord 就是其中一例。an / the apple of discord 如今已經(jīng)成為一條 習(xí)語(yǔ), 作“ 爭(zhēng)端, 禍根”解。

　　2. peleus, 珀琉斯, 是希臘神話中的色薩利地方密爾彌冬人的國(guó)王, 阿基里斯( achilles) 的 父親。thetis ( 西蒂斯) 是海神涅柔斯( nereus) 50 個(gè)女兒中的一個(gè), 也是海神。下文中 出現(xiàn)的eris ( 厄里斯) 是不和女神。后面出現(xiàn)的hera 是希臘神話中的天后赫拉, 主神 zeus ( 宙斯) 之妻, 掌管婚姻和生育, 是婦女的保護(hù)神。athena ( 雅典娜) , 希臘神話中智 慧、技藝和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)女神。aphrodite ( 阿佛洛狄特) , 愛(ài)與美的女神, 相當(dāng)于羅馬神話中的 venus ( 維納斯) 。

　　3. absence 是形容詞absent 的名詞形式, 作“ 缺席, 不在場(chǎng)”解。absence of mind 與absentminded 意思相同, 都是“心不在焉”的意思。absence 的反義詞是presence。

　　4. 這個(gè)詞組的意思是“嘲弄, 取笑”。和fun 組成的詞組還有for fun ( 為了好玩) 。

　　5. 這個(gè)詞原意為“滑動(dòng), 移動(dòng)”或“ 悄悄或匆匆到某處”。這里指“ 悄悄地溜進(jìn)”。常和slip 連用的詞組有: slip anchor ( 拋錨) , slip up on sth. ( 疏忽, 出差錯(cuò)) 。slip 也可作名詞, 如: a slip of pen / tongue ( 筆誤/ 口誤) 。

　　6. disaster 在這里是“災(zāi)難, 大禍, 不幸”的意思。它還可以指“ 徹底失敗的事”或“ 成事不足 敗事有余的人”, 如: she is a disaster: unable to type twelve words a minute and snapping at people. ( 她是個(gè)成事不足敗事有余的人: 一分鐘打不滿12 個(gè)單詞, 對(duì)人說(shuō)話還老是吆五 喝六的。) disaster area ( 準(zhǔn)予接受政府救濟(jì)的災(zāi)區(qū)) ; disaster film / movie ( 災(zāi)難影片) 。

　　7. 動(dòng)詞undertake 在這里的意思是“保證, 同意, 答應(yīng)”。

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