英文版经典古希腊神话优选.docx

1、英文版经典古希腊神话优选英文版经典古希腊神话1 The Olympian GodsBetween Macedon（马其顿王国） and Thessaly of eastern Greece there stood a high mountainIts cloudy top rushed into the very heavensOn the top of the mountain， the home of the gods was bathed in brightness At Olympus Zeus ruled as the father of gods and men Zeus was

2、not a crude ruler by any standardsAll the gods listened to his final words，it was trueBut Zeus made them all sit on a committee of twelve members，including six gods and six goddesses The first in the Olympian crowd sat Zeus himself He was the overlord of gods and men and the operator of the thunderb

3、olt Next to him was Hera，his proud and green-eyed queenPoseidon was ruler of the sea，And Hades，king of the lower world，had no seat in the committeeApollo was the god of the sun，music and poetry，while his twinsister Artemis was the goddess of the moon and the chase Athena was the goddess of wisdom an

4、d patroness of house holdartsHestia，the goddess of the family，represented home life and family happinessThe frightening Ares was the god of war，and the charming Aphrodite the goddess of love and beautyThe god of fire，Hephaestus，was the forger(铁匠) of the thunderbolts of ZeusThe wing footed messenger

5、Hermes was the god of invention and commerce；and the goddess of grains and harvests，Demeter，looked after agriculture and stood for mother of civilizationAll the chief gods mentioned above took human forms of incomparable beauty and grace Often moved by human feelings and desires，they frequently gave

6、 way to anger and jealousyThey became involved in ceaseless battles with the world of man Among themselves at Olympus they plotted and struggled for powerIn the human world they experienced competitions and difficultiesThey enjoyed earthly friendships and lovesA crowd of everlasting gods looked and

7、acted in a perfectly human fashion that is what all gods at Olympus actually were1.Macedon: 史马其顿王国(古代巴尔干半岛中部一奴隶制国家)2.Thassaly: A region of east-central Greece between the Pindus Mountains and the Aegean Sea. Settled before 1000 b.c., it reached the height of its power in the sixth century b.c. but s

8、oon declined because of internal conflicts.塞萨利希腊中东部一地区，位于屏达思山和爱琴海之间。建于 公元前1000年之前，于 公元前6世纪势力达到鼎盛但很快就因内乱而衰败3.overlord: A lord having power or supremacy over other lords.4.forger: 铁匠2 PandoraAfter the stealing of fire，Zeus became increasingly unkind to menOne day he ordered his son Hephaestus to build

9、 an image of a beautiful maiden out of clayHe then asked the gods and goddesses to award her with different kinds of giftsAmong others，Athena clothed her in an attractive coat and Hermes gave her the power of telling liesA charming young lady，she was the first woman that ever livedZeus called her Pa

10、ndoraBecause she had received from each of the gods and goddesses a giftThe gift was harmful to menZeus decided to send her down to men as a presentSo Hermes the messenger brought her to Epimetheus，brother of PrometheusThe greatness of her beauty touched the hearts of all who looked upon her，and Epi

11、metheus happily received her into his houseHe had quite forgotten Prometheus warning：never to accept anything from ZeusThe couple lived a happy life for some timeThen trouble came on to the human worldWhen he was busy with teaching men the art of living，Prometheus had left a big cask(木桶) in the care

12、 of EpimetheusHe had warned his brother not to open the lidPandora was a curious womanShe had been feeling very disappointed that her husband did not allow her to take a look at the contents of the caskOne day，when Epimetheus was out，she lifted the lid and out it came unrest and war，Plague and sickn

13、ess，theft and violence， grief sorrow，and all the other evilsThe human world was hence to experience these evilsOnly hope stayed within the mouth of the jar and never flew outSo men always have hope within their hearts3 ApolloAmong the crowd of Olympian gods the one most widely admired was ApolloHe w

14、as the son of Zeus and LetoAccording to Greek mythology，Leto was driven by Hera from land to land at last Poseidon took pity on her and brought the island of Delos out of water for her to live onThere she gave birth to the twins ，Apollo and ArtemisApollo was me sun-godHe wore a purple robe(长袍)He usu

15、ally sat in his bright eastern palace early in the morning and made ready to start his daily journey across the skyDuring the day he roved his carriage of gold and ivory ， and brought light， life and love to the great world below late in the afternoon he came to the end of his journey in the far wes

16、tern sea and got on his golden boat to return to his eastern homeApollo was the god of music and poetryHe could stir up all feelingsThese feelings are expressed in lofty songsWith his lyre(七弦琴) of gold and the sweet accents of his godlike voice heled the choir of the Muses at OlympusThe pleasant mus

17、ic from his lyre was so exciting that stones marched into their places in rhythmic time and of their own will when he helped Poseidon build up the walls of TroyOn one occasion，invited to a contest by the human musician Marsyas，he won and then flayed him to death for his prideOn another occasion，he l

18、ost out to Pan at a musical contest and turned the ears of the judge，King Midas，into those of an ass1.lofty: Affecting grandness; pompous. 壮丽的给人以深刻印象的宏大气势；壮丽的2.hele: vt. （与in连用）把栽入土中3.flay: To strip off the skin or outer covering of. 剥皮剥去皮或表部表层His son，Orpheus，took over such skill from the father tha

19、t his lyre moved man and animals alikeApollo stood for youthful and manly beautyHis golden hair，stately manner and air all combined to make him the admiration of the worldA beautiful girl，by the name of Clytle，was so fond of his beauty and glory that from dawn to dusk she knelt on the ground，her han

20、ds outstretched towards the sungod，and her eyes looked at his golden wheeled carriage racing across the blue skyThough her love was not returned，she had never changed her mind about ApolloThe gods were moved at the sad sight，and changed her into a sunflower4.state: Dignified and impressive, as in si

21、ze or proportions.庄严的在规模或比例方面庄严尊贵的4 PrometheusPrometheus was a Titan In the war between Zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympian godsOut of the clay he made the first man，to whom Athena gave soul and holy breathPrometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fir

22、eAnd fire raised man above all animals Later，there held a joint meeting of gods and menThe meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should be given to gods and what to menPrometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts：under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bon

23、es，for he knew the selfish Zeus loved fat Zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus favor towards menSo in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankindHowever，Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down to menFlying into an anger at

24、this unjustified act of rebellion，Zeus let the other gods chain Prometheus to a rock on Mountain Caucasus，where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew againHis period of pain was to be thirty-thousand yearsPrometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before ZeusAt la

25、st Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to friendship，when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free5 Nereus and ProteusOf all the small sea divinities Nereus and Proteus stood out as Peculiar sea-godsNereus，known as“the Old Man of

26、the sea”，represented the pleasant aspect of ocean watersHe lived beneath the sea with his fifty lovely daughters，of whom the most famous were Amphritrite，Thetis，Galate a and PanopeIt was Nereus who advised Heracles to seek Prometheus in the heros search of the golden applesProteus was Poseidons herd

27、sman. He was well known for two qualities：the gift of prophecy and the power to take various formsAt one time he was a lion with a curly wavy hairs；at another he appeared in the shape of a wild boar；and still another he stood a stately tree covered with rich leavesWhen，after all these and many other

28、 changes，he failed to get rid of his questioner， the god offered detailed answers6 Eros（Cupid）Eros was the god of love，better known by his Latin name CupidSon of Aphrodite by Ares ，he took his place among the small gods of OlympusHe was represented as a little naked boy，with sparkling wings，and he c

29、arried his bow and arrows wherever he wanderedShooting his thrilling arrows in evils，he inspired the passion of love and provided all nature with life and power of reproductionThe lovely，naughty god had two kinds of arrows：the gold tipped arrows used to quicken the pulse of love and the lead tipped

30、ones to palsy it Besides，he had a torch to light hearts withThough sometimes he was blindfolded ，no man nor god，Zeus himself included，was safe from his evilsAt one time the little naughty god was wounded by his own arrows and such burning love was awakened in him for the human maiden Psyche that he

31、disregarded the constant interference of his mother and plucked up his courage to beg Zeus for justiceAnother famous story where Eros played an important part was the Argonautic expeditionMedea，daughter of King Aeetes，was wounded by Eros arrows，took Jasons part in recovering the golden fleece and ev

32、entually became the heros wife1.blindfold: To cover the eyes of with or as if with a bandage.（如用或似用绷带等）蒙住眼睛2.Argonaut【希神】亚尔古英雄(随同贾森乘亚尔古舟, 去海外寻找金羊毛的英雄)7 AresSon of Zeus and Hera，Ares was appointed god of warHe was terrible and majestic ，and his march shook the worldOf all the major gods at Olympus，he was the most hateful，loving struggle and war and ever thirsty for blood On the other hand he signified courage and victory in battle，and was devoutly worshipped by soldiers going to warPrayers were addressed to him