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.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. 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.

　　Ⅱ. 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?

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. of 2. at 3. of 4. into 5 . at / as

　　Ⅱ. 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.

　　参考译文

　　苹果挑争端

　　珀 琉斯和海神西蒂斯结婚时邀请了所有的神灵。但是, 显然有一位女神不在邀请之 列, 她就是厄里斯——— 不和女神。由于她在所到之处撒播不和之种, 人们自然不希望她出 席婚宴。厄里斯理所当然地感到愤怒。她决定嘲弄宴会上的众神一番。当新娘新郎退场 后, 厄里斯偷偷溜进了大厅, 往地板上抛出了一个金苹果, 上书“ 献给最 美的神”。这在赫 拉、雅典娜和阿佛洛狄特三位女神之间引起了激烈争执。宙斯认为将她们带到爱达山上一 位名叫帕里斯的牧羊人那里, 让他来裁决才是明智的。海尔墨斯作为使者, 手持金苹果, 领 着三位女神离开了。

　　帕里斯是特洛伊国王皮安姆的儿子。由于他母亲在生他时, 梦到自己手持一根燃烧的 木头, 于是人们认为这孩子会给城市带来毁灭之灾。为了使王国免遭可能之祸, 国王及王 后把尚无自理能力的孩子扔到了爱达山顶。就这样, 孩子还是摆脱噩运, 活了下来。在牧 人们的精心抚养下, 孩子长得既强壮又英俊。他偷偷地与漂亮忠诚的奥诺妮山神结了婚。 在这个不同寻常的一天, 帕里斯正在山腰照看羊群, 惊奇地发现四个人站在他面前。海尔 墨斯讲完帕里斯所要做的事情之后就离去了。三位美丽的女神立即争吵起来, 竞相在这位 牧羊人面前表现自己。赫拉许诺让他成为亚细亚国王, 雅典娜愿意帮助他在战争中得到不朽 的荣誉, 而阿佛洛狄特则保证让他得到世上最 美的女人的爱。小伙子原始的本性被激发 了出来, 阿佛洛狄特得到了金苹果, 而另两位女神则怒气冲冲地离开, 成了特洛伊城的死 敌。

　　阅读导评

　　还记得那个砸在牛顿头上的苹果吗? 它可算得上是苹果家族中最值得骄傲的一员。 今天这个苹果也不逊色, 它在女神中间挑起的嫉妒和气愤竟然引发了那场持续十年之久、 从而使众多无辜百姓饱受战争之苦的特洛伊之战。一直以来, 我们认为神都是十全十美 的。而希腊神话的一大特点就是众神都有鲜明的性格, 她们也有七情六欲, 也会为了美貌 和荣誉争风吃醋。这是不是在提示我们: 希腊神话中的神灵所具有的人性要远远大于“ 神 性”呢?

　　阅读导释

　　1. 本篇选自希腊神话。希腊神话指古代希腊人就他们的神和英雄、宇宙的性质和他们自己 的宗教活动所推出的全部神话和故事。它在西方社会流传极广, 对现代西方文学、宗教、 艺术等方面有着举足轻重的影响。另外, 希腊神话中的很多词语也极大地丰富了英语词 汇。这篇the apple of discord 就是其中一例。an / the apple of discord 如今已经成为一条 习语, 作“ 争端, 祸根”解。

　　2. peleus, 珀琉斯, 是希腊神话中的色萨利地方密尔弥冬人的国王, 阿基里斯( achilles) 的 父亲。thetis ( 西蒂斯) 是海神涅柔斯( nereus) 50 个女儿中的一个, 也是海神。下文中 出现的eris ( 厄里斯) 是不和女神。后面出现的hera 是希腊神话中的天后赫拉, 主神 zeus ( 宙斯) 之妻, 掌管婚姻和生育, 是妇女的保护神。athena ( 雅典娜) , 希腊神话中智 慧、技艺和战争女神。aphrodite ( 阿佛洛狄特) , 爱与美的女神, 相当于罗马神话中的 venus ( 维纳斯) 。

　　3. absence 是形容词absent 的名词形式, 作“ 缺席, 不在场”解。absence of mind 与absentminded 意思相同, 都是“心不在焉”的意思。absence 的反义词是presence。

　　4. 这个词组的意思是“嘲弄, 取笑”。和fun 组成的词组还有for fun ( 为了好玩) 。

　　5. 这个词原意为“滑动, 移动”或“ 悄悄或匆匆到某处”。这里指“ 悄悄地溜进”。常和slip 连用的词组有: slip anchor ( 抛锚) , slip up on sth. ( 疏忽, 出差错) 。slip 也可作名词, 如: a slip of pen / tongue ( 笔误/ 口误) 。

　　6. disaster 在这里是“灾难, 大祸, 不幸”的意思。它还可以指“ 彻底失败的事”或“ 成事不足 败事有余的人”, 如: she is a disaster: unable to type twelve words a minute and snapping at people. ( 她是个成事不足败事有余的人: 一分钟打不满12 个单词, 对人说话还老是吆五 喝六的。) disaster area ( 准予接受政府救济的灾区) ; disaster film / movie ( 灾难影片) 。

　　7. 动词undertake 在这里的意思是“保证, 同意, 答应”。

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