【英语驿站】 每周学一点英语（第119期）

安泽县图书馆

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中国神话传说

女娲造人 Nü Wa Creating Human Beings

The world presented a picture of great vitality after Pan Gu's creation. The sun shined in the daytime while the moon glowed at night. The trees and grass flourished, and rivers never ceased to run. at goddess Nü Wa was joyful to see this, but meanwhile she was always immersed in loneliness and felt something was missing. One day, Nü Wa came to a river and her eyes unconsciously fell on the placid water. Seeing her reflection in the water, Nü Wa was suddenly enlightened that the lack of creature of her own kind was the leading cause for her loneliness. With this thought, Nü Wa dug out some soil, mixed it with water and kneaded and shaped it into a small muddy figure on the basis of her appearance. The muddy doll became alive once it fell on the ground, jumping up and down. On the sight of the little creature she made, Nü Wa was filled with pleasure and she kept on making dolls with the hope that they could be everywhere on the earth. But merely on her own, there was hardly a chance that she could realize her dream. She paused to think and finally came up with a fantastic idea. Pulling a cane from the cliff, Nü Wa thrust one end of the cane in the mud. And then she withdrew it from the mud and brandished it in the air. The mud on the cane was thrown towards the ground, where countless splashing mud drops turned into numerous small dolls. Afterwards, she made both boy dolls and girl dolls, letting them live together, marry, conceive and raise their offspring. Human beings have thus survived from generation to generation.

Nü Wa Fiesta, as one of the five great ancestral worship ceremonies in China, was listed in the first batch of the national-level "intangible cultural heritage" in folk category in 2006.

参考译文

盘古开天辟地后，世界呈现出一片生机勃勃的景象：太阳照耀大地，月光笼罩夜晚，草木遍地丛生，江河奔流不息。女娲看到这番景象十分高兴，但她常常感到孤单寂寞，总觉得缺了些什么。一天女娲来到河边，无意中看到水面上自己的影子。女娲恍然大悟；自己感到孤单，原来是因为这世界上没有和自己一样的生物！于是她便从河边挖了一些泥土，和上河水，照着水中自己的模样，捏出一个小泥人。小泥娃娃刚落地就一下子活了，在地上欢快地跳来跳去！女娲看到亲手创造的小生命，内心欢喜，便继续用和了水的黄泥捏小人。她想让自己创造的生命布满世界，但又苦于以一己之力，很难实现目标。女娲苦思冥想，终于想到一个好办法。她从崖壁上拉下一根藤条，把一端伸入泥潭中，然后把沾满泥浆的藤条向地面一挥，无数的泥点随之溅落，落地的瞬间就变成了无数小人！就这样，很快整个世界就布满了人类的踪迹。后来，她把小人分为男女两种，让他们一同生活、婚配，孕育并抚养后代。就这样，人类一代一代地繁衍生存下来。

“女娲祭典”是全国五大祭祖大典之一，2006年被列为首批国家级“非物质文化遗产”。

词汇笔记

1.glow[gləʊ]

emit a steady light without flames 发微弱而稳定的光

2.knead[niːd]

press and stretch with hands to form a firm smooth paste 揉捏

3.conceive[kənˈsiːv]

become pregnant 怀孕

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