Cronus, one of the giants[1], was once ruler of the world. Someone told him that one of his sons would take the power away from him. In order to avoid this, he swallowed [2] all his children.
Cronus' wife was just pregnant then, and she didn't want this child to be swallowed too. So when the boy, the later Zeus, was born, she cheated her husband by giving him a stone dressed up like a boy to swallow and hid Zeus in a cave.
When Zeus grew up, he decided to avenge his brothers and sisters, and Cronus was tricked[3] into coughing his children out. Thus the war between the giants and Zeus' brothers started. The war was a very hard one and it lasted 10 years.
The giants were defeated and Cronus ran away. Zeus and his brothers and sisters became gods and godesses, and ruled over all the world.
克羅諾斯——巨人之一,曾一度統(tǒng)治全世界。有人告訴他將來(lái)會(huì)有一個(gè)兒子奪去他的權(quán)力。為了避免此事發(fā)生,他吞掉了所有的孩子。
他的妻子當(dāng)時(shí)正懷孕,她不愿意這個(gè)孩子也被吞掉。所以,當(dāng)孩子——就是后來(lái)的宙斯——出生時(shí),她把一塊石頭包成孩子的樣子騙克羅諾斯吞下,并把宙斯藏到了洞里。
宙斯長(zhǎng)大后,他決定為他的兄弟姐妹報(bào)仇??肆_諾斯被騙,吐出了他的孩子們。于是,巨人和宙斯兄妹間的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)開(kāi)始了。這次戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)是漫長(zhǎng)的,整整持續(xù)了10年。
巨人被擊敗,克羅諾斯逃走了。宙斯和他的兄弟姐妹變成了神,并統(tǒng)治著全世界。
注釋:
1. Giant:“希臘神話中的巨人”、“力量超群的偉人”,a literary giant(大文豪),He is a giant in his field(他是這一行中的巨擘)。另外,giant還有幾個(gè)很有意思的含義,為“水槍”、“大噴嘴”等,的確,這些東西是非常有威力的。
2. Swallow:swallow有很多意思,作動(dòng)詞用時(shí)表示“吞咽”、“淹沒(méi)”、“吞并”、“輕信”等。Swallow down one's food(吞下食物)。The billows apparently swallowed the vessel(巨浪好象吞沒(méi)了船)。當(dāng)名詞講時(shí),表示“燕子”、“雨燕”,還有一個(gè)意思是“蘇聯(lián)情報(bào)機(jī)構(gòu)雇傭的色相女間諜”,哇!
3. Trick:“哄騙”、“愚弄”等意思,He was tricked at the market(他在市場(chǎng)上被騙了)。有一個(gè)關(guān)于trick的詞組,非常有用,never miss a trick(不失時(shí)機(jī)的利用、對(duì)所發(fā)生的時(shí)無(wú)所不曉)。He is a very clever man and never misses a trick in improving his business(他是個(gè)聰明能干的人,總是不失時(shí)機(jī)的利用有利條件去發(fā)展?fàn)I業(yè))。She never seems to miss a trick(她對(duì)所發(fā)生的事好象無(wú)所不曉)。