为什么打完喷嚏后要BLESS YOU?

湖北省武汉市 文萧雅 供稿

“Bless you”or“God bless you”is a common English expression.People often say it to a person after hesneezes（打喷嚏）.The origin of the custom and its original purpose are unknown.Here are several possible origins.

“保佑你”或者“上帝保佑你”是一个很常见的英语表达。人们经常在别人打了喷嚏之后说这句话。这个习俗的起源和它最初的目的都不为人知。以下是几个关于它的可能的来源。

Gregory I became Pope in 590.Bubonic plague(淋巴腺瘟疫)was reaching Rome.In the hope of fighting against the disease,Gregory I ordered prayers to holdparades(游行)and chant along the streets.At the time,sneezing was an earlysymptom(症状)of the plague.So“God bless you”or“Bless you”became a remedy to the disease.

公元590年，格里高利一世成为了教皇。当时罗马城爆发了一场淋巴腺瘟疫（又叫“黑死病”）。为了与病魔做斗争，格里高利一世下令祈祷者沿街游行吟唱。那时打喷嚏恰是这种瘟疫的早期症状之一。于是“上帝保佑你”便成了治病的常规方法之一了。

Another version says that people used to believe that your soulcan be thrown from your body when you sneeze. Because sneezing could open your body and Devil or evil spirits mightinvade(入侵)in your body.Thus,“God bless you”is used as ashield(屏障)against evil.

另一种说法认为人们曾经相信打喷嚏的时候灵魂会从身体中被甩出，因为喷嚏会打开你的身体，从而受到魔鬼或者其它邪灵的入侵。由此，“上帝保佑你”被用来表示防御魔鬼的入侵。

The third version is that when you are sneezing,your heart will stop beating suddenly.The phrase “God bless you”or“Bless you”is meant to ensure your heart to beat again.

第三种说法认为，当你打喷嚏时你的心脏就会瞬间停止跳动。说“上帝保佑你”是为了确保你的心脏重新跳动起来。

Another belief is that people used to see sneezing as a sign that God would answer your prayers or a sign of good fortune or good luck.In this case,“God bless you”would be inrecognition(认可)of that luck.

还有一种说法是人们通常认为打喷嚏是上帝听见了你的祈祷的预兆，或者是一种财富或者幸运的预兆。在这种情况下，“上帝保佑你”就是对那种幸运的认可。