Salt Superstition1与盐有关的迷信

2023-12-14张宁

中学生英语·中考指导版 2023年9期

张宁

Humans and animals need salt to survive2. There are a lot of differentsuperstitions naturally involves3 salt around the world.

人类和动物需要盐来生存。自然地，在全世界有许多不同的涉及盐的迷信。

Spilling4 the Salt

弄撒盐

Spilling the salt has through out history been considered very bad luck. Itpredicts something bad is going to happen to someone closest to the spill.

历史上，弄撒盐一直被认为是非常不吉利的。它预示着最接近撒出的盐的某个人会遭遇不测。

So， what can you do if you accidentally spill some salt？ No fear， there is asimple cure5. What you need to do is to take a pinch of salt and throw it over yourleft shoulder. Problem solved and the spell is broken.

那么，如果你不小心弄撒了一些盐，你该怎么办？不用担心，有一种简单的解决方法。你需要做的是拿一小撮盐，把它扔过你的左肩。问题已解决，魔咒被破除了。

Notice that we wrote the salt has to be thrown over the left shoulder. There is anexplanation for this rule. People of the past believed that your guardian6 angel wasbehind you and always on your right. If you throw the pinch of salt over your rightshoulder you risked harming your guardian angel. That would only make things worse.

请注意，我们写的是盐必须扔过左肩。关于这条规则有一个解释。过去的人们相信你的守护天使就在你身后，总是在你的右边。如果你把一小撮盐撒过右肩，你就有可能伤害你的守护天使。那只会让事情变得更糟。

Passing the Salt

递盐

We have all experienced sitting around the dinner table when someone asksus to pass the salt please. Naturally most of us pick up the salt and hand it tothe person.

我们都有过坐在餐桌旁时，有人让我们递盐的经历。当然，我们大多数人都会拿起盐递给那个人。

According to this superstition that is something you never want to do again. Itbrings very bad luck. Remember the old sayings， “Pass the salt， pass the sorrow7”and“Help me to salt， help me to sorrow”.

根据迷信，这是你再也不想做的事情。它会带来厄运。记住老话“递盐，递愁”和“帮我递盐，使我悲伤”。

The next time you are asked to pass the salt， you certainly want to help. This ishow you should do it from now on to avoid bad luck： You pick up the salt cellar8and place it on the table close to the person who requested it. That person needs topick up the salt from the table. Now all is fine. Just remember to place the salt cellaron the table， never hand it over directly to another person.

下次你被要求遞盐时，你当然还是愿意帮忙。从现在起，你应该这样做，以避免厄运：你拿起盐罐，把它放在桌子上离要求递盐的人较近的位置。那个人需要从桌子上拿起盐。现在一切都好了。只要记得把盐罐放在桌子上，千万不要直接把它递给别人。

Salt and a New Home

盐与新家

Many people believed that evil spirits could be lurking9 around just aboutanywhere in England in 19th century. They could never be quite sure if evil spirits hadtaken residence10 in any empty house or even been left there by the previous11 owners.

在19 世纪的英国，许多人认为恶灵可能潜伏在任何地方。他们无法确定是否有恶灵占据了任何空房子，或者是否有恶灵被前房主留下。

The method they used to prevent evil spirits from taking residence involved saltnaturally. When the house was completely empty and no furniture was brought intothe house， they would walk around in the house and sprinkle12 a little salt on thefloor of every room.

他们用来阻止恶灵居住的方法自然涉及到盐。当房子完全空着，家具还没有被搬进房子时，他们会在房子里走来走去，在每个房间的地板上撒一点盐。

Salt and Money

盐和金钱

Do you know the old saying “Short of salt， short of money”？ Never， ever putyourself in the situation that you have no salt in your home. That would be reallybad news concerning13 your finances14. Make sure you always have some salt inyour home. It is a sorrowful15 situation if you run out of salt.

你知道一句老话“缺盐，缺钱”吗？永远不要把自己置于家里无盐的境地。那对你的财务状况来说真的是个坏消息。确保你家中常备盐。如果你的盐用完了，那将是一个令人悲伤的情况。

Should someone you know run out of salt and ask to borrow some salt， say no.Never ever lend anyone salt. It is pure bad luck.

如果你認识的人盐用完了，要求借一些盐，请拒绝。永远不要借给任何人盐。这纯粹是不吉利的。

So how do you help the person in need？ Simply， you give them the salt as agift. They must not return any salt to you. That is bad luck， that would bring both ofyou bad luck.

那么，你如何帮助有需要的人呢？很简单，你把盐作为礼物送给他们。他们不能把盐还给你。那不吉利，会给你们俩都带来厄运。

It is perfectly fine to gift someone salt. Actually， that is a wonderful thing to do，wishing them prosperity16.

把盐送给别人是完全没有问题的。事实上，这是一件很棒的事情，表达了愿他们繁荣昌盛的祝福。

Babies and Salt

婴儿与盐

In 19th century England a baby was considered especially vulnerable17 frombirth and until the baby was baptized18. These were critical19 days and people woulddo something to protect the baby from evil happenings.

在19 世纪的英国，婴儿从出生到受洗期间都被认为是特别脆弱的。这些日子非常关键，人们会做一些事情来保护婴儿免受邪恶事件的伤害。

One of these protective objects was a tiny bag of salt. They wrapped20 it in apiece of cloth and hid it in the cradle21. The cloth containing salt was also hidden ina pocket of the baby’s clothes as extra protection when they carried the baby outsideof their home for the first time.

其中一种护身符是一小袋盐。他们把它用布包起来，然后把它藏在摇篮里。当第一次把婴儿抱出家门时，他们也会把包着盐的布藏在婴儿衣服的口袋里，作为额外的保护。

Notes

1. superstition 迷信

2. survive 存活

3. involve 牵涉，涉及

4. spill 洒出，泼出，溢出. 洒出（量），溢出（量）

5. cure 对策，措施

6. guardian 守护的

7. sorrow 悲伤，悲痛

8. cellar 地下室，地窖salt cellar 盐瓶，盐罐

9. lurk 潜伏；潜藏

10. residence 居住，定居