专八西方文化习俗之迷信

　　5. Crossing your fingers to wish for good luck 交叉手指期盼好运

　　One theory of this is that during the Hundred Years War between France and England, archers would cross their fingers before pulling the bow string in order to grant them good luck. Before that, it was also a secret sign between members of Christianity (when it was illegal).

　　一种说法是：在法英百年战争时，弓箭手在拉弓前会交叉手指以示好运。在此之前，这也是基督教徒之间的暗号(当时这样做是违法的)。

　　6. Never take the third light from a match, it's bad luck. 不能用同一根火柴点3次火

　　In World War I, snipers sometimes operated at night. Their technique involved waiting for someone to strike a match to light a cigarette; on spotting the light they'd train a scope on them. On the second light, the sniper would focus his shot, zooming in ready for the kill, on the third light, he would fire, killing the person who lit the match.

　　在一战期间，狙击手通常在夜晚作案。他们的作案技巧就是等有人点烟。第一次点烟时狙击手可以确定方位;点第二根时狙击手瞄准准备射杀;点第三根烟时，他就开火将点火之人打死。

　　7. Walking underneath a ladder is widely held to be bad luck. 从梯子下走不吉利

　　'Walking under a ladder' came about in England a few centuries ago when people drank more ale at lunch than ate food. Drunken sign painters were likely to dump a bucket of paint if you walked by or under their ladder and handymen would drop tools.

　　“从梯子下走不吉利”来源于英国几个世纪前发生的事。在晚餐喝了过多的麦芽酒而没吃多少食物之后，当有人路过梯子或是从梯子下走，喝醉了的画家们可能会将他们的油漆桶倒下去，杂务工要是喝醉了可能会将自己的工具丢下去。

　　8. Broken mirror will result in seven years bad luck. 破碎的镜子意味着之后7年的厄运

　　Breaking a mirror is bad luck because at one time mirrors were very expensive. If a palace maid broke a mirror she was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

　　打破镜子被人为十分不吉利，因为镜子曾经是很昂贵的。如果皇宫里的一名女佣打破了镜子，她将被判处7年牢狱。

　　9. Carrots help you see in the dark. 胡萝卜有助于提高夜视能力

　　This was part of World War II propaganda. The British had invented radar and we began bombing the Germans at night. The Germans, confused as to how we bombed them at night, started researching how we were doing it. The British government began to spread the rumor that it was the carrots in our ration packs that helped us see in the dark (Note: "in order" is rarely needed) to put the Germans off our trail. They figured it out eventually, but by that time, the rumor had already stuck.

　　这是二战期间的一个宣传。英国人发明了雷达并开始在夜晚轰炸德国。德国人就对英国人是如何在夜晚进行轰炸作业感到很好奇，并开始研究英国人是如何做到夜间瞄准的。英国政府就散布谣言说他们食用一定数量的胡萝卜来提高夜视能力来迷惑德国人。德国人最后发现了这只是个谣言，但到那时是这一说法已经被广泛接受了。

　　10. Spilling salt is a bad omen. 盐洒出来是不吉利的

　　Spilling salt is bad luck because in Roman times, salt was so valuable that soldiers were paid in salt rather than money. Spilling it was equal to burning money. I'm not sure where throwing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder negates the action of spilling, but I can tell you that it is where the word 'salary' came from.

　　盐洒出来是不吉利的象征。因为在古罗马时代盐是很珍贵的，士兵们的薪酬领的是盐而不是钱。洒出盐意味着烧钱。我不确定是否可以通过在左肩上撒点盐来消除背运或盐洒出的影响，但是我可以告诉你“薪水”(salary)一词来源于盐(salt)。

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