白领英语晨读-122 Friday and the Thirteenth 星期五和13

Friday-the Thirteenth has long been considered extremely unlucky because it has some bad associations which came from mythology,tale of the Bible,and the customs and habits. According to the Bible,the Lord God created the first man,Adam.Then he took a rib¹ from Adam's body and out of it created the first woman, Eve. It was said that Adam was created on a Friday and it was on Friday that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit,and on a Friday they died. 　

　　Friday was also the common day in England for executing criminals , for which it was sometimes known as Hanging Day.

　　From the old Norse myth people got the idea that 13 people sitting at a table to have a dinner was unlucky. And this superstition² was confirmed by the last supper of Christ and his disciples³. Bible tells us that Christ sat down with his 12 disciples, which made up the number 13, at the last supper when Judas, one of the 12 disciples , sold his master for thirty pieces of silver. Christ was killed by nailing on the cross the following day on a Friday.

星期五和13

　　星期五加13历来被认为是非常不吉利的日子，这是从神话、圣经故事、风俗习惯产生的一些不好的联想而来的。据圣经上讲，上帝创造了第一个男人--亚当。然后，上帝从亚当身上取下一根肋骨又造了一个女人-夏娃。据说，亚当是在星期五被造出来的，他和夏娃吃禁果也在星期五，他俩死的日子也是星期五。

　　英国从前常常在星期五处死罪犯、因此星期五有时也叫"绞刑日"。

　　从挪威神话中，人们产生一种想法：13个人坐在一起聚餐是不吉利的。这种迷信被耶稣和其12个门徒的最后的晚餐加以证实。圣经上说，在最后的晚餐上，耶稣 和他的12个门徒坐在一起，正好是13人。他的门徒之一-犹大，为了三十个银币而出卖了自己的老师。第二天，耶稣便被钉死在十字架上，这天碰巧是星期五。

1 rib   

n.肋骨，肋状物

参考例句：

• He broke a rib when he fell off his horse.他从马上摔下来折断了一根肋骨。
• He has broken a rib and the doctor has strapped it up.他断了一根肋骨，医生已包扎好了。

2 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

3 disciples   

n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一

参考例句：

• Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. 犹大是耶稣十二门徒之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "The names of the first two disciples were --" “最初的两个门徒的名字是——” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险