【一起听英语】迷信的说法

生活中有很多迷信的说法。你相信这些说法吗？

Rob: Hello, I'm Rob.

Alice: And I'm Alice.

Rob: And this is 6 Minute English from the BBC. Today we're talking about

superstitions². Superstition¹ is the belief that certain events can bring good luck

or bad luck. For example, a lot of people think that the number 13 is unlucky,

or that you can avoid bad luck if you touch wood.

Alice: Mm, in fact people even say 'touch wood' if they're hoping for something

good to happen.

Rob: That's right. So Alice, are you superstitious³?

Alice: Well I am, a bit. I don't like walking under ladders for example.

Rob: Me too. Well, today we're talking about superstitions involving birds and

animals, and I've got today's question for you. According to British folklore⁴,

eggs from which bird are meant to improve your eyesight?

Is it:

a) ducks

b) owls⁵

c) swans

Alice: I'm not sure. I'll guess swans.

Rob: OK, we'll see if you're right at the end of the programme. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Now animals, birds and nature feature a lot in British superstitions. We've

already mentioned that people touch wood or knock on wood for luck. So

could you tell us a few more British superstitions involving nature Alice?

Alice: Well one that I can think of off the top of my head is a lucky rabbit's foot.

Apparently⁶ if you carry a rabbit's foot around it will bring you good luck. It's

what we call a lucky charm⁷. A charm is an object that brings good luck. So a

rabbit's foot is a charm that brings good luck to the person carrying it.

Rob: But not to the rabbit! You used an interesting phrase there Alice: 'off the top

of my head'.

Alice: Yeah, off the top of my head. It's a helpful phrase that means something you

think of quickly, without much research.

Rob: OK, well let's hear a few more British superstitions involving nature. Dr Paul

Walton, from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, spoke⁸ to the BBC

about some superstitions surrounding birds in Scotland. Here he is talking

about seagulls and the traditions associated with them.

Alice: Seagulls or gulls¹⁰ – they're the large grey and white birds that you find near the

seaside.

Rob: So, according to Dr Walton, what superstitions are associated with gulls in

Scotland?

Partly it must be because Scotland's such a fantastic place for birds, I think over the years

these superstitions have developed because these are the living things that we share our

lives with. For example, there's a long tradition in Scotland among sailors and fishermen

of seeing the gulls that follow the boats as actually being the embodiment of dead sailors,

and to kill a gull⁹ is still in many places considered to be very back luck. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Rob: He says sailors and fishermen consider it very bad luck to kill a seagull

because gulls are the embodiment of dead sailors. Could you explain

embodiment for us Alice?

Alice: Embodiment. It literally¹¹ means to give something a body. So here it means that

the seagulls have given physical bodies to the spirits of dead sailors – they're

the embodiment of the dead sailors.

Rob: So it's bad luck to kill a seagull in Scotland because they're the embodiment of

dead sailors. Let's listen to another bird superstition from Scotland. This is Paul

Walton again talking about another of his favourite superstitions. Listen out for

the bird noises in this clip¹² and see if you can identify which bird he's talking

about. What you should do when you hear its call?

One of my favourites is the cuckoo¹³ [Cuck-oo cuck-oo] If you hear a cuckoo calling and

then you start to run away from it as quickly as you can, the number of times you hear the

cuckoo calling before it fades into silence is the number of years you've got left to live.

Rob: Did you hear the sound of the cuckoo? The cuckoo is a bird with a long tail

and a very distinctive¹⁴ cry.

Alice: You can find cuckoo clocks in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, with the

cuckoo making a distinctive cry every hour.

Rob: But in Scotland, if you hear the cuckoo calling then you should run away from

it as quickly as you can. And the number of times you hear the cuckoo is the

number of years you've got left to live.

Alice: Oh dear. So surely you should walk away very slowly – then you'd hear more

calls and live longer? It seems like a very odd superstition to me – it's a real 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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old wives' tale. An old wives' tale is what we call superstitions that are totally

untrue and ridiculous sometimes. Now I would definitely say that that sounds

like an old wives' tale to me.

Rob: You could be right – a lot of these superstitions are old wives' tales; possibly

including the one in today's question. Now, if you remember Alice, I asked you,

according to British folklore, which bird's eggs are meant to improve your

eyesight?

Is it:

a) ducks

b) owls

c) swans

Alice: And I said swans.

Rob: Well, apparently it's owl's eggs that are meant to improve your eyesight.

You're meant to cook the eggs until they're ash, and then eat them to get better

sight.

Alice: Urgh, that sounds horrible; eggs made into ashes!

Rob: Yes, I wouldn't recommend doing it. Anyway, before we go Alice, could you

please remind us of some of the vocabulary we've heard in today's programme?

Alice: Sure, we had:

Superstition

To touch wood

Knock on wood

A lucky charm

Off the top of my head 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Seagull

Embodiment

Cuckoo

Old wives' tale

Rob: Thanks Alice.

Alice: See you next time!

Both: Bye! 

1 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。

2 superstitions   

迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Old superstitions seem incredible to educated people. 旧的迷信对于受过教育的人来说是不可思议的。
• Do away with all fetishes and superstitions. 破除一切盲目崇拜和迷信。

3 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

4 folklore   

n.民间信仰，民间传说，民俗

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。

5 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 charm   

vt.使着迷，使陶醉；n.招人喜欢之处，魅力

参考例句：

• With all imperfections the short play has a real charm.尽管有不少缺欠，这出小戏仍颇具魅力。
• He could resist her charm no longer.他再也抗拒不住她的魅力。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

10 gulls   

n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A flock of sea gulls are hovering over the deck. 一群海鸥在甲板上空飞翔。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. 数不清的海鸥在遥远的岩石上栖息。 来自辞典例句

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 clip   

n.夹子，别针，弹夹，片断；vt.夹住，修剪

参考例句：

• May I clip out the report on my performance?我能把报道我的文章剪下来吗？
• She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.她用曲别针把文件别在一起。

13 cuckoo   

n.布谷鸟，杜鹃

参考例句：

• The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds'nests.杜鹃在别的鸟巢中产卵。
• The cuckoo is a harbinger of spring.布谷鸟预告春天的来临。

14 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。