澳大利亚的神话与传说.docx

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1、澳大利亚的神话与传说澳大利亚的神话与传说 澳大利亚，一个迷人的国度，因其地理位置特殊而散发出一种神秘与梦幻的气息，令世界其他地区的人对其种种八卦和冒险故事充满天马行空的想象。同其他文化一样，澳大利亚人也喜欢往史实里“添油加醋”，故弄玄虚。下面一起来看看那些有关澳大利亚的神话与传说吧， 姑且不论其是真是假，还是亦真亦假。 Lasseters Reef1) 拉塞特金矿 Lasseters Reef is, allegedly2), a place of unimaginable riches somewhere in Central Australia. Since 1897, Lasseter

2、had been trying to raise funds to travel back to the interior of the continent where he claimed he found an enormous gold deposit. In 1930, Australian financiers were apparently either tired of hearing Harold Bell Lasseter talk, or they finally believed his story, and gave him 50,000 for the trip. S

3、adly, he was unable to find his fabled3) mine. His team left him behind, and Lasseter eventually died from malnutrition4) and exhaustion. No maps of the mine have ever been found, but the reef remains a Holy Grail5) among explorers who hope to either prove it false or revel6) in its riches. 据说拉塞特金矿位

4、于澳大利亚中部某地，那里蕴藏着令人无法想象的宝藏。从1897年开始，拉塞特就一直在设法筹集资金，想要重返那个他声称发现有个巨大金矿的内陆。1930年，澳大利亚的一些财阀显然是听够了哈罗德贝尔拉塞特的聒噪，要不就是最终相信了拉塞特所说的事，给了他五万英镑作经费。可惜拉塞特并没有找到他口中所说的那个金矿。随行的队伍离他而去，拉塞特最终死于营养不良、过度劳累。 尽管人们从未找到这处金矿的任何藏宝图，这处金矿却仍然是探险家们的圣地不管他们是想证实此地纯属虚构，还是想发现宝藏欢喜一番。 The Min Min Lights7) of the Outback8) 澳大利亚内陆的“冥冥光” When exp

5、loring in the outback, be sure to travel by daylight as much as you can. At night, you run the risk of being taken by one of Australias mysteries. Its not undiscovered bands of Aborigines9) that are a threat. Instead, its the Min Min lights. Walk toward the Min Min lights (small bright lights that s

6、eem to have a mind of their own), and you can follow them forever. Once you start walking towards them, youll never reach their source. But turn away from them, and they will follow you. Some scientists say that energy has the capacity to possess consciousness, and there are plans to test whether th

7、ese lights display true interactive behavior. 到澳大利亚内陆地区去探险时，一定要尽量在白天上路，因为到了晚上，你可能会遭遇被澳大利亚一种神秘之物盯上的危险。这神秘之物并非那些未知的、对人们构成威胁的土著部落，而是“冥冥光”。 “冥冥光”是一种微小而又明亮的光，自身似乎存在着思维意识。朝这些光走去，你就能永远跟着它们。一旦你走向它们，你就永远也别想到达它们的源头；要是你转而避之，它们反倒会如影随形地跟着你。 一些科学家认为能量具备自我感知能力，并已计划测试“冥冥光”是否真能表现出与人的这种交互行为。 Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog

8、 口渴青蛙提达利克 While we have a good idea of how the earth came to be, its still fun to see how people arrived at these answers before microscopes and TED10) Talks. Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog is one of the stories the Aborigines tell about The Dreamtime11)the time before humans. In this story, Tiddalik, a

9、frog, was thirsty; very thirsty. So thirsty, in fact, that he drank up all the water that was in all the lakes and ponds and rivers. Consequently, none of the other animals had any water to drink or swim and bathe in. Seeing this, all the other animals decided they needed to make Tiddalik laugh. If

10、he laughed, they hoped hed open his mouth and all the water would go back to where it belonged. The kookaburra12) (an Australian bird that is known to make a laughing sound) tried first. He told lots of jokes. So many, that he himself started laughing like crazy. Tiddalik did not laugh. The kangaroo

11、s went next. They played leapfrog13) with each otherjumping higher and higher and highereventually learning to jump as high as they do today. Tiddalik still did not laugh. Next the frilled lizard14) tried sticking out his frill as far as it would go, but Tiddalik was still silent. Finally the eel sl

12、ithered15) by. He twisted and turned himself into all sorts of crazy shapes, eventually tying himself into a knot. That did it for Tiddalik. The big frog laughed and laughed, and all the water went back to where it belonged. 尽管我们都明白地球万物如何而来，但了解一下在显微镜和TED演讲这些东西未出现之前人们所给出的解答仍不失为一种乐趣。 关于洪荒时代，即人类诞生之前的时代

13、，澳大利亚土著居民留下了许许多多的神话故事，口渴青蛙提达利克的故事便是其中之一。故事里，一只名叫提达利克的青蛙口渴了，特别渴。事实上，它已经渴到喝光了所有的水湖泊里的水、池塘里的水和河流里的水。结果，其他动物都没有水喝，没水游泳，也没水洗澡。面对这种情况，其他动物一致决定，它们要想办法让提达利克大笑，希望它大笑时能张开嘴，那样它喝下的水就能回到原处。 笑翠鸟(生活在澳大利亚的一种鸟，据说能发出笑声)首先上阵。它讲了很多很多笑话，多到它自己都开始疯了似地笑起来，但提达利克却没有笑。接下来上场的是袋鼠。它们玩起了跳背游戏，跳的一次比一次高最终掌握了它们现在的跳高本领，但提达利克仍然没有笑。接着，摺

14、鳃蜥蜴试着尽量伸长自己的脖子，一直伸到不能再伸为止，想以此来逗笑提达利克，但提达利克仍然无动于衷。最后，鳗鱼滑了过来。它不停地扭转身体，摆出千奇百怪的各种夸张姿势，最后身子扭成了一个结。这招奏效了。提达利克这只巨蛙笑了起来，大笑个不停，被它喝下的水又都流回了原来的地方。 Mirram and Wareen 袋鼠米莲和袋熊沃伦 Mirram and Wareen is another story about The Dreamtime that explains how wombats16) got their flat heads, and how kangaroos got their lo

15、ng tails. Before either of those animals had those attributes, Mirram, a kangaroo, and Wareen, a wombat, were best friends. Wareen built a hut for the two of them to sleep in, but Mirram liked sleeping under the stars better and occasionally made fun of Wareen for sleeping indoors. When a cold, wet

16、winter storm came, Mirram wanted a warm, dry place to sleep. He banged on the door and asked Wareen to let him in, but Wareen was tired of Mirram making fun of him, so he refused to let him in, claiming there wasnt enough room. Mirram pushed his way in anyway and slept indoors. The next day, the two

17、 friends woke up feeling awful. Mirram was mad that Wareen didnt make a fire for him, and Wareen was mad that Mirram was such a bully17). Mirram found a large flat rock and dropped it smack on Wareens head, squashing it as flat as the rock. That, Mirram explained, would teach Wareen not to be so sel

18、fish. To get him back, Wareen threw a spear at Mirrams backside. When the kangaroo pulled it out, it stretched his backside into a taila lifelong reminder of his selfishness. Since then, wombats have always had flat heads and lived indoors, and kangaroos have always been long-tailed nomads18). 袋鼠米莲和

19、袋熊沃伦是发生在洪荒时代的另一个神话故事，讲述了袋熊顶着扁平脑袋、袋鼠拖着长长尾巴的缘由。 在还未变成扁脑袋和长尾巴之前，袋鼠米莲和袋熊沃伦是十分要好的朋友。沃伦为它俩建了一间睡觉的小屋，但米莲却喜欢睡在星空下，还时不时地嘲笑睡在屋里的沃伦。一场又冷又湿的冬季暴风来袭时，米莲想找个温暖干燥的地方睡觉，于是就拍拍屋门，求沃伦让它进去。但受够了米莲嘲笑的沃伦推托说屋里地方不够，拒绝开门，于是米莲硬闯进来睡在了屋里。 第二天，这两位朋友一觉醒来就闹起了别扭。米莲气沃伦没有给它生火取暖，沃伦则气米莲太蛮横霸道。米莲于是找了一块又大又平的石板，不偏不倚地往沃伦的脑袋砸去，砸得沃伦的脑袋像石板一样平。米莲

20、说，这是为了给沃伦一个教训，让它别那么自私。沃伦也不甘示弱，朝米莲的屁股扔去一根长矛。米莲往外拔长矛时，长矛将它的屁股拉长成了一条尾巴，终身提醒着它别那么自私。 从此，袋熊就一直顶着扁平的脑袋穴居生活，而袋鼠则一直拖着长长的尾巴到处流浪。 Baby-Eating Dingoes 吃婴儿的澳洲野狗 On the night of August 17th, 1980, while on a camping trip with her family, nine-week old Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain was reported missing by her

21、parents Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. Although tragic, this is not beyond the realm19) of probability. However, there is a reason why this case is internationally-known. The National Museum of Australia has in its collection over 250 items related to this case, and its story has been translated int

22、o books, movies, and an opera. On the night the baby went missing, the mom reported a dingo (a wild dog found in the outback) took her baby. Although its quite possible that a dingo did in fact take her baby, the evidence, at the time, left many questions unanswered. Why was the babys blood found in the car? Why were the babys clothes, which were later recovered, found inside out? The jury, perplexed20) by these findings, found Lindy Chamberlain guilty, sentencing her to life in prison. 5