2021年1月23日发(作者：高风险)
英语中的希腊神话典故




宁波的
Lydia
问：




Tom< br>，你好，我是一名英语系的学生。在一次考试中，我碰到了
“Achilles'
he el”
这个词
组，
当时怎么也猜不出它的意思，
只好空在那里。
后来 经老师讲评才得知这个词源于希腊神
话。后来，我留心地注意了一下，发现在英语中类似的

词汇好像还真不少，所以想请你帮
忙总结一些英文中比较常用的这类词语。








Tom
：




英语中有很多词语都源于希腊神话故事。应
Lydia
的要求，本次，我就讲讲其中一些最
为常用的表达法，
以及它们背后的故事。
如果你 能在别人面前讲出这些典故，
相信大家都会
对你刮目相看的。








Theseus & the Minotaur



Theseus was the Athenian king's son who travelled to Crete and killed the terrible Minotaur, a
monster that was half-man, half-bull. The Minotaur lived in a complex underground maze called
the Labyrinth. Today, a labyrinth means a difficult maze, or anything that is very convoluted and
confusing (e.g.







特修斯和弥诺陶洛斯




特修斯是雅典国王之子，曾前 往克利特岛杀死了可怕的半人半牛怪物
——
弥诺陶洛斯。
弥诺陶洛斯生活在一个名叫拉 比林特斯（
Labyrinth
）

的复杂地下迷宫里。而今
“la byrinth”
的意思是一个难解的迷宫，或者那种非常令人费解与迷惑的事情（例如
“a
labyrinth
of
rules
and regulations”
）
。








Hercules



Known in Greek as Herakles, he was the son of Zeus - king of the gods - and a mortal woman.
He was famous for his amazing strength. He once killed his own children in a bout of temporary
insanity,
and
was
punished
by
having
to
undertake
twelve
near-impossible
tasks
for
his
cousin,
King
Eurystheus.
From
his
name,
we
get
the
word
Herculean,
meaning
incredibly
strong
or
powerful (e.g.



海格立斯




在希腊语中被称为赫拉克勒斯的他，
是宙斯（众神之王）和一个凡间女子所生之子。他
以其惊人的力量而著称。因一时的精神失常，他曾杀死了自己的

孩子，并受惩必须为其堂
弟欧律斯透斯国王处置
12
项几乎不可能完成的 任务。从他的名字中，我们得到了一个词
“Herculean”
，意思是不可思议的强壮
或强大（例如
“Herculean strength”
）或是非常困难（例
如
“a Herculean task”
）
。








The Trojan War



The greatest Greek fighter in the war with the Trojans was Achilles, who was invulnerable
except in one place - his heel, and that was just where the Trojan Paris fatally wounded him with
an arrow. So a crucial weakness is called an Achilles' heel.



The
siege
of
Troy
came
to
an
end
when
the
Greeks
pretended
to
depart,
leaving
behind
a
massive
wooden
horse
as
a

In
fact,
the
horse
contained
soldiers,
and
when
the
Trojans