湖北省武漢市 文蕭雅 供稿

“Bless you”or“God bless you”is a common English expression.People often say it to a person after hesneezes（打噴嚏）.The origin of the custom and its original purpose are unknown.Here are several possible origins.

“保佑你”或者“上帝保佑你”是一個很常見的英語表達(dá)。人們經(jīng)常在別人打了噴嚏之后說這句話。這個習(xí)俗的起源和它最初的目的都不為人知。以下是幾個關(guān)于它的可能的來源。

Gregory I became Pope in 590.Bubonic plague(淋巴腺瘟疫)was reaching Rome.In the hope of fighting against the disease,Gregory I ordered prayers to holdparades(游行)and chant along the streets.At the time,sneezing was an earlysymptom(癥狀)of the plague.So“God bless you”or“Bless you”became a remedy to the disease.

公元590年，格里高利一世成為了教皇。當(dāng)時羅馬城爆發(fā)了一場淋巴腺瘟疫（又叫“黑死病”）。為了與病魔做斗爭，格里高利一世下令祈禱者沿街游行吟唱。那時打噴嚏恰是這種瘟疫的早期癥狀之一。于是“上帝保佑你”便成了治病的常規(guī)方法之一了。

Another version says that people used to believe that your soulcan be thrown from your body when you sneeze. Because sneezing could open your body and Devil or evil spirits mightinvade(入侵)in your body.Thus,“God bless you”is used as ashield(屏障)against evil.

另一種說法認(rèn)為人們曾經(jīng)相信打噴嚏的時候靈魂會從身體中被甩出，因為噴嚏會打開你的身體，從而受到魔鬼或者其它邪靈的入侵。由此，“上帝保佑你”被用來表示防御魔鬼的入侵。

The third version is that when you are sneezing,your heart will stop beating suddenly.The phrase “God bless you”or“Bless you”is meant to ensure your heart to beat again.

第三種說法認(rèn)為，當(dāng)你打噴嚏時你的心臟就會瞬間停止跳動。說“上帝保佑你”是為了確保你的心臟重新跳動起來。

Another belief is that people used to see sneezing as a sign that God would answer your prayers or a sign of good fortune or good luck.In this case,“God bless you”would be inrecognition(認(rèn)可)of that luck.

還有一種說法是人們通常認(rèn)為打噴嚏是上帝聽見了你的祈禱的預(yù)兆，或者是一種財富或者幸運的預(yù)兆。在這種情況下，“上帝保佑你”就是對那種幸運的認(rèn)可。