張寧

Humans and animals need salt to survive2. There are a lot of differentsuperstitions naturally involves3 salt around the world.

人類(lèi)和動(dòng)物需要鹽來(lái)生存。自然地，在全世界有許多不同的涉及鹽的迷信。

Spilling4 the Salt

弄撒鹽

Spilling the salt has through out history been considered very bad luck. Itpredicts something bad is going to happen to someone closest to the spill.

歷史上，弄撒鹽一直被認(rèn)為是非常不吉利的。它預(yù)示著最接近撒出的鹽的某個(gè)人會(huì)遭遇不測(cè)。

So， what can you do if you accidentally spill some salt？ No fear， there is asimple cure5. What you need to do is to take a pinch of salt and throw it over yourleft shoulder. Problem solved and the spell is broken.

那么，如果你不小心弄撒了一些鹽，你該怎么辦？不用擔(dān)心，有一種簡(jiǎn)單的解決方法。你需要做的是拿一小撮鹽，把它扔過(guò)你的左肩。問(wèn)題已解決，魔咒被破除了。

Notice that we wrote the salt has to be thrown over the left shoulder. There is anexplanation for this rule. People of the past believed that your guardian6 angel wasbehind you and always on your right. If you throw the pinch of salt over your rightshoulder you risked harming your guardian angel. That would only make things worse.

請(qǐng)注意，我們寫(xiě)的是鹽必須扔過(guò)左肩。關(guān)于這條規(guī)則有一個(gè)解釋。過(guò)去的人們相信你的守護(hù)天使就在你身后，總是在你的右邊。如果你把一小撮鹽撒過(guò)右肩，你就有可能傷害你的守護(hù)天使。那只會(huì)讓事情變得更糟。

Passing the Salt

遞鹽

We have all experienced sitting around the dinner table when someone asksus to pass the salt please. Naturally most of us pick up the salt and hand it tothe person.

我們都有過(guò)坐在餐桌旁時(shí)，有人讓我們遞鹽的經(jīng)歷。當(dāng)然，我們大多數(shù)人都會(huì)拿起鹽遞給那個(gè)人。

According to this superstition that is something you never want to do again. Itbrings very bad luck. Remember the old sayings， “Pass the salt， pass the sorrow7”and“Help me to salt， help me to sorrow”.

根據(jù)迷信，這是你再也不想做的事情。它會(huì)帶來(lái)厄運(yùn)。記住老話“遞鹽，遞愁”和“幫我遞鹽，使我悲傷”。

The next time you are asked to pass the salt， you certainly want to help. This ishow you should do it from now on to avoid bad luck： You pick up the salt cellar8and place it on the table close to the person who requested it. That person needs topick up the salt from the table. Now all is fine. Just remember to place the salt cellaron the table， never hand it over directly to another person.

下次你被要求遞鹽時(shí)，你當(dāng)然還是愿意幫忙。從現(xiàn)在起，你應(yīng)該這樣做，以避免厄運(yùn)：你拿起鹽罐，把它放在桌子上離要求遞鹽的人較近的位置。那個(gè)人需要從桌子上拿起鹽?，F(xiàn)在一切都好了。只要記得把鹽罐放在桌子上，千萬(wàn)不要直接把它遞給別人。

Salt and a New Home

鹽與新家

Many people believed that evil spirits could be lurking9 around just aboutanywhere in England in 19th century. They could never be quite sure if evil spirits hadtaken residence10 in any empty house or even been left there by the previous11 owners.

在19 世紀(jì)的英國(guó)，許多人認(rèn)為惡靈可能潛伏在任何地方。他們無(wú)法確定是否有惡靈占據(jù)了任何空房子，或者是否有惡靈被前房主留下。

The method they used to prevent evil spirits from taking residence involved saltnaturally. When the house was completely empty and no furniture was brought intothe house， they would walk around in the house and sprinkle12 a little salt on thefloor of every room.

他們用來(lái)阻止惡靈居住的方法自然涉及到鹽。當(dāng)房子完全空著，家具還沒(méi)有被搬進(jìn)房子時(shí)，他們會(huì)在房子里走來(lái)走去，在每個(gè)房間的地板上撒一點(diǎn)鹽。

Salt and Money

鹽和金錢(qián)

Do you know the old saying “Short of salt， short of money”？ Never， ever putyourself in the situation that you have no salt in your home. That would be reallybad news concerning13 your finances14. Make sure you always have some salt inyour home. It is a sorrowful15 situation if you run out of salt.

你知道一句老話“缺鹽，缺錢(qián)”嗎？永遠(yuǎn)不要把自己置于家里無(wú)鹽的境地。那對(duì)你的財(cái)務(wù)狀況來(lái)說(shuō)真的是個(gè)壞消息。確保你家中常備鹽。如果你的鹽用完了，那將是一個(gè)令人悲傷的情況。

Should someone you know run out of salt and ask to borrow some salt， say no.Never ever lend anyone salt. It is pure bad luck.

如果你認(rèn)識(shí)的人鹽用完了，要求借一些鹽，請(qǐng)拒絕。永遠(yuǎn)不要借給任何人鹽。這純粹是不吉利的。

So how do you help the person in need？ Simply， you give them the salt as agift. They must not return any salt to you. That is bad luck， that would bring both ofyou bad luck.

那么，你如何幫助有需要的人呢？很簡(jiǎn)單，你把鹽作為禮物送給他們。他們不能把鹽還給你。那不吉利，會(huì)給你們倆都帶來(lái)厄運(yùn)。

It is perfectly fine to gift someone salt. Actually， that is a wonderful thing to do，wishing them prosperity16.

把鹽送給別人是完全沒(méi)有問(wèn)題的。事實(shí)上，這是一件很棒的事情，表達(dá)了愿他們繁榮昌盛的祝福。

Babies and Salt

嬰兒與鹽

In 19th century England a baby was considered especially vulnerable17 frombirth and until the baby was baptized18. These were critical19 days and people woulddo something to protect the baby from evil happenings.

在19 世紀(jì)的英國(guó)，嬰兒從出生到受洗期間都被認(rèn)為是特別脆弱的。這些日子非常關(guān)鍵，人們會(huì)做一些事情來(lái)保護(hù)嬰兒免受邪惡事件的傷害。

One of these protective objects was a tiny bag of salt. They wrapped20 it in apiece of cloth and hid it in the cradle21. The cloth containing salt was also hidden ina pocket of the baby’s clothes as extra protection when they carried the baby outsideof their home for the first time.

其中一種護(hù)身符是一小袋鹽。他們把它用布包起來(lái)，然后把它藏在搖籃里。當(dāng)?shù)谝淮伟褘雰罕С黾议T(mén)時(shí)，他們也會(huì)把包著鹽的布藏在嬰兒衣服的口袋里，作為額外的保護(hù)。

Notes

1. superstition 迷信

2. survive 存活

3. involve 牽涉，涉及

4. spill 灑出，潑出，溢出. 灑出（量），溢出（量）

5. cure 對(duì)策，措施

6. guardian 守護(hù)的

7. sorrow 悲傷，悲痛

8. cellar 地下室，地窖salt cellar 鹽瓶，鹽罐

9. lurk? 潛伏；潛藏

10. residence 居住，定居

11. previous 以前的，先前的

12. sprinkle 撒，灑

13. concern 關(guān)于；涉及

14. finance 資金，財(cái)源；經(jīng)濟(jì)情況

15. sorrowful 悲傷的，悲痛的

16. prosperity 繁榮，成功

17. vulnerable 脆弱的，易受傷的

18. baptized 受洗禮的

19. critical 極其重要的，關(guān)鍵的

20. wrap 包，裹

21. cradle 搖籃