海外文化:英美民俗 不祥之举:打破镜子

【英文原文】

Breaking a Mirror One of the most common superstition is that to break a mirror brings death, or seven years of bad luck. Since very early times the mirror has been used in fortunetelling. People believed that one could see the will of god in the mirror. To break a mirror accidentally, therefore, was interpreted as an effort on the part of the gods to prevent the person from seeing into the future. This was understood as a warning that something unpleasant would happen in the future. It is said that when Napoleon was in Italy fighting in a war, he broke a mirror accidentally which hung over Josephine’s portrait. An idea came into his mind that she had died, and he couldn’t rest until he returned home and saw for himself that she was well and alive.

【中文译文】

最普遍的一种迷信说法是打破镜子的人会死去，或至少倒运7年。镜子自古就用来算命，人们认为从镜子里能看到神的意旨。因此，不慎打破镜子就被解释为神不愿泄露天机，因而是一种警告，有不妙的事即将发生。据说拿破仑在意大利作战时偶然打破了约瑟芬画像上方的镜子，马上想到爱人已死，于是马不停蹄地赶回家，看到约瑟芬安危无恙才放下心来。