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简易英语读物《希腊神话-Greek Mythology》-（1） Pandora’s
Box 潘多拉的盒子
一个偶尔的机会，搜索发现网络音乐程序酷我音乐中有英文版《Greek Mythology》专辑可以收听和下载。本专辑共34集，每集约3-13分钟。全部用最通俗易懂的的英文写成、真人配音，讲述了34个流行的希腊神话故事，引人入胜，特别适合喜欢历史和英语的青少年收听学习。对有一定英语水平的中老年人，也是不错的学习希腊神话典故的素材。
本专辑的英文文字系本人收听记录（参考了新浪博客精卫填海的一些素材），并翻译为中文。供喜爱希腊神话和英语爱好分享。
Pandora’s Box
When the gods created the earth, they made it a perfect place for man. Each of the gods gave man a gift, such as strength, intelligence, and skills, and they filled the earth with everything that man needed to live happily.
Fruit tree grew everywhere, and beautiful flowers gave out a delicious drink called nectar that gave people energy. No people needed to work or hunt, and people never grew old or sick or died. The only thing that the gods did not give man was fire. This they kept for themselves. They feared that giving man fire would make him as powerful as the gods and would cause him to destroy the many wonderful things that the gods had put on earth.
One day, the Titan named Prometheus stole some fire from heaven and gave it to man.
Though man knew that fire was the possession of the gods, they still accepted Prometheus ‘gift. Zeus was very angry at this and decided to punish man.
He called on Hephaestus, the gods of metal and fire, and asked him to build a woman out of stone. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, modeled for the statue so that it would be beautiful.
When it was finished, Athena breathed life into the cold stone and it came alive. Then each of the gods gave the woman a gift. Aphrodite taught her how to dance and how to attract any man without even having to look at him. Athena gave her great wisdom. Apollo taught her how to play many musical instruments, and the Muse’s taught her how to sing.
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Hermes taught her how to speak wonderful lies that made other people happy. The last gift was given to her by Hera, Zeus’ wife, and this was curiosity.
The gods then named her Pandora, which means, “All-gifted” and placed her down on earth with all the common men.
Zeus went down to earth with Pandora and gave her one last gift. It was a beautiful box, closed with a heavy lock.
He then gave Pandora the key to box and told her that she must never open it, or let anybody open it for any reason.
After a short time, one of Prometheus' brothers, Epimetheus met Pandora and fell deeply in love with her.
She loved him as well and returned with him to his small village. They lived there together happily because life was easy and there were no troubles.
The people of the village spent their days dancing and singing in the warm sunshine.
Plenty of food grows on the trees and clean water ran through the rivers.
Also, since nobody ever grew or became ill, there was no way to die or lose a friend, family member, or a lover.
Everyone's life on earth was perfect. Though Pandora was happy living with Epimetheus, she could not forget the box that Zeus had given her.
This was because Hera had given her the gift of curiosity, and each day Pandora’s curiosity grew bigger and bigger inside her.
But she followed Zeus' order and put the box in a corner of their home where she would not have to look at it.
She then told Epimetheus not to ever touch it or move it. One night, after a few years in the village, Pandora woke up in the middle of the night and walked into the room where the box was. The moonlight was shining in through the window, and it made the box look bright and wonderful.
The box itself was not fancy or special. It was just a common box with a large lock on the front.
Pandora reached into her pocket and felt the key inside for she had kept the key there since Zeus had given it to her.
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The key felt warm in her hand and sent excitement through her body. Her curiosity grew and grew as she walked closer and closer to the box, but then she remembered Zeus's words and turned away. She got back into her bed with Epimetheus, but was no able to sleep. She kept thinking about the box and wondering what was inside.
Finally, Pandora got up and went to the room where the box sat. She carried the box outside into the garden, dug a deep hole in the middle of a group of flowers, and placed the box inside. She looks down at it one last time before covering it with the earth.
She then took several large stones and piled them on top of the hole. She was tired from her work and returned to bed to sleep with Epimetheus.
As she slept, she had a dream about the box.
In her dream, the box was bright and beautiful, and it softly
whispered her name over and over again, \it said.
Then she took the key out of her pocket and carefully inserted it into the lock. As she turned the key, the box became even brighter and more beautiful.
When she opened the top, she was amazed because the box was filled with the most beautiful jewels that she had ever seen! These were her gift from Zeus!
But why wasn't she supposed to open it? With those jewels, she and Epimetheus could live like a King and Queen!
She awoke from her dream and sat up in bed. It was still dark, and Epimetheus was in sleep at her side. She jumped out of her bed and ran out to her garden.
Her hands quickly pushed away the rocks that sat over the hole. She moved the heavy rocks so quickly that her hands began to bleed, but she didn't notice because there was not yet pain or suffering in the world.
She dug into the earth and didn't stop until she felt the top of the box.
Grasping the box with excitement, she pulled it out of the hole and placed it on the earth beside her.
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Almost without realizing it, she put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the key.
For a short moment, Pandora looked at the key laying in her hand. The metal was cold, and Pandora had never felt cold before.
Unable to stop what she had begun; Pandora put the key into the lock. The felling of cold ran through her body quickly, but she ignored it. She opened the lock and threw the top of the box open.
Suddenly a thick, black smoke poured out of the box and came into her eyes. She felt something that she had never felt before: it was pain.
She could not see clearly and began to cry. When her vision returned, she looked down to see thousands of tiny monsters escaping from the box.
They were running and flying out of the box in all directions,
spreading out into the world. She grabbed one of the monsters in her hand, and it bit one of her fingers.
She immediately became ill from the bite, and her body fell down onto the box, causing its top to close.
She lay on the ground with the box in her arms breathing heavily and feeling the sickness that the monsters had given her filled her body.
After a minute, she heard a small voice cry out, \lid of the box.\
Pandora listened to the voice and worried that it was just another little monster trying to trick her.
\so much damage!\
\ke the others, I can help to fix what you have done; I can reduce the pain and suffering of mankind.
“With her last bit of strength, Pandora opened the top then fell back down onto the earth.
A small, golden light then appeared before her. When Pandora looked at it, she saw that it was a small woman with a pair of wings. The tiny woman came down to Pandora's face and kissed her lightly on the nose. Suddenly, Pandora's suffering lessened, and she had the strength to sit up again.
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