本篇介绍中国古代神话的概况、特点、风格以及流传至今的部分神话故事和神话人物。
1.中国古代神话的特色是什么？
What is the feature of ancient Chinese mythology?
The ancient mythology has strong Chinese characteristics and is imbued with a sense of human vitality. The heroes are gods or deities, but they are also considered as Chinese people’s ancestors such as Yu the Great (大禹) and Huangdi (黄帝). The heroes and gods all love people in the world. Pangu (盘古), Nüwa (女娲), Yi (羿) and Emperor Yu, for example, sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others. In addition, Chinese mythology contains the basic spirit of Chinese people who strive continuously to make new progress. Pangu, for example, creates the universe, and Jingwei (精卫) fills up the sea. Generally speaking, Chinese myths constitute the roots of Chinese culture. They have deeply influenced philosophy, literature, arts and language.
Notes：1）imbue使充满；2）livelihood生计；3）deity神；4）ancestor祖先
2.盘古是什么人？
Who is Pangu?
In ancient Chinese mythology, Pangu was the first living being and the creator of the universe. According to Chinese cosmology, in the beginning there was nothing in the universe except formless chaos. Then this chaos began to unite into a cosmic egg, and Pangu emerged from the egg. He then set about the task of creating the world. He separated Yin from Yang. Yin became the earth, and Yang formed into the sky. This task took him eighteen thousand years. During this period, each day the sky grew ten feet higher, the earth ten feet wider, and Pangu ten feet taller. After eighteen thousand years had passed, the sky was ninety thousand li from the earth. Pangu died afterwards. His body became the mountains of the world, his blood the oceans and rivers, his left eye the sun, his right eye the moon, and his hair forests and grass.
Notes：1）creator造物主；2）formless无定形的；3）chaos混沌
3.女娲是什么人？
Who is Nüwa?
In Chinese mythology, Nüwa is the goddess who created human beings. As everyone knows, she had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. It is said that there were no men or women when the sky and the earth were separated. Nüwa felt lonely. One day while washing her face by a river, she began making tiny clay figures with yellow soil. As Nüwa placed each clay figure on the ground, it became alive and started calling Nüwa“Mama.”On hearing this, Nüwa was extremely happy, and she named each of them. Nüwa continued making clay figures in this way until she was exhausted. Then she put a piece of rope in deep mud, raised the muddied rope high, and threw it on the ground. The mud on the rope splashed immediately and landed everywhere. The numerous splashed mud droplets turned into innumerable men and women. It is said that nobles are created from the yellow clay, and poor or lowly people from droppings of the rope.
Notes：1）exhaust用完；2）muddy使沾上烂泥；3）splash溅；4）droplet小滴
4.羿是什么人？
Who is Yi?
There existed ten suns that appeared in turn in the sky during the period of Emperor Yao, a legendary ruler in ancient China. At the beginning, the ten suns each would take turns moving off into the sky for a journey of one day. Later they were tired of this routine. So the ten suns decided to appear all together in the sky in the daytime. The combined heat made life on the earth unbearable. Crops were dying out, forests were burning into flames, and the seas were boiling. Moreover, savage beasts came out to hurt people. So Emperor Yao sent Yi, a great archer armed with a magic bow and ten arrows, to frighten the disobedient suns. Yi first shot to death all the savage beasts. Then he started to shoot the ten suns. However, Emperor Yao thought that the sun was still useful to human beings. So he had someone take away one of Yi’s ten arrows. Therefore, Yi shot down nine suns, and only the Sun we see today remained in the sky.
Notes：1）routine惯例；2）unbearable不能忍受的；3）flame火焰；4）savage凶猛的；5）beast兽；6）disobedient不服从的
5.为什么精卫要填海？
Why does Jingwei fill up the sea?