构词法,希腊神话,英语日常短语解析

1. Gaia--------g-------geo------geography------galaxy

2. Atlas-------maps-------people who undertake a lot of burden （to carry the world on our shoulder）

3. Cronus------chron--------chronic a. eg. : There is a chronic unemployment problem in America.

Chronicle n. 编年史：The newly-published chronicle is divided into eight major parts.

4. Hades (Pluto)-----plu------- Plutonium (鈈)

Plutocrat n. rich people : Do you wish to turn me into a plutocrat?

6. Titans------ty------ typhoon -------tycoon -------titanic------titanium

The newspaper was covered with reports of the meeting of the three political titans in the world.

7. Prometheus-----Epimetheus-------Pandora’s box

Pan—Pan-American—pandemic do- donate; condone; dower, endow

eg. : Like a Pandora’s box, he unpacked every horror, every evil.

8. Hera (Juno)-----peacock------June

9. Niche (Victory)-----NIKE

10. Vulcan---volcano

11. Venus-----Cupid (Eros: erotic)-----Psyche-----psycho- : psychology

12. Mars: martial a.------Bellona -----b-----bel: rebel

13. Apollo------sunflower------Daphne-----Laurel eg. : poet Laureate

14. Ceres-----cereal-----ceremony

15. Hermes-----hermit-----helmet; Mercurius------merchant; commerce

16. Pan- ------panic

Heracles

The choice of Heracles

The twelve Labors of Heracles

1.to kill the Nemean Lion

2.to destroy the Lernaean Hydra

3.to capture the Ceryneian Hind

4.to capture the Erymanthian boar

5.to clean the Augean Stables

6.to kill the Stymphalian Birds

7.to capture the Cretan Bull

8.to round up the Mares of Diomedes

9.to steal the Girdle of Hippolyte

10.to herd the Cattle of Geryon

11.to fetch the apples of Hesperides

12.to capture the Cerberus

riddle of Sphinx

Oedipus Complex

An apple of discord

Eg. The black gold in the Middle East seems to be an apple of discord.

Helen of Troy

A Trojan horse

Achilles’ heel/tendon (Peleus & Thetis, Styx, Odysseus)

Eg. Being too straight-forward and outspoken could become one’s Achilles’ heel. Echo & Narcissus (Narcissus complex, Narcissism)

Tantalus

He was tantalized by visions of power and wealth. 他追求不到可望而不可即的权力和财富, 受尽了折磨.; a tantalizing smell of food 诱人的食物气味.

Phrase

1. Ariadne’s thread （Theseus: Minotaur）

Eg. We need an Ariadne’s thread to guide us through all these difficulties.

2. As Cephalus to Procris

Eg. The husband showed great fidelity to his wife, as Cephalus to Procris.

3. Between Scylla and Charybdis

Eg. When the man’s wife and her mother got together, he was between Scylla and Charybdis.

4. Change like Proteus

Eg. One’s feeling is bound to change like Proteus when one’s circumstances are changing rapidly.

5. Gordian knot

Eg. The old stock had deteriorated and was all mixed up so the manager decided to cut the Gordian knot, sell it all as scrap, and restock with new materials.

6. swan song (debut)

Eg. All the tickets have been sold for the signer’s performance in Paris this week--- the public clearly believes that this will be her swan song.

7. the stone of Sisyphus (labor of Sisyphus, Sisyphus task, toil of Sisyphus) sisyphean Eg. He thought it was a labor of Sisyphus to learn a foreign language.

8. the sword of Damocles

Eg. The possibility of losing her job hangs over her like a sword of Damocles all last year.

9. the web of Penelope

Eg. Mr. Jones made a long speech at the meeting. Everyone else thought it a Penelope’s web.

10. under the rose

Eg. We heard under the rose that they are not legally married.

11. A freedom of Pan

Eg. During the vacation, we enjoyed a freedom of Pan.