原版英文故事与诗歌：Lots of Good Luck

The broken mirror, the black cat, and lots of good luckby Chris RoseNikos was an ordinary man. Nothing particularly good ever happened to him, nothing particularly bad ever happened to him. He went through life accepting the mixture of good things and bad things that happen to everyone. He never looked for any explanation or reason about why things happened just the way they did.

One thing, however, that Nikos absolutely did not believe in was superstition¹. He had no time for superstition, no time at all. Nikos thought himself to be a very rational² man, a man who did not believe that his good luck or bad luck was in any way changed by black cats, walking under ladders, spilling³ salt or opening umbrellas inside the house.

Nikos spent much of his time in the small taverna near where he lived. In the taverna he sat drinking coffee and talking to his friends. Sometimes his friends played dice⁵ or cards. Sometimes they played for money. Some of them made bets⁶ on horse races or football matches. But Nikos never did. He didn’t know much about sport, so he didn’t think he could predict⁷ the winners. And he absolutely didn’t believe in chance or luck or superstition, like a lot of his friends did.

One morning Nikos woke up and walked into the bathroom. He started to shave, as he did every morning, but as he was shaving he noticed that the mirror on the bathroom wall wasn’t quite straight. He tried to move it to one side, to make it straighter, but as soon as he touched it, the mirror fell off the wall and hit the floor with a huge crash. It broke into a thousand pieces. Nikos knew that some people thought this was unlucky. “Seven years bad luck” they said, when a mirror broke. But Nikos wasn’t superstitious⁸. Nikos wasn’t superstitious at all. He didn’t care. He thought superstition was nonsense⁹. He picked up the pieces of the mirror, put them in the bin¹⁰, and finished shaving without a mirror.

After that he went into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich to take to work for his lunch. He cut two pieces of bread and put some cheese on them. Then he thought he needed some salt. When he picked up the salt jar, it fell from his hand and broke on the floor. Salt was everywhere. Some people, he knew, thought that this was also supposed to bring bad luck. But Nikos didn’t care. He didn’t believe in superstitions¹¹.

He left the house and went to work. On his way to work he saw a black cat running away from him. He didn’t care. He wasn’t superstitious. Some builders were working on a house on his street. There was a ladder across the pavement¹². Nikos thought about walking around the ladder, but he didn’t care, he wasn’t superstitious and didn’t believe in superstitions, so he walked right underneath¹³ the ladder.

Even though Nikos wasn’t superstitious, he thought that something bad was certain to happen to him today. He had broken a mirror, spilled some salt, walked under a ladder and seen a black cat running away from him. He told everybody at worked what had happened. “Something bad will happen to you today!” they all said. But nothing bad happened to him.

That evening, as usual, he went to the taverna. He told all his friends in the taverna that he had broken a mirror, spilled the salt, seen a black cat running away from him and then walked under a ladder. All his friends in the taverna moved away from him. “Something bad will happen to him”, they all said, “and we don’t want to be near him when it happens!”.

But nothing bad happened to Nikos all evening. He sat there, as normal, and everything was normal. Nikos was waiting for something bad to happen to him. But it didn’t.

“Nikos, come and play cards with us!” joked one of his friends. “I’m sure to win!” Nikos didn’t usually play cards, but tonight he decided¹⁴ to. His friend put a large amount of money on the table. His friend thought Nikos was going to lose. Nikos thought he was going to lose.

But it didn’t happen like that.

Nikos won. Then he played another game, and he won that one too. Then somebody asked him to play a game of dice, and Nikos won that as well. He won quite a lot of money. “Go on then Nikos” his friends shouted, “Use all the money you have won to buy some lottery¹⁵ tickets!” Nikos spent all the money he had won on lottery tickets. The draw for the lottery was the next day.

The next day after work Nikos went to the tavern⁴ again. Everybody was watching the draw for the lottery on TV. The first number came out, for the third prize. It was Nikos’ number. Then the second number, for the second prize. It was another of Nikos’ tickets. Then the first prize. It was Nikos’ number as well. He won all three of the big lottery prizes.

It was incredible¹⁶. It seemed that all the things that people thought caused bad luck actually brought him good luck.

The next day Nikos bought a book about superstitions from all over the world. When he had read the book he decided to do everything that would bring him bad luck. He left empty bottles on the table. He asked his wife to cut his hair for him. He accepted a box of knives as a gift. He slept with his feet pointing towards the door. He sat on the corners of tables. He put a candle in front of the mirror. He always left his hat on the bed. He always left his wallet on the bed. He bought things in numbers of six, or thirteen. He crossed people on the stairs. He got on a boat and whistled¹⁷. And with everything he did, he got luckier and luckier. He won the lottery again. He won the games of dice in the taverna every evening. The things got crazier and crazier. He bought a black cat as a pet. He broke a few more mirrors, on purpose. He didn’t look people in the eye when they raised their glasses to him. He put loaves of bread upside¹⁸ down on the table. He spilled salt. He spilled olive¹⁹ oil. He spilled wine.

The more superstitious things he did, the luckier he became. He went in to the taverna and started to tell all his friends what he thought.
“You see!” he told them. “I was right all along! Superstition is nonsense! The more things I do to break ridiculous²⁰ superstitions, the more lucky I am!”
“But Nikos” replied one of his friends, “Don’t you see that you are actually as superstitious as we are? You are so careful to break superstitions, and this brings you luck. But you are only lucky when you do these things. Your disbelief is actually a kind of belief!”

Nikos thought hard about what his friend said. He had to admit that it was true. He was so careful to break all the superstitions he could, that in some way he was actually observing those superstitions.

The next day, he stopped spilling salt, chasing²¹ away black cats, walking under ladders, putting up umbrellas in the house and breaking mirrors. He also stopped winning²² money on the lottery. He started to lose at games of cards or dice.

He was a normal man again. Sometimes he was lucky, sometimes he wasn’t. He didn’t not believe in superstitions any more, but he didn’t believe in them either.

“Nikos”, said his friend to him, “It was your belief in yourself that made you lucky. It was your self-confidence that helped you, not superstitions.”

Nikos listened to his friend and thought that he was right. But, however rational he still believed himself to be, he always wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t broken that mirror...

 

1 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

2 rational   

adj.合理的，理性的，能推理的；n.有理数

参考例句：

• It was a rational plan and bound to succeed.这是一个合理的计划，肯定会成功。
• The reasoning seems rational.这论据似乎是合乎情理的。

3 spilling   

n.泄漏v.溢出( spill的现在分词 )；泼出；涌出；蜂拥而出

参考例句：

• She is superstitious about spilling salt on the table. 她迷信把盐倒翻在桌子上的说法。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To a Japanese, spilling anything is uncouth. 对日本人来说，泼溅任何东西都是不文明的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 tavern   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店

参考例句：

• There is a tavern at the corner of the street.街道的拐角处有一家酒馆。
• Philip always went to the tavern,with a sense of pleasure.菲利浦总是心情愉快地来到这家酒菜馆。

5 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

6 bets   

v.敢说，八成儿( bet的第三人称单数 )；打赌(on,against,with)；敢断定；敢说

参考例句：

• Place your bets now—the race begins in half an hour! 现在可以下赌注——赛事于半小时后开始。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But he did not enter all the losing bets in the accounts-book. 但输家交来的赠金，他并不全部登记入册。 来自辞典例句

7 predict   

v.预知，预言，预报

参考例句：

• It's hard to predict how things will turn out.很难预测事情会变成怎么样。
• I cannot predict when to meet her again.我无法预测什么时候会再见到她。

8 superstitious   

adj.迷信的

参考例句：

• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。
• These superstitious practices should be abolished as soon as possible.这些迷信做法应尽早取消。

9 nonsense   

n.胡说，废话

参考例句：

• Go along with you! What you say is all nonsense!去你的！你说的全是废话！
• "Don't talk nonsense",she said sharply.“别胡扯”，她严厉地说。

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

11 superstitions   

迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Old superstitions seem incredible to educated people. 旧的迷信对于受过教育的人来说是不可思议的。
• Do away with all fetishes and superstitions. 破除一切盲目崇拜和迷信。

12 pavement   

n.铺砌，铺设，铺筑；铺路石，铺石路，人行道，车道

参考例句：

• He stopped his bike just off the pavement.他把自行车就停在人行道旁边。
• There are trees on each side of the pavement.人行道两边有树。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

16 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

17 whistled   

v.吹口哨( whistle的过去式和过去分词 )；鸣笛；呼啸着前进；空指望

参考例句：

• Norma looked at the parcel and whistled softly through her teeth. 诺尔玛看着包裹，轻柔地哼起了口哨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He whistled to his dog and it came running. 他吹口哨唤狗，狗跑了过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 upside   

n.上侧，上段，上部

参考例句：

• The children hung the picture upside down.小孩把画挂倒了。
• If you turn the envelope upside down, the key will fall out.你如果把信封倒过来，钥匙就会掉出。

19 olive   

n.橄榄，橄榄树，橄榄色；adj.黄绿色的，黄褐色的，橄榄色的

参考例句：

• Have you eaten a kind of fruit called olive?你吃过橄榄这种水果吗？
• She likes olive because It'symbolizes peace.她喜欢橄榄色因为它象征着和平。

20 ridiculous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的；荒唐的

参考例句：

• It is simply ridiculous to attempt such a thing.试图干这种事，简直可笑。
• It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.这是我有生以来听到的最为荒唐可笑的事。

21 chasing   

n.雕镂术，雕刻工作；车螺丝；抛光；螺旋板

参考例句：

• My dog likes chasing rabbits. 我的狗喜欢追捕兔子。
• The children were having fun, chasing each other's shadows. 孩子们追逐着彼此的影子，玩得很开心。

22 winning   

adj.获胜的，胜利的；吸引人的，有说服力的

参考例句：

• Team A has no chance of winning.A队没有获胜的可能。
• They have great hopes of winning.他们获胜的希望极大。