急求用英语写一些故事或者其它方式来反映迷信.

急求用英语写一些故事或者其它方式来反映迷信.
急求用英语写一些故事或者其它方式来反映迷信.

急求用英语写一些故事或者其它方式来反映迷信.
The Superstition Mountain
Courtesy of Tom Kollenborn and the Superstition Mountain Historical Society.
Arizona's Superstition Mountain has long been the source of stories and tales about lost gold. Legends of the Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine, Jesuit treasure, Peralta gold and numerous other lost gold mine stories still attract men and women from far and near alike to this rugged mountain range east of Apache Junction.
Tales of Indian history add to the mountain's lore. These stories are centuries old. The Pima's called Superstition Mountain Ka-Katak-Tami meaning "The Crooked Top Mountain." From the towering summit of Superstition Mountain one can see the vastness of this rugged mountain range to the east . The mountain serves as a dividing line between rural and urban Arizona. As the population of the Salt River Valley grows the lights of Phoenix continue to advance on the realm of the Dutchman's Lost Gold Mine and the Apache Thunder God.
This giant monolith, Superstition Mountain, rises to the height of 3,000 feet above the surrounding desert floor and dominates the eastern fringe of the Salt River Valley. The Superstition Wilderness Area, of which Superstition Mountain is part, contains some 242 square miles or 159,780 acres of Arizona's rugged desert mountain terrain. Mountain peaks tower 6,000 feet above sea level and deep canyon dissect this vast wilderness region.
The region includes a wide-range of fauna and flora that are native to the Sonoran Desert life zone. Plants range from the giant Saguaro cactus to the stately Ponderosa pine. Mule deer, javelinas, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, a variety of birds, reptiles and amphibians live in this fragile desert eco-system. The diversity of living things in this region astonishes the visitor.
Old-timers will tell you everything that survives in this desert wilderness either sticks, stings, bites or eats meat. This is an age old description about survival in such a harsh environment. This is a land were life is totally dependent on the availability of water. The desert is a place where water will appear one day and vanish the next day. Temperatures on the desert floor can exceed 125 degrees F in the summer months and can drop well below freezing during the winter months. Snow is not uncommon to the high desert mountains during the winter months.
This land of towering spires and deep canyons was formed by volcanic upheaval some 29 million years ago during the tertiary period of geologic time. Superstition Mountain was formed during a tectonic maelstrom which resulted in a massive caldera. The caldera was almost seven miles in diameter. After the lava cooled, magma pushed the center of the caldera upward forming a mass of igneous rock. The mass was slowly eroded for millions of years by running water and wind forming the mountain we see today. Superstition Mountain in the distant past was a thousand feet higher than it is today. Uplift, subsidence, resurgence and erosion have all played a role in shaping Superstition Mountain. Yes, this mountain was born of fire.
What is the origin of the name Superstition Mountain? The best answer to this question centers around the early farmers of the Salt River Valley who grew and cut hay for the Army at Fort McDowell during the late 1860's. These farmers constantly heard stories from the Pima Indians how they feared this mountain. The farmers thought the Pimas were superstitious about the mountain hence the name Superstition Mountain.
Some authors and writers would lead you to believe the Spanish named Superstition Mountain. Sims Ely, author of The Lost Dutchman Mine, stated in the opening chapter of his classic book on the Lost Dutchman Mine that the Spanish named Superstition Mountain Sierra de espuma meaning a "mountain of foam." The origin of this name appears to be a forest service map drawn by L.P. Landon in 1918. Landon named a small butte southwest of Superstition Mountain Monte de Espuma.
It is true, the first European visitors to this area were Spanish. Fray Marcos de Niza was the first European to see Superstition Mountain in 1539. He observed the mountain from the Gila River during his visit to the region almost five hundred years ago. He did not explore the rugged mountain range or record it in his journal.
Sierra Supersticiones appeared on military field sketch maps of the region as early as May of 1866. This was during the Rancheria Campaign lead by Brevet Lt. John D. Walker's 1st Arizona Volunteers and U.S. Army Infantry from Fort McDowell under the command of Lt. Col. Clarence E. Bennett.. The first United States War Department maps of the region made reference to the Superstition Mountains as the Salt River Mountains. The first time Superstition Mountain appeared on official military maps was in 1870.

Superstition (Latin superstes, "standing over", "set above") is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to supposedly irrational beliefs of o...

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Superstition (Latin superstes, "standing over", "set above") is a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to supposedly irrational beliefs of others, and its precise meaning is therefore subjective. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings.
To medieval scholars the word was applied to and beliefs outside of or in opposition to Christianity; today it is applied to conceptions without foundation in, or in contravention of, scientific and logical knowledge.[1] The earliest English uses of the word in the modern era refer critically to Catholic practices such as censing, rosaries, and other practices that Protestants believed went beyond - or were set up above - beliefs that seemed unfounded or primitive in the light of modern knowledge.
Many extant superstitions are said to have originated during the plagues that swept through Europe. According to legend, during the time of a plague, Saint Gregory I the Great ordered that people say "God bless you" when somebody sneezed, to prevent the spread of the disease
[edit] Superstition and folklore
In the academic discipline of folkloristics the term "superstition" is used to denote any general, culturally variable beliefs in a supernatural "reality". Depending on a given culture's belief set, its superstitions may relate to things that are not fully understood or understood at all, such as cemeteries, animals, demons, a devil, deceased ancestors, the weather, ripping one's sock, gambling, sports, food, holidays, occupations, excessive scrupulosity, death, luck, and spirits. Urban legends are also sometimes classed as superstition, especially if the moral of the legend is to justify fears about socially alien people or conditions.
In Western folklore, superstitions associated with bad luck include Friday the 13th and walking under a ladder.
In India, there is a superstition that a pregnant woman should avoid going outside during an eclipse in order to prevent her baby being born with a facial birthmark. In Iran, birthmarks are called 'maah-gereftegi' (Persian: ماه گرفتگی) which means eclipse. In Korea, there is a superstition that leaving a fan on in a closed room will suffocate the occupants.
[edit] Superstition and religion
In keeping with the Latin etymology of the word, religious believers have often seen other religions as superstition. Likewise, atheists and agnostics may regard religious belief as superstition.
Religious practices are most likely to be labeled "superstitious" by outsiders when they include belief in extraordinary events (miracles), an afterlife, supernatural interventions, apparitions or the efficacy of prayer, charms, incantations, the meaningfulness of omens, and prognostications.
Greek and Roman pagans, who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. "Such fear of the gods (deisidaimonia) was what the Romans meant by 'superstition' (Veyne 1987, p 211). For Christians just such fears might be worn proudly as a name: Desdemona.
The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).
The Catechism clearly dispels commonly held preconceptions or misunderstandings about Catholic doctrine relating to superstitious practices:
Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16-22 (para. #2111)
Some superstitions, that originated as religious practices, continued to be observed by people whom no longer adhere to the religion that gave birth to the practice. Often the practices lose their original meaning. In other cases, the practices are adapted to the current religion of the practicer. Such as replacing pagan symbols to ward off evil, to using the cross, during the Christianizing of Europe.
Hunting superstitions
In the forests of ancient China, when a Nivkhs hunter was pursuing game his children were forbidden to make drawings on wood or in sand; they feared that if the children did so, the paths in the forest would become as complicated as the lines in the drawings and that the hunter might lose his way and never return.[3]
The belief that there is a magical bond between a wound and the weapon which caused it may be traced unaltered for thousands of years:
A Melanesian believed that if he obtains possession of the weapon which caused his wound, he should carefully keep it in a cool place so as to reduce the inflammation of the wound. But if the weapon is left in the enemy's possession, it will undoubtedly be hung up close to the fire, causing the wound to become hot and inflamed.[4]
Roman officer and encyclopedist Pliny (in his Natural History, Book XXVIII, Chapter 7) tells us that "if you have wounded a man and are sorry for it, you have only to spit on the hand that gave the wound, and the pain of the sufferer will be instantly alleviated."[5]
Francis Bacon (in his Sylva Sylvarum, X, 998) mentions that "it is constantly received and avouched that the anointing of the weapon that maketh the wound will heal the wound itself".[6] This superstition was still in practice in eastern England in the 20th century: At Norwich in June 1902 a woman named Matilda Henry accidentally ran a nail into her foot. Without examining the wound, or even removing her stocking, she asked her daughter to grease the nail, thinking that if this were done no harm would come of the injury. Within few days she died of lockjaw.[7]
Other superstitions
A single magpie is considered a sign of bad luck.A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar recites an old proverb concerning the incidence of bad weather when magpies forage alone and a possible scientific explanation for this.
Many believe that if all of the candles on a birthday cake are blown out with one breath, while making a silent wish, the wish will come true.
Tetraphobia is widespread in China, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii; the use of number 4 is minimized or avoided wherever possible because the Chinese word for 4, sì, sounds nearly the same as the word for death, sǐ （死）. Mobile telephone numbers with 4 in them sell for less and some buildings even skip level four, labeling it the 5th floor instead. One of the Japanese words for 4, shi, is also homonymous with the kanji in the word for death, shi or shin. (However, there is another word for four in Japan that does not sound like death: yon.) In Korea, number '4' is pronounced as sa (사 四) and is homonymous with 'death (사 死)'. Some, but not all, Korean buildings have the fourth floor written as 'F' floor
Triskaidekaphobia--In Western culture, the number 13 is perceived as unlucky; 12a is sometimes used as a substitute and some buildings skip floor 13 completely.
Many believe that the United States two-dollar bill brings bad luck. Gamblers sometimes call it a "deuce", a term for two which also means "devil." To "undo," one of the bill's corners must be torn off, forming a triangle, an ancient symbol of life. If you receive a bill with no corners left, it must be torn all up.
Spilling salt is said to cause a fight or argument during the day. There are several options to "undo" this which seem to relate to various ways of acknowledging the fact that salt was spilled with others present at the scene. One way to revert this is tossing some salt over one's left shoulder with ones right hand.
At times, a horseshoe may be found above doorways. When positioned like a regular 'U' it supposedly collects luck. However, when it is positioned like an upside-down 'U' the luck supposedly drains.
Breaking a mirror is said to bring bad luck for 7 years. To "undo" this, take the shards of glass and bury them underneath the moonlight. In ancient times, the mirror was said to be a window to the viewer's soul. If that mirror were to break, it would take time (or 7 years) for that 'cracked' soul to heal as 'time heals all wounds'.
If one walks underneath an open ladder it is said to bring bad luck. Sometimes it is said that this can be undone by immediately walking backwards back underneath the ladder.
It is considered bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. Some traditions hold that it is only bad luck if the umbrella is placed over the head of someone while indoors.
Placing a hat on the bed is, apparently, bad luck. (South Carolina)
Placing keys on a table is considered unlucky. (Sweden)
It is bad luck to put new shoes on a bed (or a table) (comes from the tradition of dressing a corpse in new clothes and shoes and laying them out so everyone can give their respects) - (UK / Scotland)
Collect seven or nine different flowers on midsummer eve and place them under your pillow and it is said that you will dream of your future spouse. (Sweden)
The phrase "See a pin and pick it up then all day you'll have good luck" is a superstition created from the first line of a poem in the book "The Real Mother Goose". Modern variants sometimes substitute the word "penny" for pin.
When you speak of bad luck, it is said that one should always knock on wood. Also knocking when speaking of good luck apparently helps with having good luck. This is an old Celtic tradition related to belief of wood spirits.
Before traveling a person should, apparently, sit on their luggage. (Russian)
Two people breaking a wishbone is said to lead to good luck for the person with the larger piece.

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