評論
打印
As sometimes happens in volcanic regions, there was a fissure in the ground from which vapor issued.
像在火山地區(qū)常見的那樣, 蒸汽使地面產(chǎn)生裂縫。
If anyone inhaled it, it literally clouded their mind. It was as if they were drunk or delirious, and nothing they said made any sense.
任何人一吸入這種蒸汽，他們就神志不清。他們好像喝醉了或精神混亂, 他們說的話讓人聽不懂。
The very meaninglessness of these utterances seemed deeply mysterious to the Greeks, who said that "the god himself speaks through a mortal mouth".
這些人說的根本毫無意義的言語令希臘人感到極其神秘，人們認為“神自己通過一個凡人的嘴在說話”。
So they had a priestess – whom they called Pythia – sit over the fissure on a three-legged stool,
就這樣人們讓一個女祭司——人們叫她皮蒂婭——坐在架在縫隙上的一把三腳座椅上，
while other priests interpreted her babble as predictions of the future.
其他的祭司們解釋她神神叨叨的話來預(yù)言未來。
The shrine was known as the Delphic Oracle, and at difficult moments of their lives Greeks from everywhere made pilgrimages to Delphi, to consult the god Apollo.
這片有名的圣地叫德爾菲神諭，在各種艱難處境下各地的希臘人都來此地朝圣，詢問阿波羅神。
The answer they received was often far from clear, and could be understood in a variety of ways.
回答自然常常不是很容易就能聽懂，人們可以對它們作出不同的解釋，
And in fact we still say that a vague or enigmatic answer is "oracular".
所以人們今天仍還稱模糊不清的、深奧莫測的回答為“神諭性的，謎似的”。
