海外文化:英美民俗 关于鸟的迷信:信天翁

【英文原文】

Albatrosses are easily caught, but captured birds are usually released, because of a superstition commonly held by sailors that killing an albatross brings bad luck. The superstition forms the theme of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem Coleridge describes how the crew of a ship are punished by horrible sufferings and death after one of them kills an albatross.

【中文译文】

信天翁很容易捕获，但捕获后通常要放走，因为迷信的水手们认为杀死信天翁会带来厄运。英国诗人柯尔律治以此为主题写下他那首名诗《老水手的谣曲》（《古舟子咏》）诗里讲了一个可怕的故事。由于老水手杀死了一只信天翁，船滞留海上，水手们受尽折磨，悲惨地死去。