涨姿势：13这个数字为什么在西方人眼中是不吉利？

 　　为什么西方人会觉得13是个不吉利的数字，你造吗?

　　1. THERE WERE 13 PEOPLE AT THE LAST SUPPER.

　　“最后的晚餐”里有13个人。

　　And tradition has held that the 13th to take their seat was either Judas or Jesus himself.

　　传统的说法是：第13个落座的人不是犹大就是耶稣自己。

　　2. TRADITIONALLY, THERE WERE 13 STEPS TO THE GALLOWS¹.

　　依传统，上绞刑架要走13步。

　　According to popular lore², there are 13 steps leading up to the gallows. Gallows actually varied³ wildly, but even then, the number was often brought up to 13.

　　根据流行的传说，上绞刑架要走13步。实际上，绞刑架形式各异，但即便如此，也往往要凑出13这个数字。

　　3. WOMEN MENSTRUATE ROUGHLY 13 TIMES A YEAR.

　　女人一年大约来13次月经。

　　Some suggest that the association with 13 being unlucky is due to women generally having around 13menstrual cycles a year (based on a cycle length of 28 days).

　　有人说13会和“不吉利”相关，是因为女人一年大致会经历13次月经周期(以每个月经周期为28天计算)。

　　4. A WITCHES' COVEN HAS 13 MEMBERS.

　　女巫集会有13位成员。

　　Although a coven is now considered to be any group of witches (or vampires⁴, in some tellings), it was once believed that a coven was made up of exactly 13 members.

　　尽管现在人们认为任何一群女巫(有的说法是吸血鬼)都可以组成集会，但大家从前相信集会一定是13位成员构成的。

　　5. 12 IS A PERFECT NUMBER, SO 13 MUST BE UNLUCKY.

　　12是个完美的数字，所以13一定是不吉利的。

　　In some schools of numerology, the number 12 is considered to be the representation of perfection and completion. It stands to reason, then, that trying to improve upon perfection by adding a digit⁵ is a very bad idea indeed—your greed will be rewarded with bad luck.

　　在一些数字命理学流派看来，数字12代表着完美和完整。然后，由此推理出，想通过增加一个数字来提高完美的程度其实是一个很糟的点子——你的贪婪最终带来了坏运气。

　　6. ZOROASTRIAN TRADITION PREDICTS CHAOS⁶ IN THE 13TH MILLENNIUM⁷.

　　索罗亚斯德教预言在第13个千禧年会有大混乱。

　　The ancient Persians divided history into four chunks⁸ of 3000 years. And although the exact timeframes can vary, some scholars feel that at the beginning of the 13,000th year there will be chaos as evil mounts a great battle against good (although good will eventually triumph).

　　古波斯人将历史分为4大段，每段为3000年。尽管准确的时间点会有所出入，但一些学者感觉1万3000年初就会出现混乱，邪恶势力崛起，与正义作对(尽管正义最终会取胜)。

　　7. 13 LETTERS IN A NAME MEANS THE PERSON IS CURSED.

　　名字由13个字母组成的人会受到诅咒。

　　There's an old superstition⁹ that says if you have 13 letters in your name, you're bound to be cursed. Silly, yes, but slightly more convincing when you consider that a number of notorious murderers' names (Charles Manson, Jack¹⁰ the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy, and Albert De Salvo) all contain 13 letters.

　　有一种古老的迷信说法：如果你的名字里有13个字母，你就会受到诅咒。听起来很傻，但是想想那些臭名昭著的杀人犯的名字——Charles Manson、Jack the Ripper、Jeffrey Dahmer、Theodore Bundy和Albert De Salvo，这些名字里都有13个字母，这种说法也就稍微有些可信了。

　　8. SUPERSTITION HAS MADE FRIDAY THE 13TH TOUGH FOR BUSINESSES.

　　迷信导致逢周五的13号生意难成。

　　Friday the 13th is an expensive day for businesses. One analyst¹¹ claims that around a billion dollars a year are lost as people choose not to do business of any kind on Friday the 13th.

　　从商业角度来说，逢周五的13号是很昂贵的一天。一位分析人士称，因为人们选择不在逢周五的13号做任何生意，每年大约损失10亿美元。

1 gallows   

n.绞刑架，绞台

参考例句：

• The murderer was sent to the gallows for his crimes.谋杀犯由于罪大恶极被处以绞刑。
• Now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows.现在我将在绞刑架上赎我一切的罪过。

2 lore   

n.传说；学问，经验，知识

参考例句：

• I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他，向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
• Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。

3 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

4 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

5 digit   

n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾

参考例句：

• Her telephone number differs from mine by one digit.她的电话号码和我的只差一个数字。
• Many animals have five digits.许多动物有5趾。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

8 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

9 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。

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。