古希腊神话故事中英文对照版(3)

　　古希腊神话故事中英文阅读版(三)

　　Achilles' Heel 阿奇里斯的脚跟

　　Best fighter of the Greeks besieging Troy in the Trojan War. When the hero Odysseus journeyed to the Underworld to seek the advice of the dead prophet Teiresias, he encountered the shade of Achilles. This hero had slain the Trojan hero Hector in single combat and had himself been brought down only by the connivance of Apollo. The god guided the arrow of Hector's brother Paris to the only vulnerable spot on Achilles' body - his heel.

　　Achilles would not have been vulnerable even in this part of his body had his mother, the sea-goddess Thetis, been allowed to protect him as she intended. When he was an infant, she rubbed him each day with godly ambrosia, and each night she laid him upon the hearth fire. Unfortunately, Achilles' father was unaware that this procedure would make his son immortal. And when he unexpectedly came home one night to find his wife holding their baby in the flames, he cried out in alarm. Thetis was offended and returned to her father, the Old Man of the Sea, leaving Achilles to his mortal fate.

　　Another version of the myth has Thetis attempting to protect her infant by dipping him in the river Styx. The infernal waters indeed rendered Achilles' skin impervious to the likes of any mere Trojan arrow. But Thetis forgot that she was holding him by the heel during the dipping process, so that part was unprotected.

　　希腊神话里有一位鼎鼎有名的人物，名为阿奇里斯。这位希腊英雄骁勇善战，最厉害的是全身刀枪不入，只有脚跟是他的唯一弱点.阿奇里斯的父母，就是《是非之果》里的珀琉斯和忒提斯。阿奇里斯在襁褓中的时候，被母亲倒提着放进地府的冥河里，浸出了一身铜皮铁骨，不过脚跟因为被母亲抓在手里，浸不到河水，於是成为他的死穴。

　　由於金苹果事件引发了特洛伊战争。希腊大军浩浩荡荡渡过爱琴海(Aegean Sea)，围攻特洛伊。这场战争一打十年，希腊人攻不陷特洛伊，特洛伊人也杀不退希腊人。后来帕里斯的兄长赫克托(Hector)杀了阿奇里斯的挚友派特罗克勒斯(Patroclus)，阿奇里斯悲愤填膺，如猛虎般杀入阵里来寻仇人。赫克托转身迎敌，他虽然神勇，但非阿奇里斯的敌手。按希腊神话，这也是命中注定。阿奇里斯杀了赫克托，还将屍首拖在马车后，往来奔驰，以泄心头之恨。天神阿波罗看在眼里，非常不满，决意惩罚阿奇里斯。

　　阿奇里斯也是命中注定战死沙场。在一场攻城战里，阿奇里斯领军逼近城墙，帕里斯在城上引弓一箭射向他。本来以阿奇里斯金刚之躯，帕里斯这一箭不射也罢.但天神阿波罗看准机会，以法力令这枝离弦利箭命中阿奇里斯的脚跟。阿奇里斯应箭而倒，死在特洛伊城下。

　　后世人就以「阿奇里斯的脚跟」来比喻唯一的弱点，或者足以令人一败涂地的弱点.。