When he was busy with teaching men the art of living， Prometheus had left a big cask in the care of Epimetheus. He had warned his brother not to open the lid. Pandora was a curious woman. She had been feeling very disappointed that her husband did not allow her to take a look at the contents of the cask. One day， when Epimetheus was out， she lifted the lid and out of it came unrest and war， plague and sickness， theft and violence， grief sorrow and all the other evils. The human world was hence to experience these evils. Only hope stayed within the mouth of the jar and never flew out. So men always have hope within their hearts.
1. 潘多拉
偷窃天火之后，宙斯对人类的敌意与日俱增。一天，他令儿子赫淮斯托斯用泥塑一美女像，并请众神赠予她不同的礼物。其中，雅典娜饰之以华丽的衣裳，赫耳墨斯赠之以说谎的能力。世上的第一个女人，一位迷人女郎，因为她从每位神灵那里得到了一样对男人有害的礼物，因此宙斯称她为潘多拉（pandora：意为煽动）。
宙斯决定把她作为礼物送给世间的男子。于是信使赫耳墨斯将她带给普罗米修斯的弟弟埃庇米修斯。她姿容绝美，见者无不为之倾心。埃庇米修斯兴高采烈地把她迎入屋内。普罗米修斯警告过他不得接受宙斯的任何馈赠，而他已将之忘于脑后。这一对夫妻有过一段幸福的生活，但不久灾难却降临人间。
当普罗米修斯忙于教授人们生存之道的时候，他把一个盒托付给埃庇米修斯。他警告过他的弟弟不要打开盒盖。潘多拉好奇心强。她的丈夫不允许她看盒中之物，这使她感到十分懊恼。一天趁埃庇米修斯出门在外，她打开盒盖，从盒里跑出的是不和与战争，瘟疫与疾病，偷窃与暴力，悲哀与忧虑，以及其他一些人类从此要遭受的不幸。只有希望被关在盒里，永远飞不出来，因此人们常常把希望藏于心中。
单词短语透视
1.
increasingly [？n‘kri？s？？li] ？adv. 逐渐地，渐增地例句
Her job has become increasingly difficult.？她的工作变得越来越困难了。
2.
unkind [，？n’ka？nd] ？adj. 不亲切的，不和善的，残忍的例句 Don’t be so unkind to your brother.？
别对你弟弟那么凶。
3.
maiden [‘me？dn] ？n. 少女，姑娘
例句
Several maidens were invited to attend her wedding.？好几个少女被邀请去参加她的婚礼。
4.
attractive [？’tr？v] ？adj. 吸引的，有吸引力的例句
I don’t find him attractive at all.？
我觉得他一点儿也不讨人喜欢。
5.
charming [‘t？ɑ？.m？？] ？adj. 可爱的，有魅力的例句
Harry can be very charming.？
哈里很有魅力。
6.
harmful [’hɑ？mf？l] ？adj. 有害的
例句
It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.？很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
7.
messenger [‘mes？nd？？（r）] ？n. 送信人，信使例句
I’ll order a special messenger to deliver the document.？
我会派专人把文件送去。
8.look upon？看作，看待
例句
I don’t know how you look upon this matter.？我不知道你对这事怎么看。
9.
cask [kɑ？sk] ？n. 桶
例句
They sell cider at 10 dollars a cask.？
他们以每桶十美元的价钱出售苹果酒。
10.
curious [‘kju？r？？s] ？adj. 好奇的，感兴趣的例句
I’m curious to know what she said.？
我真想知道她说了什么。
11.
disappointed [，d？s.？‘p？？n.t？d] ？adj. 失望的，沮丧的例句
You should have accepted that. I’m disappointed in you.？
你本应该接受那个的，我对你很失望。
12.
plague [ple？g] ？n. 瘟疫，灾难；惹人烦恼的事物、人或原因例句
Plague came in the wake of earthquake.？
地震之后紧跟着就是瘟疫。
What a plague that boy is！？
那男孩太讨厌了！
13.
violence [‘va？？l？ns] ？n. 暴力，暴行
例句
They threaten them with violence.？
他们对其进行暴力威胁。
14.
grief [gri？f] ？n. 悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事
例句
No words can express my grief.？
我的忧伤无法用语言表达。
15.
evil [’i？vl] ？n. 邪恶，罪恶？？adj. 邪恶的，坏的例句
You cannot pretend there’s no evil in the world.？不要以为世界上没有罪恶。
She has an evil tongue.？
她爱说别人坏话。
16.
hence [hens] ？adv. 因此
例句
I fell off my bike yesterday， hence the bruises.？我昨天骑自行车摔倒了，所以青一块﹑ 紫一块的。
神话背后的习语
Pandora’s box 潘多拉的盒子
比喻造成灾害的根源。“潘多拉的盒子”实际上是赐予潘多拉的一个盒子，里面装有世界上所有的邪恶。今天，打开潘多拉的盒子的意思是制造无法挽回的罪恶。
Pandora’s box是很多人都知道的故事，周星驰的经典电影《大话西游之月光宝盒》英文译名就被翻译成了A Chinese Odyssey Part One： Pandora’s Box。里面有一句现在很多人都会背的台词“月光宝盒是宝物，你把他扔掉会污染环境。唉，要是砸到小朋友那怎么办？就算没有砸到小朋友砸到那些花花草草也是不对的呀！”这句话用英语就被说成“Pandora’s Box is a treasure. If you drop it， you’ll pollute the environment. You’ll hurt kids. If there are no kids， it is bad to hurt plants.”
例句
Money brings us happiness， but sometimes it is a Pandora’s Box.？金钱给我们带来了快乐，但有时候它也是灾祸之源。
The project， which seemed so promising， turned out to be a Pandora’s Box.？那个项目看起来好像很有希望，结果招来许多灾祸。
2. Achilles
Achilles felt proud of his parentage. His grandfather was noted for his justice and uprightness and became a judge in Hades after death. His father Peleus was a brave warrior and later married the beautiful sea goddess， Thetis. At the wedding of Peleus and the sea goddess， to which most of the gods were invited， the goddess of discord， Eris， feeling angry at not being invited， threw among the guests a golden apple bearing the words “For the fairest” and stirred up a bitter quarrel which led in the end to the Trojan war.
Thetis loved her son very much. When Achilles was still a baby， Thetis was shocked by a prophecy that her son would die in war. To save her son， the sea goddess dipped her baby in the waters of Styx which could protect the human body from the fire and sword. But as the heel by which she held him was dry， it became the mortal spot in the whole body of Achilles. Thus the expression “the heel of Achilles” has come to mean “a weak spot”. Achilles spent a great part of his boyhood in the woods with the wise old centaur， Chiron， who taught him the arts as well as war affairs and prepared him well for a short but brilliant career.