神话故事水仙花-Narcissus
水仙花
【内容提示】
根据下面的希腊神话传说写一篇小故事：
那西塞斯有一个孪生妹妹，长得很漂亮。他爱她胜过世上的任何人。可是，他妹妹年纪很小就死了。那西塞斯非常思念她，甚至也想跟她一起去死。
一天，那西塞斯坐在泉水旁，心不在焉地看着水里，心中想念失去的妹妹。正在这时，他在水中看见一张像她妹妹的脸，正抬头看他，好像他妹妹成了水中的仙女，但没有对他说话。
那西塞斯看到的那张脸实际上是他自己的脸在水中的倒影，可他却不知道。那时还没有像我们现在这样明亮的镜子，从光亮的铜制盾牌上得到一个人面容的概念还很模糊。所以，那西塞斯靠在水边看着那张像他妹妹的美丽的面孔感到纳闷，他是不是还能见到自己的妹妹。
此后，他天天到泉水旁注视那张面孔，同时还哀悼他的妹妹。众神为此而感到难过，于是就把他变成了一朵花。这朵花就是第一朵水仙花。这种花长在池塘或溪旁时，仍然低下美丽的头看着水里自己的影子。
以下词语供参考：
① Narcissus n. （希腊神话人物）那西塞斯（爱上自己映在水中的美丽影子以致淹死变而为水仙的美少年）
②water-nymph n. 水中女仙
【作文示范】
Narcissus
海德
Narcissus had a twin sister whom he loved better than any one else in the world. His sister was very beautiful, but died when she was young. Narcissus missed her so much that he wished he might die too.
One day as he sat on the ground by a spring, looking absently into the water and thinking of his lost sister, he saw a face like hers, looking up at him. It seemed as if his sister, had become a water-nymph and were actually there in the spring, but she would not speak to him.
Of course the face Narcissus saw was really the reflection① of his own face in the water, but he did not know that. In those days there were no clear mirrors like ours; and the idea of one＇s appearance that could be got from a polished brass shield②, for instance, was a very dim one. So Narcissus leaned over the water and looked at the beautiful face so like his sister＇s, and wondered what it was and whether he should ever see his sister again.
After this, he came back to the spring day after day and looked at the face he saw there, and mourned③ for his sister until, at last, the gods felt sorry for him and changed him into a flower. This flower was the first narcissus. All the flowers of this family④, when they grow by the side of a pond or a stream, still bend their beautiful heads and look at the reflection of their own faces in the water.
（选自L. S.海德著、杨和玲译《希腊神话》）
【词语解释】
① reflection [ri＇flekM+n] n. 倒影
② polished brass shield [＇p&liMt ＇bra:s ＇Mi:ld] 发光的铜制盾牌
③ mourn [m&:n] v. 哀悼；哀痛
④ family [＇f$mili] n. （动、植物的）科
【写法指要】
1）这是一篇神话故事（myth）。神话是关于神仙和神话了的古代英雄的非真实的故事，一般都含有超自然的力量，至少也有超人的力量。神话总是与创造物有关，它解释某种东西是怎么产生的，正如本文写的水仙花是怎么来的一样。神话还体现感情和思想观念，正如本文希腊神话中的神那西塞斯痴迷地爱着自己的孪生妹妹那样。许多神话或半神话，都是人们对自然的东西和各种宇宙力量的原始解释。
2）神话故事是古代劳动人民对自然现象和社会生活的一种天真的解释和美丽的向往。神话跟迷信不同，它富有积极的浪漫主义精神，往往是劳动人民的集体口头创作，所以语言具有大众性和普及性，总是用简单、浅近的词语和句法来表达丰富的内容。这一点我们从本文中也可以看得出来。