礼节美语：Superstitions Etiquette (1) (音频文字) VOA (ZT)
来自中国的雇员Sue跟男同事Pete和女同事Julie一起去吃饭。
Pete: Hey Sue! Don't walk under that ladder...it's bad luck!
Sue: Julie, Is he serious?
Julie: Kind of. There is an old tradition in the West that says it's bad luck.
S: You mean a superstition?
J: Yes, I guess it is a superstition.
S: But, Julie...you're from the UK and Pete is American! I thought Western people weren't superstitious!
Pete: Actually, many of us are. In America we have a whole bunch of superstitions.
Pete警告Sue不要从梯子下面走，It's bad luck. 会带来坏运气。 Superstition迷信。Julie是英国人，Pete是美国人，原来，西方人也迷信。
S: Wow...I always thought Westerners considered superstitions old-fashioned. My family is Chinese; almost all of us are very superstitious.
Julie: Well, I think the superstitions might be different, but pretty much every country in the world has them.
S: Is the number "four" unlucky in the West?
J: No...I don't think so.
P: Um...wait. Why is the number "four" bad?
S: In Chinese the pronunciation of the "four" sounds a lot like the word for "death."
P: Oh, I can see why that would be bad.
Sue原以为，西方人觉得迷信是old-fashioned, 守旧过时的，只有中国人迷信，没想到，其实西方人也迷信，但是东西方迷信的内容不同。
J: We might be OK with the number "four" but some Western people think "thirteen" is an unlucky number.
P: That's true. Some buildings will skip the thirteenth floor or call it "12A" or something.
S: Ha! That's funny! In many Chinese places they do exactly the same thing with the fourth floor! But why is thirteen unlucky?
J: Well, it's not too clear how that happened...but it probably has something to do with twelve being a lucky number.
西方人不忌讳“四”，但是忌讳“十三”，很多大楼因此没有十三层，用12A来代替。Sue说，中国也有类似做法。不过，在西方文化里，“十三”为什么不吉利呢？Julie说，大概是因为“十三”前面的“十二”是一个lucky number,特别吉利的数字。
J: Twelve is a number featured in many stories and legends and so it's kind of considered to be a good number.
S: But thirteen is not?
P: Yeah...and the most unlucky day of all is if a Friday falls on the 13th of a month. That's considered to be a super unlucky day.
S: Yeah. I saw a horror movie called "Friday the 13" once!
J: Yeah! That's a great horror movie!
在西方，很多传说和故事里，十二都是吉祥数字，可十三却代表着厄运，如果哪个月的十三号正好又是星期五的话，一定要小心。
Words and Phrases
1. Don't walk under that ladder...it's bad luck!
不要从梯子下面走，会带来坏运气。
2. Superstition
迷信
3. old-fashioned
守旧过时的
4. Westerns might be OK with the number "four" but some Western people think "thirteen" is an unlucky number. Some buildings will skip the thirteenth floor or call it "12A" or something.
西方人不忌讳“四”，但是忌讳“十三”，很多大楼因此没有十三层，用12A来代替。
5. Twelve is a number featured in many stories and legends and so it's kind of considered to be a good number. An the most unlucky day of all is if a Friday falls on the 13th of a month. That's considered to be a super unlucky day.
在西方，很多传说和故事里，十二都是吉祥数字，可十三却代表着厄运，如果哪个月的十三号正好又是星期五的话，一定要小心。
Audio download link:
http://www.freexinwen.com/chinese/soundbe/be124.m3u
