海外文化:英美民俗-神奇的数字:7

【英文原文】

摘要：数字7 数字7在《圣经》里代表完整。上帝创世用了六天，第七天歇了，意思是活儿已干完。这样他为世人立下规矩，干六天，歇一天，七天为一周。

Seven is used frequently in the Bible to signify completeness. God created the world in six days, and had a rest on the seventh, meaning his job had been done. In this way he set the pattern for the seven-day week. The number also appears frequently in the third book of the Old Testament, in which it is connected with rules of offerings and cleansings. In the sixth book, an angel told Joshua that he and his men should march around the city of Jericho for six days, with the Ark of the Covenant carried in front of them. Seven priests blowing trumpets should march in front of the Ark. On the seventh day they must march around the city seven times. The Israelites did exactly as God had told them and finally they broke into the city. The book of Revelation is full of symbolic use of the number seven in connection with the things of God and his angels, and also the things of Satan and his followers, such as seven spirits, seven stars, seven churches, seven gold candlesticks. Superstitious people used to believe that the seventh son of a seventh son was gifted with supernatural powers. Three times seven is also lucky. Queen Victoria always had fine weather for her ceremonies because there were twenty-one cannons. Since seven seems to be a mysterious number, people have tended to create groups of seven things. For example, there were seven sages in ancient Greece; to Christians there are Seven Virtues: faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; and Seven Deadly Sins: pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, avarice, and sloth. There are also “Seven Wonders of the World”. Finally, each man’s life is divided into seven stages, as Jaques describes in Shakespeare’s As You Like It.