海外文化:英美民俗-鬼魂

【英文原文】

摘要：在古代和中世纪，看见和听见闹鬼的说法十分流行。现代大多数人不信鬼魂之说，但仍对有关鬼魂的故事、小说和电影十分感兴趣，而且不肯夜间走过坟地或废弃的老房子。

The ghost is supposed to be the spirit of a person who has died. Reports of seeing or hearing ghosts have been common throughout history — especially in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. Most modern people do not believe in ghosts, but they are interested in stories, books, films and plays about ghosts. And they prefer not to go into graveyards or deserted house at night. In most stories and reports about ghosts, the ghost resembles its living form. Many ghosts are transparent or shadowy. Some ghosts are pictured in long white robes.

Many ghosts have the intention of doing harm or evil. But some ghosts are friendly. Ghosts with evil intention are usually the spirits of people who were murdered. They are believed to haunt the place where, in their real form, they died or were buried. Whole families may be visited by the ghost of a person that an early ancestor killed or injured, or even by the ghost of an ancestor. A ghost may try to reveal who murdered it — as in William Shakespeare\'s play Hamlet — or try to frighten the murderer — as in Shakespeare\'s Macbeth. A ghost haunts a place by screaming, groaning, making strange noises and causing doors, furniture, and other objects to move by themselves.

In many stories and reports, a ghost returns from the dead without being called by anyone. In others, a medium(a person with special powers) calls the ghost back to earth. Ghosts are associated with darkness and night, so they usually end their visits by dawn, as the old saying goes, "Apparitions vanish at cock-crow."