29. prometheus

zeus2 told prometheus to teach the mortals3 anything they needed to know in order to live . he was also to teach them the arts, so that they could build beautiful temples to honor the gods. there was, in fact, only one thing he could not teach them.

“you may give the mortals any gift except the gift of fire . ”said zeus.“ fire belongs to the gods only, and must be kept on mount olympus4 . ”

prometheus was happy to be of service5 to man. he taught people how to make their own tools and how to build homes for themselves. he taught them how to plant and grow their own food, and how to use animals to make their work easier. he even taught them how to make music and how to paint. but without fire, life on earth was very difficult. food had to be eaten raw; houses could not be kept warm. tools had to be of stone , because there was no fire for working metal.

athena , daughter of zeus, had been watching over6 prometheus and had helped him in his work. now, because prometheus was kind and wanted man to be comfortable on earth, he called upon athena to help him get fire from mount olympus. she knew that zeus was away and promised to lead prometheus to mount olympus by a secret path . . .

just as he arrived apollo came back from his day’s journey in his chariot7 of the sun. prometheus lit a torch from the chariot and put the fire in a hollow stalk that he concealed under his cloak. then he stole away without being seen by any of the gods, and brought his fire to earth.

when prometheus lit the first campfire on earth, the people were afraid of it. but they trusted him, and so they came closer and closer and enjoyed the fire’s pleasant warmth and beautiful glow.

prometheus knew that he would not have much time before zeus discovered that he had been disobedient. but he also knew that, powerful as zeus was, once a god had given a gift it could not be taken away. so he quickly taught the mortals how to use the gift of fire.

阅读自测

Ⅰ. fill in each blank with word or phrase in the p as sage :六级报名

1. zeus told prometheus to teach the _______( 人类) anything they needed to know in order to live .

2. prometheus was so happy to _______( 帮助) to man that he taught people how to make their own tools and how to build homes for themselves.

3. athena , daughter of zeus, had been _______( 监督) prometheus and had helped him in his work.

4. prometheus knew that he would not have much time before zeus discovered that he had been _____( 违命) .

Ⅱ. question : when the first campfire was lit on earth, how did human react to it?

参考答案

Ⅰ. 1. mortals 2. be of service 3 . watching over 4. disobedient

Ⅱ. when the first campfire was lit on earth, the people were afraid of it. as they trusted prometheus, they came closer and closer and enjoyed the fire’s pleasant warmth and beautiful glow.