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原文&译文

What Is Your Achilles' Heel?

The Greek poet Homer has given us many phrases. A famous one is "Achilles' heel."

On your body, your Achilles' heel is the tendon on the back of your ankle. In spoken English, your Achilles' heel is your weak spot. You can say either "Achilles' heel" or "Achilles'(s) heel." Both are correct.

The Greek story of Achilles' heel is the one Homer tells in the long poem called "The Iliad." Here is how the story goes.

When Achilles was a baby his mother bathed him in the river Styx. She believed the river had magical powers. Bathing her son in its waters, she thought, would make Achilles immortal, deathless, like a god.

But one part of his body did not get wet: his heel, where his mother held him. His heel, therefore, was the one spot where Achilles could be hurt.

Achilles grew up. He became a great warrior. During the Trojan War, he fought with the Greek army.

None of the Trojan weapons was able to hurt Achilles. The god Apollo, however, knew of Achilles' weak spot. Apollo told the prince of Troy, named Paris, all about it. While not actually written in "The Iliad," legend says Paris shot an arrow at Achilles' heel and killed him.

We all have an Achilles' heel. Even the toughest among us has a weak spot. This weakness may change as we get older. For many young people their ego, or over-confidence, could be their Achilles' heel. For others perhaps greed is their Achilles' heel.

If I am trying to lose weight but love to eat ice cream, you could say that my love of ice cream is my Achilles' heel.

阿喀琉斯之踵，致命弱点

希腊诗人荷马给我们留下了很多短语，最的就是“阿喀琉斯之踵。”

对身体而言，阿喀琉斯之踵就是你脚后跟后面的肌腱。而在英语口语中，阿喀琉斯之踵意思就是你的弱点。你既可以说“Achilles' heel”，也可以说“Achilles'(s) heel”，这两种说法都是正确的。

希腊神话中《阿喀琉斯之踵》出自于荷马的长篇诗作《伊利亚特》。以下就是这个故事的大概内容。

当阿喀琉斯还是个婴儿时，他的母亲在冥河中给他沐浴。她相信冥河有种神奇的力量，她认为在冥河的水中给她的儿子沐浴能够让阿喀琉斯像神一样永生。

但是他身体的一部分未能被浸湿，这就是他的脚后跟。他的母亲拎着他的脚后跟。因此脚后跟成为阿喀琉斯可能受伤的一处弱点。

阿喀琉斯长大后成为了一位伟大的战士。他在特洛伊战争中同希腊军队作战。

特洛伊的武器都伤不到阿喀琉斯。但是太阳神阿波罗知道阿喀琉斯的致命弱点。阿波罗把这一切都告诉了特洛伊的王子帕里斯。虽然没有真正写在《伊利亚特》中，但是传说认为，帕里斯一箭射中了阿喀琉斯的脚后跟并射死了他。

我们每个人都有致命弱点。即使是我们中的暴徒也有弱点。这个弱点可能会随着年纪增长而变化。对许多年轻人来说，他们的自我或是过于自信可能就是他们的致命弱点。对另一些人来说，贪婪可能是他们的致命弱点。

如果我想减肥但是我喜欢吃冰激凌，你就可以说，喜欢吃冰激凌就是我的致命弱点。

实战应用

词汇解析

Greek n. 希腊人；希腊语 adj. 希腊的；希腊人的，希腊语的

tendon n. [解剖] 腱

ankle n. 踝关节，踝

magical adj. 魔术的；有魔力的

immortal adj. 不朽的；神仙的；长生的

warrior n. 战士，勇士

句型解析

原文：She believed the river had magical powers. Bathing her son in its waters, she thought, would make Achilles immortal, deathless, like a god.

当阿喀琉斯还是个婴儿时，他的母亲在冥河中给他沐浴。她相信冥河有种神奇的力量，她认为在冥河的水中给她的儿子沐浴能够让阿喀琉斯像神一样永生。

这段话中有两个语法点要个大家分享~

个是非谓语动词做伴随状语：在“Bathing her son in its waters, she thought, would make Achilles immortal, deathless, like a god”这句话中，主语是“she”，谓语动词是“thought”，但除了“thought”这个动作，主语还发出了另一个动作，也就是“bath（沐浴）her son in the waters”，但大家都知道，根据英语语法规则，如果一句话中存在多个谓语动词需要用“and”连接或者就像这个例子一样，将其中一个动词转化成非谓语动词。所以大家可以借鉴这句话的语法，在写作中也可以采用同样的句式，让作文更加出彩。

第二个要个大家分享的语法点是“make + sb./sth. + adj. 让……变得……”，这是个非常常见的句式结构，大家一定要记牢哦~

 写作词句

grow up 成长，长大

fight with 与……打斗

be able to 能够

know of… 了解，知道

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