Mythology
神话传说
Nuwa Creates Man
女娲造人
After the birth of the world there were only creatures but no humans.
天地形成之后，世界里只有生物却没有人类。
It was indeed a lonely world.
事实上，这是一个孤单的世界。
The almighty goddess Nuwa wanted to add life and beauty to this world and also to cheer up herself.
全能女神女娲想要为这个世界增添生命和美丽并让自己开心起来。
She came to a lake, saw herself in the water and decided to make creatures after her own image.
她来到湖边，在湖水中看见了自己的倒影，于是决定参照自己的模样来创造生物。
She set about making man with clay.
她准备用黏土来创造人。
She shaped little figurines by hand.
女娲用手捏出人形。
Breathing life into them, she set them down.
吹了一口气给予他们生命后，她将小人放到了地上。
As soon as they touched ground, they began to cheer and dance.
这些小人一落地就开始欢呼和唱歌。
These were the first group of men and women.
这是第一批人类。
She went about the work day and night.
她日夜都在造人。
It was slow work.
这是一项缓慢的工程。
When she got tired, the number of creatures she made was still very small.
在她精疲力竭的时候，她创造的人类数量仍然很少。
She thought out an idea to speed up the work.
她想到了一个办法来加快造人的速度。
She got a rattan，dipped it into the mud around her and flung it about.
她拿着一根藤条，蘸取了身边的泥土然后一扔。
The mud drops fell and instantly turned into humans also.
泥点散落，很快也变成了人。
The world became cheerful and colorful.
整个世界变得活力四溢且丰富多彩。
But alas, this did not last long because many of the humans she made aged and died, if she went on making man alone, she might not be able to compensate for the rapid death rate.
然而可惜的是，这并没有持续很久因为女娲创造的人很多都衰老死亡了，如果她继续自己一个人造人，那么她创造人类的速度就赶不上人类死亡的速度。
She thought out another idea.
她想到了另一个办法。
Why not make them mate and bear children by themselves?
为什么不让他们自己交配并生儿育女呢？
Every spring, she would summon young men and women from far and near and let them chase and play with each other.
每个春天，女娲会召集远近的年轻男女互相追逐嬉闹。
It was a season of joy, courtship and marriage.
这是一个愉悦、求偶和婚配的季节。
In this way families were set up, children were nursed and reared, generations of man continue to live on this earth.
通过这种方式，家庭形成了，孩子们得到照顾和抚育，人类一代代的生存在地球上。
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