Mythology
神话传说
Nuwa Mended the Fallen
女娲补天
Chinese flood myths are especially rich.
中国有许多关于洪水的传说。
This is but one of many that reflect the tortuous course of prehistory China.
这些故事只是众多传说中的一个，它们反映了中国史前历史的艰难进程。
The fight of gods resulted in the disasters of the people.
诸神之战的结果是为人类带来的灾难。
Nuwa the creator of man would not allow this to continue.
创造人类的女娲不允许事态进一步恶化。
She must save her offspring and the world.
她必须拯救自己的后代和整个世界。
She started the arduous task by mending the sky.
她开始了修补天空的艰巨任务。
This is how she did it.
女娲是这么做的。
She collected rocks, melted them in a pot and used the thick liquid to mend the holes.
她收集岩石，将它们放在大锅里融化，用粘稠的液体修补窟窿。
When this was done, she thought out a way to prop up the collapsed sky.
这件事完成后，她想到了一个支撑坍塌的天空的方法。
She caught a giant tortoise, cut off its legs and used them to support the four comers of the sky.
她抓来一只巨大的陆龟，砍断了它的四肢，用陆龟的四条腿来支撑天空。
The sky was back in its place, the rains stopped.
天空重新回到了原来的位置上。
She killed or drove away the predatory animals and birds plaguing people.
雨停了。
Among the most ferocious animals, there was a black dragon that stirred up floods.
她杀死或驱逐了伤害人类的食肉动物和鸟类。
She killed fhe dragon. The flood gradually receded.
在这些凶猛的野兽中，有一条引发了洪水的黑龙。
At the same time, to bring the flood under complete control, Nuwa collected all the reeds she could, burned them all and used the ashes to block, divert and channel the angry torrents.
女娲杀死了这条龙。
The big flood was finally tamed.
洪水也就停止了。
Things came back to normal.
同时，为了完全控制洪水，女娲收集了所有她需要的芦苇，她将芦苇焚烧，用灰烬来堵塞、转移并疏通激流。
The world was alive again.
一切都恢复了常态。
The sky was clear.
世界再次有了生机。
The sun bathed living creatures.
天空变得晴朗。
Fine rains nourished trees and plants.
阳光沐浴众生。
The seasons rotated in good order.
细雨滋润了树木和植物。
Hot and cold spells followed each other in good time.
四季轮换有序。
Fierce animals and birds were killed or perished.
冷暖交替。
Friendly animals were domesticated.
凶猛的动物和禽类被杀死。
Fields produced bumper crops.
友善的动物得到了饲养。
Man was relieved from want of food.
田地获得了丰收。
Babies could be left in bird nests without being hurt.
人们不再饥饿。
The nests swung with the trees in gentle breezes, serving as ideal natural cradles.
婴儿们被放到鸟的巢穴里都不会受伤。
To enrich human life, Nuwa decided to invent a musical instrument for man.
树上的巢穴在柔和的微风的吹拂下，成为了理想的大自然的摇篮。
It was made of thirteen flutes plugged in a bottle gourd.
为了丰富人类的生活，女娲决定为人类发明一种乐器。
The thirteen pipes looked like the elegant tail of a phoenix.
它由十三根插在葫芦上的笛子组成。
It was indeed a very nice gift producing pleasant music.
这十三根管子就像优雅的凤凰尾巴。
Nuwa died of exhaustion, quite content with what she had done to her offepring.
这个乐器确实是一个能创造出好听的音乐的绝妙的礼物。
Like Pangu the Creator of the World，she did not perish.
女娲力竭而死，她死的时候对于自己为人类所做的一切非常满意。
She transformed into various things in the universe.
就像开天辟地的盘古那样，女娲并没有完全毁灭。
One of her bowels turned into ten gods in the great plain of the west.
她变成了宇宙中的很多东西。
They formed a line of guardians of the plain.
她的一个内脏成为了西部平原十位重要的神。
他们共同守卫着这片平原。
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