时间:2018-12-30 作者:英语课 分类:国家地理2007年


英语课
In South Korea, a land where Buddhism 1 and Christianity reign 2, many still turn to the old folk beliefs of Shamanism, believe in a world inhabited by spirits. But to become a Korean Shaman, a believer must pass an initiation 3, called the naerim kut, a rite 4 so extreme that few would attempt it.

While some are born to their role as Shamans, others, like Jiyang, receive their calling through a mystic illness called shinbyeong. She may look healthy, but Jiyang has been tormented 5 by spirits since childhood.

"Sometimes, I've been in so much pain that it left me almost completely paralyzed".

One day, she had a dream. She dreamed of a shaman, but didn't know who she was.

I saw a shaman all dressed up and participating in some activity. I felt I needed to find her.

The shaman in Jiyang's dream turned out to be real, her name was Kim kuwa, the acknowledged leader of northern style ecstatic shamanism. Kim kuwa agreed to take Jiyang into her home to prepare her for the initiation ceremony. If Jiyang fails this test, the spirit will not possess her and she will not be cured.

It's morning on the day chosen for Jiyang's naerim kut initiation. With the beating of the drum and the banging of the gongs, the naerim kut begins.

Jiyang puts on her first costume and prepares to summon the god. She enters into what's called an ecstatic trance. These shamans believe that in this trance, her mind becomes possessed 6 and she speaks in the spirits' voices. Jiyang and the other shamans dance for hours, changing customs after every spirit possession. The time has come for Kim kuwa to call upon the Knife-Riding General, her guarding spirit. As an indication of the General's spirit within her, she licks the blades and presses them against her thighs 7. She climbs up onto the double-edged shark-tooth knives and dances. No blood is shed while she addresses the audience in the spirit's voice, announcing his presence.

Finally, it is Jiyang's turn. Jiyang steps onto the knives and she begins to dance. Fortunately her feet do not bleed; Jiyang's passed the final test.

"I feel like I have the whole world in my hands."

But this is only the beginning, she will have to undergo years of training under the guidance of Kim kuwa. Hopefully, she will find greater peace and happiness, fulfilling her destiny as a shaman.


n.佛教(教义)
  • Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
  • Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势
  • The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
  • The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。
n.开始
  • her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
  • It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。
n.典礼,惯例,习俗
  • This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
  • Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。
饱受折磨的
  • The knowledge of his guilt tormented him. 知道了自己的罪责使他非常痛苦。
  • He had lain awake all night, tormented by jealousy. 他彻夜未眠,深受嫉妒的折磨。
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的
  • He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
  • He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿
  • He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
abt system railway
alternating impact machine
autospecific
axid
bamboozle into
battlement
benniseed
benzoic aulfimide
big-bucks
bipyrimidine
blood stagnancy
Broca's area
business voluntary winding-up
button die
Can Giuoc
chromalize
compilations
coram populo
current cell rate
cut stone
Day of the Triffids
Deggendorf
depositional fabric
dilatancy hypothesis
dindu nuffin
disputisoun
droig
Dual Class Stock
duddell's thermo-galvanometer
emergency theory
Eshtaol
etisus dentatus
euryoky
euthalia formosana
fish processing plant wastewater
flih
floatation of bonds
full internal (water) recirculation
gross model
Guinness PLC
hail from
have your tubes tied
hot-pressed aluminium nitride
ice flood protection measures
ice rock
idahoensis
incoherent radiation
insolvently
irregular nature of traffic
junkless
lamiarrize
lapware
late-march
learn to say before you sing
logistic growth curve
lordlike
magneto ignition system
marginal moraine
maximum recommended firing current
meiotic euapogamy
misthrows
mosquito cycle
Nassenheide
neostingmine
nickar
nutrit-
observation desk
off-the-walls
Ohangwena Reg.
operatee
overtrim
parallelepipedons
phosphoribosyl glycinamide
photo-electron-stabilized-photicon
Pontelongo
portable pyrometer
precise level leveling instrument
provocation poliomyelitis
quartzose schist
radiation belts of the Earth
radio controlled aerial-navigation
refuelling cavity
releasing of stress
Reverse Subpath
rhinoplasty with excision of skin
roller engraving
sanipractic
set lagging
simonkolleite
Siswā Bāzār
species cross
speed adjusting gear
spin angular momentum quantum number
sulphonediimine
tapish
Telex service
tensionless jigger
thermodynamics of elasticity
tricyclopentadienyl-tetrahydrofuran-plutonium
ultra marine
Vena colica media
yeardays