英语问答关于“民间故事”、“传说”、“童话”、“神话”的词语嘉中

问：tale、fable、myth、legend 等词我多认识，但在使用时，既不知道选用哪个好？

能否详细说说它们区别？

答：其实这几个词的区分度还是蛮大的，只要掌握其基本词义就能正确使用。

tale 指民间流传的故事或传说, 有一定事实依据， 但往往被夸张，添枝加叶。多有奇闻轶

事，给人带来不少乐趣，也荒唐离奇故事，令人难以置可信。也可与 story 同义，不过更带

感情色彩。

例句：

He told some fascinating tales about his life in India.

他讲了他在印度生活的一些奇闻轶事。

Have you read Dickens'“a Tale of Two Cities”

你读过狄更斯的《双城记》吗?

His latest book is a delightful children's tale about talking animals.

他的新书是一本关于会说话的动物的有趣的儿童故事。

She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.

她已经听腻了同样的关于酗酒和暴力的无聊故事。

He was in the middle of telling me a long tale about how he once met the Redskins'

manager.

他正在给我讲他如何遇见红人队经理的故事。

A good tale is none the worse for being twice told.

好故事百听不厌。

fairy tale 童话； 为孩子们写的传统故事，故事中通常涉及想象中的种种奇异生物和魔法。

例句：

Original novel, fairy tale, cartoon, and cyclopedia book all achieve great success.

原创小说、童话、卡通和百科全书都取得了巨大的成功。

You two are the prince and princess in a fairy tale and may you live happily

everafter!

Winter morning, a tree covered with glaze, as the fairy tale world.

你俩如童话故事中的王子和公主，祝你们永远幸福快乐。

Sadly, there was no fairy-tale happy ending to the story.

不幸的是，故事並沒有童话般的幸福結局。

The story ascends from a gothic tragedy to a miraculous fairy-tale.

故事从一个哥特式悲剧升华为神奇的童话。

They had a fairy-tale wedding.

他们举行了童话般的婚礼。

fable 寓言； 指短小而寓有教育意义的虚构故事，故事的主人公多为拟人化的动物或非动物

之类，也作传说解。

例句：

My favorite is the fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare.

我最喜欢的是龟兔赛跑的寓言。

And there was a picture engraved on glass, illustrating the fable of the milkmaid and

her pail.

玻璃上还刻着一幅图画，说明了挤牛奶的姑娘和她的牛奶桶的寓言故事。

The old fable as here retold is presented as a warning to all of the danger of

excessive greed.

这里重述的这则古老寓言是对过度贪婪的危险的警告。

The life of Howard Hughes cannot fail to remind us of the fable of Midas.

霍华德·休斯的一生一定会让我们想起迈达斯的寓言。

myth 神话；特指与宗教或原始文明有关的故事, 多以超人的力量去解释自然现象或人生

例句：

The children enjoyed the stories about the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman

myth.

孩子们喜欢听希腊和罗马诸神的故事神话。

Nobody believes in the myth about human beings becoming immortals.

没有人相信人能长生不老的神话。

Schools tend to perpetuate the myth that boys are better at sport than girls.

学校往往延续男孩比女孩更擅长体育的神话。

At last, a women's magazine to explode the myth that thin equals beautiful.

终于，一本女性杂志打破了“苗条就是美丽”的神话。

The popular myth is that air travel is more dangerous than travel by car or bus.

人们普遍认为乘飞机旅行比乘汽车或公共汽车旅行更危险。

legend 传说，传奇故事；民间故事； 指民间流传的说法或故事, 多含、虚幻成分。（a very

old story or stories from ancient times, or the stories, not always true, that people tell

about a famous event or person）

例句：

According to legend, he escaped by leaping from the cliffs into the sea.

根据传说，他从悬崖上跳入海中逃走了。

Legend has it that the lake was formed by the tears of a god

传说这个湖是由一位神的眼泪形成的。

The story of how she was rescued has already passed into legend.

她获救的故事已成为传奇。

This legend still spreads abroad among the people.

这个传说仍在民间广为流传。

She is writing a thesis on Irish legend and mythology.

她正在写一篇关于爱尔兰传说和神话的论文。