2. 外语
  3. Are you superstitious? No, of course not. Do you believe in magic, and luck charms? Certainly not, but if I should greet you wit

Are you superstitious? No, of course not. Do you believe in magic, and luck charms? Certainly not, but if I should greet you wit

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问题     Are you superstitious? No, of course not. Do you believe in magic, and luck charms? Certainly not, but if I should greet you with the usual "How’s business?" you’ll answer "Oh, just so-so." Yet your health is the best it’s ever been and your business is booming. Or, when you are successful in some venture and you are complimented, you knock on wood and say you were just lucky; yet you know it was probably due to your ability and hard work. Why? Playing down good health and making light of good fortune stems from a desire to avoid the envy and enmity of the gods who may be listening in. So you duck, attribute your success to luck, or knock on wood. And you knock on wood because wood was once a tree and there is a primitive belief that protective gods inhabit trees and knocking on wood attracts their attention so they may be credited with your successes.
    If I should sneeze, only the strongest of you could refrain from saying "God bless you." Why bless this unsanitary rudeness? Our ancestors believed that a sneeze opened the body to invasion by devils, and invoking the name of God made the devils get out in a hurry. You may not realize it, but you express this same "devil invasion" when you say "That youngster acts possessed" or "Whatever can have gotten into that child?" or "I wonder what possessed me to do that?"
    Although they may no longer be believed, evidences of superstitions that have had their origins in the primitive fear of the Unknown still exist in modem language and gestures.
Why may some people be reluctant to take credit for their own success?
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答案To avoid the envy and hared of the gods
解析 第一段倒数第三句。
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大学英语四级

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