克里特迷宫

Crete is an island in the southern part of Greece. Cretan maze,was built by the order of Minos, king of Crete, to house2 the Minotaur.

Sea god Poseidon once gave Minos a snow white bull used for the ceremony3 of sacrifice(祭祀), but Minos liked it too much to sacrifice it, and he kept it alive in his stable (牛棚).As a punishment,Poseidon made Pasiphae, wife of Minos, fall in love with it. Her child by the bull was the Minotaur.The Minotaur had the body of a man and the head of a bull.He was a maneating monster(怪物) living on human flesh(肉). Minos placed him in the maze built by a wonderful craftsman (工匠，手艺人) called Daedalus, and kept feeding him with an annual tribute4 of seven young men and seven young maidens(少女).

Theseus was the son of Aegeus,king of Athens. The prince was outraged(激怒) by this and volunteered5 to go and slaughter(屠宰) the monster. He told his father that if he achieved his goal successfully, he would show a white sail(帆，篷) on his return trip, if not, a black one.

Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, loved Theseus at the first sight of him.She gave him a knife,with which he killed the monster,and also a thread of glittering(闪闪发光的) jewels, by following the thread he walked out of the maze. Theseus and Ariadne fled (逃走)back to Athens on a ship after the mission,but they inadvertently (粗心大意地)raised a black sail. Seeing the black sign of mourning(哀悼，悼念),Aegeus drowned6 himself in the sea in great grief. The Aegean sea was named after him.

"Cretan maze" was the system of intricate(错综复杂的) passageways(走廊，通道) and blind alleys(走道，过道) that rendered (使成为) egress (出口，出路) difficult. People also refer to complicated7 situation as "Cretan maze".

克里特是希腊南部的一个岛屿，克里特迷宫是按照克里特国王弥诺斯的旨意建成的，是用来供牛首人身怪米诺陶居住的地方。

海神波塞冬曾给弥诺斯一头雪白的公牛供祭祀仪式所用。但弥诺斯非常喜欢这头牛，舍不得把它杀了做祭品，而是把它养在牛圈中。作为惩罚，波塞冬使弥诺斯的妻子帕西淮爱上了这头白牛，她与公牛所生的孩子就是米诺陶。米诺陶长着牛首人身，是个靠吃人肉为生的怪兽。弥诺斯把它关在能工巧匠代达罗斯建造的迷宫里，每年送去七对童男童女作为贡品供其食用。

忒修斯是雅典王埃勾斯的儿子。这位王子对此十分愤慨，他自告奋勇前去杀死怪兽。他告诉父亲若他成功地完成使命，他会在返航的船上升起白帆，若失败，则会升起黑帆。

弥诺斯国王与帕西淮的女儿阿里亚德尼公主对忒修斯一见钟情。她送给他一柄刀，用这把刀他成功地杀了怪兽，她还送给他一条闪闪发光的宝石线，顺着线他顺利地走出了迷宫。事成后，忒修斯和阿里亚德尼公主乘船逃回雅典，他们一时疏忽竟升起了黑帆。见到这标志哀悼的黑色信号，埃勾斯在极度悲伤中投入海中，该海就以他的名字命名为爱琴海。

“克里特迷宫”的原义是指由错综复杂的曲径和死胡同构成的迷宫，因而难以找到出口。人们也借此比喻错综复杂的局面。

注释：

1．maze n．曲径，迷宫

2．house vt．给…房子住

3．ceremonyn．典礼，仪式

4．tribute. n. 贡品

5．volunteer vt．[后接不定式]自愿（做）

6．drown vt. 使淹死，使溺死

7．complicateda. 复杂的，难解的