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
abstract group
acquisition debt
aerial adapter
al-thanis
apyretic tetanuss
berghaan
blanklead
BMOF
body main net
boom lowering equipment
bullet-shaped
Caragana bicolor
Cisnes, R.
class B insulation
conditional command
conventional customs duties
copolysaccharide
cost outlay items
Davenport, Thomas
day return
defensive quality
dephysicalizes
diffuse wall cavity
distance between buildings
distribution according to needs
dollar law
dominance through a coalition
dragon pyelogram
drinkypoo
dry ices
ecliptic obliquity
European Computer Manufacturers Association
eutectic brazing alloy
ex-stepfather
extrauterine gestation
fetch home anchor
film-riding face seal
fishing research boat
genus comandras
glancing boom
glindex
Grandes, Salinas
great california
Gregory XIV
grenade whistles
Hellinger integral
hold one's ground
hydrogen reforming
in full course
Ingawa
inner stator
integration of industry
international political economy
intumescences
inventives
lacta
lacuna
lichorous
ligg. tarsi interossea
limit priority
lose ... head
marattia fraxinea sm
men and boys
metal interference filter
Mid Sussex
modern radiochemistry
mydrine
n-phenylglycine ethyl ester
navigable waterway
non air-assisted spray
ochetobius elongatus
osteoonychodysostosis
plastic faced die
position selector
Primula saturata
qutayba
race-proven
refrigerator-mounted barge
remote supervisory
revenue neutral
rock bed
single property tax
sizes up
slow-setting emulsified asphalt
staller
straight-run
sulfidogenic
suprasternal
technical economics of architecture
the pip
thermal protection system test
Transaction processing.
Trapa japonica
unboxes
unilateral tariff
upper cycle
very-short-range radar
violin families
winnicks
yiffable
zero pressure resin