5.Seeing Your Future Husband
5.看见你的未来丈夫
Now here is an old wives' tale especially for those women too impatient to wait to find out who their future husband will be.
现在有一个荒诞故事特别适合那些迫不及待想要知道自己未来丈夫的女人。
Wait until midnight on Halloween. Go stand in front of a mirror in the dark and then light a candle. While staring at your own face, take a bite out of an apple and slowly brush your hair at the same time. Concentrate hard. Slowly your face will morph into that of your future husband. Another option is to peel the apple in a single strip and and then throw the peel over your left shoulder. These peels will then spell out the initials of your future husband (a cynical man might change his name to something beginning with C or S). In some versions the woman's face does not morph—instead a vision of her Prince Charming will appear behind her and stare back at her in the mirror.
一直等到万圣节的午夜12点。在黑暗里站在镜子的面前，然后点燃一只蜡烛。在你盯着自己的脸看的时候，咬一口苹果，同时慢慢地梳理自己的头发。集中精力。渐渐地，你的脸就会变成你未来丈夫的脸。另外你还可以选择把苹果皮削成单独一条，然后把它扔在你的左肩。这些苹果皮会拼出你未来丈夫名字里的首字母。在一些版本中，女人的脸不会发生变化——相反，她的白马王子的影像会出现在她的身后，在镜子里盯着她看。

This tale dates back to ancient Celtic times and the festival of Samhain (pronounced SAH-win) on November 1, which is the traditional Celtic New Year. Samhain is almost identical to the modern-day Halloween. The Celts believed that during this celebration, time ceased to have meaning and spirits crossed over from their own world. These spirits included ghosts, fairies, and demons. People would light bonfires to protect themselves from them until Samhain was over. It was also believed that apples were magical fruit from the spirit realm—Avalon, where King Arthur is said to lie, means "Isle of Apples."
这个故事可以追溯到古凯尔特人时期和12月1日的夏末节Samhain(读作SAH-win，也是凯尔特人传统的新年）。夏末节和现代的万圣节几乎如出一辙。凯尔特人认为在这个庆祝活动期间，时间不再有意义，鬼神们会跨越他们自己的世界出来活动。这些鬼神包括鬼混，精灵和恶魔。人们会点燃篝火保护自己不被鬼神附体直到夏末节结束。人们还认为苹果是来自灵界的神奇水果——阿瓦隆（凯尔特族传说中的西方乐土岛），据说亚瑟王就长眠于此。它的意思是"苹果的岛屿"。

4.Doorbells Of Death
4.死亡门铃

If you hear a knock at your front door and you get up to answer it only to find no one there, open the door wide for a couple of seconds and then close it. This will let a good spirit in. But don't open it again if there are more knocks. Not even if they continue for the rest of the night. You might just be inviting an evil spirit into your home. And if there are three knocks the first time around, don't open the door at all! If there is a knock at your back door, it is the devil himself looking to come in.
如果你听见有人在敲前门，你前去应门，但是发现什么人也没有，门大大地敞开着持续了几秒然后再关上。这样，好的鬼神就会进来。但是如果还有人来敲门的话千万不要开门，即使敲门声持续一个晚上也不行。你也许会把恶鬼邀请到家中。如果第一次听到三下敲门声，千万不能开门！如果后门有一下敲门声，那就是恶魔自己想要进来。
Superstitions surrounding door-knocking abound in many different cultures and it's no surprise that after the invention of doorbells, they started to be included as well.For example, in some places it is believed that if a doorbell rings continuously for no reason, something dreadful has happened or is about to happen. Whitney Houston's mother revealed in a letter that her doorbell had mysteriously started ringing the day her daughter died. She firmly believed that Whitney had come to visit her and was making her presence known by ringing the doorbell.A woman in east Tennessee claims to have had a similarly chilling experience. After moving into a new house, Emily Miller was woken by the sound of her doorbell ringing at three in the morning. She got up, disgruntled, only to find there was no one at the door. For the next couple of weeks, the bell rang at least every second morning at three o'clock. No logical explanation could be found, even after the installation of a motion sensor camera at the front door and calls to local police. No one was ever there. Weeks stretched into months and then years until finally Emily had had enough. She had her son rip the doorbell out of its mounting and throw it away. That night, the now-missing doorbell rang again . . .
关于鬼敲门的迷信在许多不同文化中数不胜数，门铃被发明之后也开始被归于迷信一列也是情理之中，无需惊讶。举个例子说吧。在一些地方人们认为如果门铃无缘无故响个不停，那么一些可怕的事情已经出现或者即将到来。惠特尼·休斯顿（女歌手）的母亲在一封信中透露说：在她女儿死去的那天她家的门铃就诡秘地响个不停。她坚持认为是惠特尼来看她，她按门铃是为了让母亲知道她来过。在美国田纳西州东部的一个女人声称自己也有一段不寒而栗的经历，与其非常相似。艾米丽·米勒在搬到新家之后隔天早上三点就被她家的门铃吵醒了。于是她起床，一脸愤怒，却发现门前什么人也没有。接下来的几周里，每天早上三点钟至少每隔一秒门铃就会响起来。甚至在前门装了监控摄像机和报案给当地警察之后，也没能得出合理解释。那个时候没人在那里。时间匆匆流逝，转眼间已经几年过去，艾米丽终于受够了。她让儿子把门铃从装备上扯去并把它扔掉。那个晚上那个被丢弃的门铃还是一遍一遍响个不停……

3.Risks Of Falling Asleep
3.入睡风险

There are many old wives' tales about the supposed dangers of sleep—not surprising, given a person's vulnerability in that state. Many people used to believe that having plants in one's bedroom was a terrible idea. It was thought that the plants sucked up all of the oxygen in the room, ultimately killing the people asleep there. There was also a belief that the soul leaves the body during a deep sleep and so if you're woken with a start, you could immediately die. This tale is most likely where the urban legend regarding the waking of sleepwalkers originated.
人们猜想人在入睡后会有危险，这种荒诞故事非常之多——这也不足为奇，因为人在睡眠状态的时候是极其脆弱的。过去人们常常认为在房间里放一盆植物是一种可怕的想法，因为植物会吸光房间里所有的氧气，最终会杀死那个还在梦乡的人。还有一种说法就是在深睡眠的时候灵魂会脱离身体，所以如果你突然被叫醒的话你就会马上死去。关于叫醒梦游者的传闻最有可能来源于此。
Sleeping in direct moonlight was said to lead to madness and even blindness. Sleeping with a mirror facing you was also a big no-no. Negative energies are supposedly caught in mirrors and reflected back to the sleeping person during the night.Another creepy old wives' tale says that whoever falls asleep first on their wedding night (of the bride and groom) will be the first to die.
据说，在月光的直照下睡觉人会变得疯狂，甚至还会失明。睡觉的时候脸面对着镜子也是绝对的禁忌。据说镜子里面聚集着负面的能量，在晚上会反射到正在睡觉的人身上。另一个荒诞故事是：新郎和新娘，谁在新婚之夜先睡着谁就会先死。

2.Newborn Babies
2.新生的婴儿

Due to the high infant mortality rates in pre-modern times, a vast number of superstitions have sprung up around the months after birth. In Russia there used to be a strong belief among new mothers that you shouldn't show off your newborn baby to strangers or take it out in public for at least 40 days. This will ensure that no negative energy or evil presence latches onto your little one. Only the mother and father were allowed to see the baby during this time, not even extended family. In many Christian traditions, the period between birth and christening is a particularly risky time, because of the belief that unbaptized babies cannot go to heaven.
因为近代时期婴儿死亡率极高，婴儿在出生后几个月的迷信故事就不断涌现。在俄罗斯，新妈妈们过去常常会有一个强烈的信念：不该把新生的婴儿炫耀给陌生人或者至少在四十天内不能带到公共场合。这样才能确保负面能量或者恶魔不依附在婴儿的身上。在这期间，只有孩子的爸爸妈妈能够看自己的宝宝，甚至连其他家庭成员也不行。在许多基督教的派系中，婴儿从出生到洗礼仪式期间是特别危险的一段时期，因为他们认为未经洗礼的婴儿是不能去天堂的。
A particularly unnerving old wives' tale from the Dominican Republic warned new mothers to keep a watchful eye on their newborn so that they do not fall prey to the bruja. The bruja is a legendary witch with the ability to turn into a large bird. In order to turn into an avian creature, she has to remove her skin. Then in bird form she can suck the blood of a newborn either through its navel or big toe. At one point in history, also in the Dominican Republic, there were fears that if a mother rocked her baby boy's crib when he was not inside it, it would cause the child to become insane. If, on the other hand, they leave a baseball glove hanging above the crib, the boy might grow up to be a talented baseball player. In some parts of the world it is feared that if a pregnant woman gets a fright during her pregnancy and touches her face, her baby will be born with a reddish-purple birthmark on the same place the woman's hands rested.
多米尼加共和国有一个特别让人紧张不安的荒诞故事。人们警告新妈妈们要小心看护自己的宝宝，这样才能避免成为"bruja"女巫的猎物。"bruja"女巫是传说中能够把自己变成一只大鸟的女巫。为了变成鸟类她不得不脱掉自己的皮肤。变成鸟之后她就能通过肚脐或者大脚趾吸食新生儿的血液。多米尼加共和国历史上一度流行着一种恐惧。如果在婴儿的灵魂出窍的时候妈妈摇了他的婴儿床，那么宝宝就会变成疯子。另一方面，如果在婴儿床上放一双棒球手套，那么宝宝长大之后就是一个非常有天赋的棒球选手。在世界的一些地方，人们心里有一种恐惧：如果一个孕妇在她怀孕期间受到惊吓摸了她的脸，那么她的孩子在出生时在她手曾经放过的地方会有一块红紫色胎记。

1.Whistling At Night
1.在晚上吹口哨

The sound of whistling seems to be upsetting for many people around the world and also the focus of many old wives' tales.
口哨的声音对于世界上很多人来说是非常恼人的，同时它也是许多荒诞故事的焦点。
Not only is a constant whistling at night very annoying to those who have to listen to it, but it is seen as an invitation for ghosts and even snakes to enter your home. It seems that this Japanese old wives' tale developed from the time when child trafficking was very prevalent there. According to legend, whistling after dark was a signal to the sellers that children were ready to be taken. It is thought that by creating a tale around it, children would be afraid of making a noise at night, in theory protecting them from these criminals—although it was probably just to keep them quiet so their parents could sleep.
在晚上持续的口哨声对听到的人来说不但非常恼人，而且还会把鬼甚至蛇类邀请到家中。这个日本的传言似乎是在拐卖儿童非常盛行的时候形成的。据说，在晚上吹口哨就是通知卖家带走小孩的信号。人们认为通过编造这个故事，孩子们就会害怕在晚上发出声音，理论上来讲是保护他们远离罪犯——尽管这可能只是为了让孩子们安静，这样父母就可以睡觉。
In Korea, the belief that whistling at night would summon snakes or ghosts also existed, and so people would play the traditional Korean pipe flute instead. In Turkey, people were warned against whistling as it was thought to be a summons for the devil himself. And whistling at night in Hawaii is not a good idea either, because you might just anger one of the much-feared night marchers in the area.
在韩国，在晚上吹口哨会召唤出蛇类或者鬼魂的流言一直存在，所以人们会演奏传统的韩国笛子，以此取代口哨。在土耳其，人们被告诫不要吹口哨因为口哨会召唤出恶魔。此外，在晚上吹口哨在夏威夷也不是一个好主意，因为你可能会惹怒该地区更为吓人的夜巡者。

翻译：高陈影 来源：前十网