the traditional beliefs,legends and customs of the British & Americ

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　　Phoenix
　　 The phoenix was an imaginary bird in Greek mythology. Only one such bird existed at any time, and it was always male. It had brilliant gold and reddish-purple feathers, and was as large or larger than an eagle. According to some Greek writers, the phoenix lived exactly 500 years.
　　 At the end of each life cycle, the phoenix made in Arabia a nest of spices, sang a beautiful sad song, flapped its wings to set fire to the nest and burned itself to ashes. Another phoenix then rose from the ashes with renewed youth and beauty. The long life of the phoenix, and its dramatic rebirth from its own ashes, made it a symbol of immortality and spiritual rebirth.
　　题外话:
　　与龙一样,而凤凰在中国文化里是百鸟之王,象征吉祥\太平\又象征与皇后一样高贵. 故龙与凤常并称.如龙凤吉祥\龙飞凤舞等.
　　而英文里phoenix不过是永生或复活的象征.如 We all thought the firm was finished when it went bankrupt, but it rose like a phoenix from the ashes. 这家公司倒闭时,我们认为它彻底完了.不料它却像只凤凰,死而复生.
　　其成语rise from the ashes有以下用法:
　　The politician, showing no signs of disappointment at losing the election, promised that his party would quickly rise from the ashes of defeat.
　　那位政治家对选举的失利没有表现出一点儿灰心丧气,他保证说他的党很快就会东山再起.
　　

　　Grasshopper—old age. In Greek mythology, Tithonus married Eos, goddess of the dawn, who secured for him the gift of immortal life from Zeus, but forgot to ask for immortal youth. Tithonus became extremely old and completely helpless physically. He asked Eos to remove him from the world, but she could not. Finally she turned him into a grasshopper.
　　据古希腊神话,提托诺斯娶了黎明女神厄俄斯,厄俄撕从宙斯那里为他要了永生,但忘记了同时要永驻的青春.结果提托诺斯衰老得无法动弹,欲死而不能.厄俄斯也无能为力,最后将他变为一只蚱蜢.
　　
　　Hare—timidity.
　　

　　Heath—solitude. (石楠—孤独)
　　In Great Britain heath grows on lonely moors.
　　
　　Holly—friendship, happiness.
　　

　　Forget-me-not—remembrance, true love.
　　An old German legend tells us that a knight and his sweetheart walked on the banks of the Danube. The lady saw a spray by the water. She begged her lover to save them for her. The flowers, but swept away by the current and was drowned. His last words were, “forget me not!”
　　
　　Hawthorn—hope, love.
　　The hawthorn shows the winter is over and spring is at hand. The Athenian girls used to wear crowns of hawthorn flowers at wedding.
　　

　　Ass, donkey
　　Stupidity, stubbornness. English idioms: 1. the law is an ass: the legal procedure, judgment or enactment is stupid or unjust. 2. the ass wags his ears: those who have little learning often talk as if they were very wise. 3. make an ass of oneself: to do something very foolish.
　　（驴）--愚蠢、固执。英语成语有：1）“法律如驴”，说法律的审判程序以及执法过程愚蠢僵硬。2）“驴子都爱摇耳朵”，说半瓶子醋爱晃荡，一知半解的人专爱卖弄学问。3）“当了蠢驴”，即干了蠢事。
　　
　　Bat
　　Blindness. English idiom:(as) blind as a bat.(瞎如蝙蝠)
　　

　　Butterfly—sportiveness, living in pleasure.(游手好闲，不务正业。)
　　
　　Camel—submission.
　　In the Faerie Queene, however, Edmund Spenser uses the camel as the symbol of avarice, probably because Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to do through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
　　
　　Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to do through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
　　耶稣说过，富人进天国比骆驼钻针眼还难。
　　

　　ding

　　Palmistry
　　Palmistry is the practice of foretelling the future by examining the shape of the hand and the lines in the palm of the hand. Today, most people no longer take palmistry seriously; they are interested in it as a form of entertainment.
　　In palmistry, the fleshy parts of the palm at the base of the thumb and fingers and on the side of the hand are called mounts. The mounts are named after Apollo, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Mars. A well-developed, fleshy mount is supposed to mean that a person has the characteristics associated with that mount. The mount of Apollo signifies a good sense of beauty; of the Moon, a dreamy disposition; of Venus, love; of Jupiter, ambition, pride, honor and a happy disposition; of Saturn, prudence and success; of Mercury, scientific, industrial, and commercial interests; and of Mars, courage.
　　The wrinkles on the palm are called lines. Like the mounts, each line has a name and a meaning. For example, the curved line that surrounds the thumb is called the life line. If it is long and unbroken the person is supposed to have a long life. The heart line stretches across the palm just below the fingers. If this line is long and unbroken, the person is supposed to have a warm, affectionate nature. Below the strongly marked it is supposed to indicate intelligence; if it goes almost to the outside of the palm, it indicates imagination.a
　　
　　附加：其实，从手指的粗细和曲直、指纹磨损的程度、掌上是否有研子，中指的一侧是否有研子，指甲的形状与磨损程度、手掌与指甲的颜色等，都能了解一个人的出身、职业、生活水准、健康程度等众多信息。具备了这种常识，再粗浅地也了解一些心理学知识，任何人都能成为成功的手相专家。
　　

　　Snowdrop—consolation.
　　
　　Sunflower—devotion.
　　In Greek mythology, Clytie, a water nymph, loved Apollo, the god of the sun. when Apollo did not return her love, she pined away gazing at the sun and was turned into a sunflower.
　　

　　Stork
　　An old belief is that the stork is a sign of good luck, because it foretells the birth of a child. Parents ofren explain the mystery of birth to their young children by saying that they were brought by the stork.
　　
　　Swallow
　　It is considered a sign of good luck if a swallow built its nest under the eaves of one’s house.Dryden says in his poem,”swallows are unlucky birds to kill.”
　　

　　Cuckoo ---cuckoldry.
　　The cuckoo is in the habit of laying its eggs in another bird’s nest and leaving them to be hatched and cared for by the other bird. So people used to give a husband a warning when his wife’s lover was coming by calling out “Cuckoo”. In Shakespeare’s play Love’s Labour’s Lost, there are the following lines:
　　 The cuckoo then, on every tree,
　　 Mocks married men; for thus sings he: Cuckoo!
　　 Cuckoo, cuckoo! O word of fear,
　　 Unpleasant to a married ear!
　　The cuckoo is also associated with stupidity. A cuckoo idea is mad or foolish idea; if a person is said to be cuckoo, he or she is stupid.
　　
　　题外话:布谷鸟---妻子不贞．其来源与布谷鸟将蛋下在别的鸟的巢里, 由别的鸟代为孵化和养育.
　　
　　Duck--- deceit.
　　

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　　Ostrich—stupidity.
　　It is believed that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they are in danger or being hunted. English idiom: bury one’s head in the sand: refuse to take any notice of a difficulty; refuse to admit that something is a problem and hope that it will get better by itself.
　　
　　Ox—patience, strength.
　　

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　　Peacock—pride.
　　English idiom: (as) proud as a peacock.
　　
　　Pig/swine—dirtiness, greediness, grossness.
　　A rude, arrogant person, or a person who eats too much, is dirty or ugly in manners, or refuses to consider others, is often called a pig or a swine. English idiom: 1. make a pig of oneself: eat or drink too much. 2. cast pearls before swine: offer something valuable to someone who cannot understand its value. In the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples: “do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, last they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.”
　　1. make a pig of oneself （狼吞虎咽、大吃大喝）
　　2. cast pearls before swine （对牛弹琴）
　　
　　

　　Lily—purity, chastity, innocence.
　　English idiom: (as) pure as a lily. No other flower has ever had so great a religious significance. In pictures of the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary with a branch of lilies in his hand, to announce that she is to be the mother of Jesus. Sometimes a vase standing before the Virgin contains a lily.
　　
　　Mistletoe—perseverance.
　　Mistletoe is an evergreen plant that grows as a parasite on the trunks and branches of other trees. It can survive in hard conditions.
　　
　　

　　Olive—peace, glory.
　　
　　Orange blossom—chastity, purity, fruitfulness.
　　The orange tree bears fruit and flowers at the same time, so its blossoms make an excellent symbol of fruitfulness or productiveness. The orange blossoms are also symbolic of chastity and purity, which makes them ideal as flowers decorating the bride at a wedding.
　　

　　加利利的渔夫、十二门徒之一的彼得，在耶酥被钉上十字架后感到传道的无力，他三次否认自己是耶酥的门徒。但是在他受到再次降临的耶酥的启示后，他发现自己具备了耶酥的神力，那些肢体缺损和生病的人们走到他的影子里，他就可以治愈他们，让人们变得容光焕发，从此以后他的信众越来越多。在圣彼得也被钉上十字架后两百年，基督教终于传遍了西方世界。(转)
　　
　　

　　Divination
　　Divination is the practice of trying to learn about the unknown by magical or supernatural means. A diviner is supposed to have to have the ability to learn about the past, present, or future. Some diviners believe they can learn the causes of past events. For example, if a person has died mysteriously, the diviner is supposed to be able to tell when, where, and how the person died. Other diviners, called dowsers, claim they can find the location of underground water. Still others believe they can foretell events, such as when a person will die or whom a person will marry.
　　 There are many kinds of divination. Some diviners try to learn about the unknown by communicating with the spirits of the dead. Astrology is an attempt to describe future happenings by studying the positions of the sun, the moon and stars. Some diviners interpret dreams to foretell events. Palmistry claims to know one’s future by examining the lines on the palm of one’s hand. Some fortunetellers are supposed to be able to see, in their crystal balls, pictures of events that happened in the past, are happening at present or going to happen in the future.
　　 Courts in west once used divination to determine the guilt or innocence of criminals. Divination in a trial was called an ordeal. For example, in many witch trail of the 17th century in Europe and colonial America, a suspected witch was tied up and thrown into water. If she sank, she was considered innocent. If she floated, she was considered a witch---and was executed.
　　
　　Divination is the practice of trying to learn about the unknown by magical or supernatural means.
　　试图通过魔法或超自然手段获取未知信息称为占卜。
　　
　　For example, in many witch trail of the 17th century in Europe and colonial America, a suspected witch was tied up and thrown into water. If she sank, she was considered innocent. If she floated, she was considered a witch—-and was executed.
　　例如：在17世纪的欧洲和北美殖民地，有女巫嫌疑的人往往被捆绑起来，投入水中，如果她下沉，就证明清白，如果浮在水面，就被断定为女巫而处以死刑。
　　

　　Hawk—watchfulness, greediness, martialism.
　　Hawk may be used to refer to a person regarded as having the grasping nature of a hawk; it may also be used for a person who believes in using force, or in increasing violence in war. English idioms: 1. hawks and doves: those who are aggressive in military or political affairs, contrasted with those who favour negotiation, compromise, moral persuasion, etc. 2. watch like a hawk : to watch someone very closely, in order to catch him doing something.
　　
　　Hen—maternal care.
　　

　　Black cat
　　Throughout much of the Middle Ages, cats were feared and hated. Since they are very sly and in the habit of moving about in the darkness at night, people used to associate them with witches and the evil spirits. Cats were treated cruelly, and even burned together with witches. It is said that Napoleon saw a black cat before the battle of Waterloo. He lost the battle, and the British won. Probably for this reason, the black cat is unlucky on the continent, but in Britain, it is lucky.
　　

　　Cat—deceit.
　　
　　Cicada --- poetry
　　
　　Cock ---- watchfulness, insolence.
　　
　　Crocodile ---hypocrisy.
　　According to an old belief, crocodiles wept white eating what they had caught. English idiom: crocodile tears: insincere tears.(鳄鱼的眼泪--假慈悲。)