海外文化:英美民俗 鬼魂
【英文原文】
摘要：在古代和中世紀，看見和聽見鬧鬼的說法十分流行。現代大多數人不信鬼魂之說，但仍對有關鬼魂的故事、小說和電影十分感興趣，而且不肯夜間走過墳地或廢棄的老房子。
The ghost is supposed to be the spirit of a person who has died. Reports of seeing or hearing ghosts have been common throughout history — especially in ancient times and in the Middle Ages. Most modern people do not believe in ghosts, but they are interested in stories, books, films and plays about ghosts. And they prefer not to go into graveyards or deserted house at night. In most stories and reports about ghosts, the ghost resembles its living form. Many ghosts are transparent or shadowy. Some ghosts are pictured in long white robes.
Many ghosts have the intention of doing harm or evil. But some ghosts are friendly. Ghosts with evil intention are usually the spirits of people who were murdered. They are believed to haunt the place where, in their real form, they died or were buried. Whole families may be visited by the ghost of a person that an early ancestor killed or injured, or even by the ghost of an ancestor. A ghost may try to reveal who murdered it — as in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet — or try to frighten the murderer — as in Shakespeare's Macbeth. A ghost haunts a place by screaming, groaning, making strange noises and causing doors, furniture, and other objects to move by themselves.
In many stories and reports, a ghost returns from the dead without being called by anyone. In others, a medium(a person with special powers) calls the ghost back to earth. Ghosts are associated with darkness and night, so they usually end their visits by dawn, as the old saying goes, "Apparitions vanish at cock-crow."
【中文譯文】
在古代和中世紀，看見和聽見鬧鬼的說法十分流行。現代大多數人不信鬼魂之說，但仍對有關鬼魂的故事、小說和電影十分感興趣，而且不肯夜間走過墳地或廢棄的老房子。據說鬼魂具有人形，但有的是透明的，或以影子的形式出現。有人想象中的鬼魂身披白色裹屍布，只露兩隻眼睛。
大多數鬼魂懷有惡意，但也有些鬼則態度友善，並無害人之心。懷有惡意的鬼一般是被謀殺者的靈魂，出沒於他們被殺害或被埋葬的地點。祖先若殺了人，其後代可能全都受到屈死鬼的糾纏。有時祖先的鬼魂也會出現在後代面前。有的鬼魂出現是爲了揭發謀殺者，如莎士比亞悲劇《哈姆雷特》里老哈姆雷特的鬼魂；也有的則是爲了恐嚇謀殺者，如《麥克白》裏班柯的鬼魂。鬼魂顯現的方式有多種，有的尖叫，有的呻吟，有的弄出聲響，或使門自動開關、傢俱或其他東西莫名其妙地移動等。
一般說法是鬼魂可自動從陰間返回人間，也有人說鬼魂需要靈魂的召喚。鬼魂一般只在夜間出沒，凌晨時返回陰間，如諺語所說，“雞一叫，鬼魂消。”
