中国故事-Yi Shot Down the Suns 后羿射日

In ancient China, people believed that there were ten suns that appeared in turn in the sky during the Chinese ten-day week. Each day the ten suns would travel with their mother, the goddess Xi He, to the Valley of the Light in the East. There, Xi He would wash her children in the lake and put them in the branches of an enormous mulberry tree called fu-sang. From the tree, only one sun would move off into the sky for a journey of one day, to reach the mount Yen-Tzu in the Far West.
传说中国古时候，人们曾认为天上有十个太阳，他们以十天为一周期，轮流当值，。每天，这十个太阳都跟随太阳之母——羲和女神周游到西方的曙之谷。在那里，羲和沐日于甘泉，将太阳置于扶桑巨树的枝杈中。只有一个太阳会离开这课树，升到天空中开始一天的征程，直到抵达那处于遥远西方的日元山。
Tired of this routine, the ten suns decided to appear all together. The combined heat made the life on the Earth unbearable. To prevent the destruction of the Earth, the emperor Yao asked Di Jun, the father of the ten suns, to persuade his children to appear one at a time.
长此以往，太阳们有些无聊，于是他们决定一起周游天空。十个太阳散发的高温让大地上生灵涂炭。为了结束这场灾难，尧君去请求太阳之父帝俊，请他劝说孩子们不要同时出现。
They would not listen to him, so Di Jun sent the archer, Yi, armed with a magic bow and ten arrows to frighten the disobedient suns. However, Yi shot nine suns, only the Sun that we see today remained in the sky. Di Jun was so angry for the death of nine of his children that he condemned Yi to live as an ordinary mortal in the earth.
 然而，太阳们并不听话，帝俊便让神箭手后羿背上神弓，带上十枝箭去恐吓这些叛逆的太阳。不料后羿却接连射下九个太阳，只留下一个太阳在空中，也就是我们今天看到的那个。看到九个儿子惨死，帝俊勃然大怒，便将后羿贬下凡间成为一介布衣。
 That’s the legend of Yi Shot Down the Suns . Although Yi got punished because of his behavior, people will always be grateful of him.
 这就是后羿射日的故事。尽管后羿因此受到惩罚，但后人永远感念他的恩德。