這些迷信的來源
Black cats
黑貓Black cats have long been seen in Western cultures as an omen of bad luck - they have long been associated with witches, and many cultures believe that a black cat crossing your path means you will suffer disaster or even death. Gamblers are especially fearful of the black cat curse - many of them believe that if they see a black cat while going to a casino, they should abandon their plans to gamble there. However, it's not all bad news for the black cats; in some cultures, including in Japan, Great Britain and Ireland, the opposite is true, and black cats are seen as bringers of good luck.
在西方文化中，黑貓一直象徵着壞運氣--人們還認爲黑貓和巫師之間存在着一定聯繫，在很多文化中，人們都認爲如果黑貓擋住了你的去路，那麼等着你的將是災難、甚至是死亡。賭徒尤怕黑貓詛咒--許多賭徒認爲如果他們在去賭場的路上看到了黑貓，那麼他們應該放棄去那兒賭博的計劃。然而，黑貓並不完全意味着壞運氣；在某些文化中，包括日本、英國和愛爾蘭，情況則恰恰相反，這些國家的人認爲黑貓會帶來好運。Broken mirrors
破鏡
It's a common superstition that a broken mirror will result in seven years bad luck - it's thought this belief can be traced back to the idea that a mirror captures part of your soul. So when a mirror breaks, part of your soul gets broken too. That's also why some cultures cover up all mirrors and reflective surfaces in a house where someone has died - so their soul can leave the building without getting trapped in the mirror.
鏡子破碎會帶來7年壞運，這個迷信很常見--該迷信可以追溯到鏡子能抓住人的靈魂的觀念。所以鏡子破了，你的一部分靈魂也隨之而碎。因此，在許多文化中，當屋子裏有人離世時，人們會將所有的鏡子和反光表面蓋起來--這樣他們的靈魂就能離開這棟房子，而不會被困在鏡中。
Groundhog Day
土撥鼠日The superstition that a large rodent can predict the weather (if he sees his shadow, there'll be an early spring; if he doesn't, there's six more weeks of winter) might seem ridiculous. But that doesn't stop it being extremely popular in the US and Canada - even more so since one of the most famous groundhogs, Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania, was immortalised in the film (above) of the same name. The tradition of animals' shadows predicting the coming of actually dates back to an old German superstition around Candlemas Day, which was brought to the Americas by Germanic immigrants. But how good is Punxsutawney Phil's record as a meteorologist? Pretty bad, actually - according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac, tracing his record for over a century, he's only been right 39 percent of the time.
大型齧齒動物可以預測天氣（如果它看到自己的影子，那就是早春；如果沒看到，那冬天還有6個星期纔會結束）的迷信可能看上去滑稽可笑。但這卻並不妨礙美國和加拿大人民對土撥鼠的喜歡--自最有名的土撥鼠（來自賓夕法尼亞州的Punxsutawney Phil）在同名電影（同上）給人留下不可磨滅的印象後，人們對其更爲堅信。動物影子預測來年春天的傳統實則可追溯到一個古老的關於春季結賬日的德國迷信，後由德國移民帶入美國。但Punxsutawney Phil的氣象播報準不準呢？實際上，很不準--據Stormfax Weather Almanac氣象站表示，以土撥鼠近一個世紀的記錄來看，他的正確率只有39%。Walking under ladders
從梯子下走Walking underneath a ladder is widely held to be bad luck. Despite some theories suggesting that this is to do with the triangle formed by a ladder representing the Christian Holy Trinity, the most likely explanation is far more simple and obvious: walking under laddders is quite dangerous. It's actually just health and safety advice dressed up as a superstition.
人們廣泛認爲從梯子下走是不吉利的。儘管有些理論表明：這與梯子形成的三角形代表着基督教三位一體相關，但最說得過去的解釋更爲簡單明瞭：從梯子下走是很危險的行爲。這只是披着迷信皮囊的健康安全建議。
