Tales from the Tooth Fairy|牙仙传奇

Tales from the Tooth Fairy

by Olivia Wycech

Wherever you are in the world, the tooth fairy, or tooth mouse, wants your teeth.

　　As we get older, the idea of losing a tooth becomes rather unsettling. We long _(1)_ the days when losing one meant a visit from the tooth fairy instead of a visit to the dentist. The tooth fairy is a story of a _(2)_ figure that visits children while they sleep on the night they lose a baby tooth. The tooth fairy takes the tooth _(3)_ exchange for money left under the pillow. The story as Americans know it _(4)_ from an 18th century fairy tale, in which a mouse changes into a fairy and torments an evil king by hiding under his pillow and knocking out all his teeth. In several Hispanic and European countries, it is believed that rather than a tooth fairy, a tooth mouse visits and actually _(5)_ the teeth from children.

　　Even though the tooth fairy mostly visits children in Western countries, most cultures _(6)_ some sort of tradition when it comes to children losing their baby teeth. In Asia, when a child loses a tooth from the upper jaw, the children throw it onto the _(7)_ of their home. If the tooth comes from the bottom, it gets thrown to the floor. While doing this, the child must ask that the new tooth be that of mice, because their teeth grow for their _(8)_ lives. In Japan, children must throw lower teeth straight up and upper teeth straight down so that their new teeth come in as straight as possible. In the Middle East, teeth are thrown toward the sun for _(9)_. As with most traditions, tooth fairy traditions vary from country to country, but each provides _(10)_ to children about the loss of their baby teeth.

(A) purchases (B) comfort (C) evolved (D) entire (E) for

(F) superficially (G) in (H) strength (I) grateful (J) roof

(K) mythical (L) practice

 

 

牙仙传奇

无论你在世界的哪个角落，牙仙或是牙鼠都想要你的牙齿。

　　当我们渐渐长大，掉牙齿的想法会让我们变得很不安。我们都期待着掉牙齿的日子，那时掉牙齿表示牙仙会来探访我们，而不是我们得去看牙医。牙仙是故事中的神话人物，祂会在小孩子掉了乳牙的当天晚上睡觉时来探访他们。牙仙会把牙齿拿走，并在枕头底下留下钱作为交换。这个美国人都知道的故事是起源于十八世纪的一则童话，故事中有一只老鼠化身为仙子，牠躲在邪恶国王的枕头下并敲碎他所有的牙齿来作弄他。在有些西语系国家及欧洲国家，据说实际上会造访小孩并跟他们买牙齿的是牙鼠而不是牙仙。

　　虽然在西方国家中，牙仙大多都是探访小孩子，但大部份的文化说到小孩子掉乳牙都会实行某些传统。在亚洲，小孩子掉了上排的牙齿时，就会把它丢到屋顶上。如果掉的是下排的牙齿，就要丢到地上。在做这个动作的同时，小孩子必须祈求他们的牙齿要像老鼠的牙齿，因为牠们的牙齿会长一辈子。在日本，小孩子要把下排牙齿往上丢，而上排牙齿则往下丢，如此一来他们的新牙齿就会长得很整齐。在中东，牙齿则要丢向太阳以求取力量。就如同大部份的传统，牙仙的传统也是因国家而异，但每个国家的传统都会对那些掉了乳牙的小孩给予安慰。

答案： 1. E 2. K 3. G 4. C 5. A

6. L 7. J 8. D 9. H 10. B