希臘神話：APOLLO AND DAPHNE-阿波羅與達(dá)芙妮

One day Cupid，the little god of love，sat on the bank of a river， playing with his arrows. The arrows were very tiny. Some had points of gold，and others had points of lead. None of them looked as if they could do much harm.
That day Apollo，the great sun-god，walked along the bank of the same river， when returning from his fight with the serpentof darkness，called the Python，he had just used a great number of his wonderful golden arrows in killing this gigantic serpent. Feeling very proud of his victory over the Python，he said，when he saw Cupid at his play，"Ho! What are such little arrows as these good for ?"Cupid's feelings were very much hurt at this. He said nothing，but he took his little arrows and flew to the top of Mount Parnassus.
There he sat down on the grass and took a leaden-pointed arrow from his quiver. Looking all about him for some mark for his arrow， he saw Daphne walking through a grove. Daphne was the daughter of Peneus，the river-god. She was so beautiful that the sleeping flowers lifted their heads and burst into full bloom at her coming. Cupid shot the leaden-pointed arrow straight at Daphne's heart. Although it did her no other harm，this little bluntarrow made Daphne feel afraid，and without knowing what she was running away from，she began to run.
Then Cupid，who was very naughty ，took a golden-pointed arrow from his quiver，and with this wounded Apollo. The golden-pointed arrow had the power to make Apollo love the first thing he saw. This chanced to be Daphne，the river-nymph，who came running by just then with her golden hair floatingout behind her.
Apollo called to Daphne that there was nothing to fear；then，as she would not stop running，he ran after her. The faster Apollo followed the faster Daphne ran，and she grew more and more afraid all the time， for the little leaden-pointed arrow was stickingin her heart.
She ran till she came to the bank of her father's river，and by this time she was so tired that she could run no farther. She called on her father for help. The river-god heard，and before Apollo could overtakeher，changed her into a tree，a beautiful tree with glossy evergreenleaves and blossoms as pinkas Daphne's own cheeks.
When Apollo came up with Daphne，there she stood on the bank of the river，not a nymph any longer，but a beautiful tree. Apollo was broken-hearted，at first，to see how he had lost Daphne. It was all the fault of the little golden-pointed arrow. Since this tree was all that was left of Daphne，Apollo loved the tree，and said that it should be planted by the side of his temple. He made himself a crownfrom its evergreen leaves，which he always wore for Daphne's sake. This tree still grows in Greece，and is called the Laurelof Apollo.

某一天，小愛神丘比特坐在河堤上玩弄他的弓箭。那些箭極細(xì)小，箭頭有金制的，也有鉛造的。然而沒有一支箭看上去會造成很大的傷害。
那天，偉大的太陽神阿波羅在和名叫"皮同"的黑蟒決斗后，沿著同一條河的堤岸歸來。他剛才使用許多非凡的金箭射殺那條巨蟒，且對自己打敗"皮同"感到非常自豪，因此看到正在玩箭的丘比特就說："哼！那么小的箭有什么用呢？"丘比特聽到這句話心里很感受傷。他什么也沒說，拿著自己的箭飛往巴那塞斯山頂。
到了那里，他坐在草地上，從箭筒里抽出一支鉛頭的箭來。當(dāng)他為了尋找射箭的目標(biāo)正環(huán)視四周時，發(fā)現(xiàn)達(dá)芙妮正經(jīng)過小樹林。達(dá)芙妮是河神庇尼斯的女兒。她長得太美麗了，以至于她一走過來，沉睡中的花兒都抬起頭綻放開來。丘比特舉起那支鉛頭的箭，對準(zhǔn)達(dá)芙妮的心射過去。這支細(xì)小的鈍箭雖然沒有帶給她什么傷害，卻使達(dá)芙妮感到不安，她不明白為什么要奔跑，但是卻開始狂奔起來。
然后，淘氣的丘比特又從箭筒中抽出一支金頭的箭，射向阿波羅。那支金頭的箭具有使阿波羅愛上他看到的第一件東西的力量。恰巧就在那時候，金發(fā)飛揚的河中仙女達(dá)芙妮向他跑過來。
阿波羅對她說："沒有什么好害怕的呀！"然而她無法使自己的腳步停下來，于是他開始追趕她。但因為那支鉛頭的箭射在她的心中，所以阿波羅追得越緊，達(dá)芙妮就跑得越快，而且愈加感到惶恐不安。
她不停地奔跑，終于來到她父親的河邊，就在這時候，她因太累而無法再跑下去了。她向父親求救。河神聽到女兒的請求，就在阿波羅快要追到她的時候，把她變成了一棵美麗的樹，長著常綠的樹葉和如同達(dá)芙妮的雙頰一樣粉嫩的花朵。
阿波羅追上達(dá)芙妮時，她站在河岸上，已經(jīng)不再是河中仙女，而是一棵美麗的樹。阿波羅終于心碎地明白，他已經(jīng)失去了達(dá)芙妮。而這完全是那支小小的金頭箭惹的禍。由于這棵樹是達(dá)芙妮變成的，因此阿波羅很愛它，并且說要將它移植到自己的宮殿旁邊。他親自用那常綠枝葉編織成王冠，并且為了達(dá)芙妮的緣故常戴在頭上。這種樹依然生長在希臘，人們都叫它"阿波羅的月桂樹"。