英国社会的迷信及其渊源The Superstitions and Their Origins in British SocietyContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction.2II. Literature Review and Present Situation of Superstitions.21. Literature review of superstitions.32. The present situation of superstitions.3III. The Definitions and Origins of Superstitions.31. The different definitions on superstitions.42. Different views on the origins of superstition.43. The origins of superstitions.51) Bible.52) Greek and Roman mythology.53) Historic events.64) Folk legends.6IV. The Superstitions in British Society.71. The superstitions of animals.72. The superstitions of food.83. The superstitions in daily life.9V. Conclusion.10References.10The Superstitions and Their Origins in British SocietyAbstract: Superstitions began long ago when our ancestors tried to explain mysterious circumstances or events as best as they could with the knowledge they had. In this thesis, the author will give the definitions of superstitions, introduce the present situation of superstitions in British society, describe superstitions in Britain, such as embodied on animals, food and daily life etc. According to these superstitions, I will analyze the origins of the superstition. The aim is by the introduction of the superstition and their origins in British society to make everyone understand the traditional culture of Britain from a unique perspective.Key words: present situation；definitions；origins of the superstitions；superstitions摘要：迷信在很久以前就产生了。那时侯我们的祖先利用他们掌握的知识，试图尽可能地解释他们周围所发生的神秘的现象和事件。本文作者在文中简要概括了迷信的定义，介绍了迷信在英国的现状，详细叙述了英国社会各方面的迷信。并且根据这些迷信及相关研究成果，分析并总结了影响迷信的几个因素。旨在通过对英国社会的迷信及其渊源的介绍，使人们从一个独特的视角了解英国社会的传统文化。关键词：现状；定义；渊源；迷信I. IntroductionAs an important part of culture, superstition has a long history, but the systematic research on it began at the 19th century. Many anthropologists and sociologists spend quantities of time and energy on exploring superstitions and their origins. They have gathered the superstitious phenomena all over the world and studied them. Today superstition is still with us as a part of tradition; even though superstitions are proved to be untrue.The word, superstition, often implies ignorance and foolishness. You may connect it with silly beliefs that are obviously not true; it may make you think of children or uneducated folk who put their trust in magic, who have a faulty idea of how things work. We often think of superstitious people as those who fail to understand the true sequence of cause and effect. For instance, a superstitious person may think that a black cat crossing his path causes a series of unfortunate events. As a student of English major who have studied English language and culture, most of us dismiss such an assumption as foolish and irrational.The scientific method is how scientists learn about the word. According to current thought, science proves what is real and disproves what is false; it has the ultimate say on how we all see and shape reality. In a world ruled by the scientific method, there seems to be little room for superstition.Superstition, however, is not actually so very different from the scientific method. Superstitions are based on generations of peoples observing a problemthe question of why bad things happen, for exampleand collecting data through observation. A particular superstition might even be looked at as a sort of hypothesis, a guess or assumption that explains the observed problem.In this paper I will explore the topic from the definitions of superstitions, the present situation of superstitions in British society, and introduce the origins of the superstition in Britain .II. Literature Review and Present Situation of Superstitions in BritainThroughout the 16th and 17th centuries life was hazardous, and the central feature of day-to-day existence was a preoccupation with finding explanations for fortune and misfortune.1. Literature review of superstitionsIn the western countries, the earliest systematic research on superstitions began at the 19th century. Superstition was written by Robert Green Ingersoll in 1898.Recent years, Martin Lings wrote a book named Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions. Drawing upon his wide knowledge of world religions the author in this book strikes at the root of everything that makes