女娲补天

中国古代神话传说中，有一位女神，她叫女娲。

In ancient Chinese mythology, there is a goddess named Nüwa.

女娲是个什么样的呢？传说她是人首蛇身。

What kind of being is Nüwa? Legend has it that she has a human head and a serpent body.

女娲是一位善良的神，她为人类做过许多好事。

Nüwa is a benevolent deity who has done many good deeds for humanity.

比如说她曾教给人们婚姻，还给人类造了一种叫笙簧的乐器。

For instance, she taught humans about marriage and created a musical instrument called the shenghuang.

而使人们最为感动的，是女娲补天的故事。

However, what moves people the most is the story of Nüwa repairing the sky.

传说当人类繁衍起来后，忽然水神共工和火神祝融打起仗来。

According to legend, after humanity繁衍起来, the water god Gonggong and the fire god Zhulong suddenly went to war.

他们从天上一直打到地下，闹得到处不宁，结果祝融打胜了。

They fought from the heavens down to the underworld, causing chaos everywhere, and ultimately, Zhulong emerged victorious.

但败了的共工不服，一怒之下，把头撞向不周山。

The defeated Gonggong, unwilling to accept defeat, in a fit of rage, smashed his head against Mount Buzhou.

不周山崩裂了，撑支天地之间的大柱断折了，天倒下了半边，出现了一个大窟窿，地也陷成一道道大裂纹，山林烧起了大火，洪水从地底下喷涌出来，龙蛇猛兽也出来吞食人民。

Mount Buzhou cracked, the great pillar supporting the heavens collapsed, half of the sky fell, creating a huge gap, while the earth was riddled with deep cracks. Forests were engulfed in flames, floods gushed from the ground, and dragons, snakes, and ferocious beasts surged forth to devour the people.

人类面临着空前大灾难。

Humanity faced an unprecedented disaster.

女娲目睹人类遭到如此奇祸，感到无比痛苦，于是决心补天，以终止这场灾难。

Upon witnessing such calamity befall humanity, Nüwa felt immense pain and thus resolved to repair the sky to put an end to this disaster.

她选用各种各样的五色石子，架起火将它们熔化成浆，用这种石浆将残缺的天窟窿填好，随后又斩下一只大龟的四脚，当作四根柱子把倒塌的半边天支起来。

She chose various colorful stones, melted them with fire into a paste, and used this stone paste to fill the damaged sky. Then, she severed the legs of a great turtle to serve as four pillars to support the collapsed half of the sky.

女娲还擒杀了残害人民的黑龙，刹住了龙蛇的嚣张气焰。

Nüwa also captured and killed the black dragon that harmed the people and put an end to the arrogance of the dragons and snakes.

最后为了堵住洪水不再漫流，女娲还收集了大量芦草，把它们烧成灰，埋塞向四处铺开的洪流。

Finally, to stop the floods from overflowing, Nüwa collected a large amount of reed grass, burned it into ashes, and buried it to block the spreading floodwaters.

经过女娲一番辛劳整治，苍天总算补上了，地填平了，水止住了，龙蛇猛兽佥欠迹了，人民又重新过着安乐的生活。

After Nüwa's diligent efforts, the sky was finally repaired, the earth was leveled, the waters ceased, and the dragons and ferocious beasts disappeared, allowing the people to live in peace once more.

但是这场特大的灾祸毕竟留下了痕迹。

However, this major catastrophe left behind traces.

从此天还是有些向西北倾斜，因此太阳、月亮和众星晨都很自然地归向西方，又因为地向东南倾斜，所以一切江河都往那里汇流。

Since then, the sky has still tilted slightly to the northwest, causing the sun, moon, and stars to naturally shift towards the west. Additionally, as the earth tilted towards the southeast, all rivers flowed in that direction.

中国古代神话传说，水神共工造反，与火神祝融交战，共工被祝融打败了，他气得用头去撞西方的世界支柱不周山，导致天塌陷，天河之水注入人间。

In ancient Chinese mythology, the water god Gonggong revolted and fought against the fire god Zhulong. After Gonggong was defeated by Zhulong, he angrily smashed his head against the world's support pillar, Mount Buzhou, causing the sky to collapse and the heavenly rivers to pour into the human realm.

女娲不忍人类受灾，于是炼出五色石补好天空，折神鳖之足撑四极，平洪水杀猛兽，人类始得以安居。

Nüwa, unable to bear the suffering of humanity, thus refined colorful stones to mend the sky, severed the legs of a divine turtle to support the four corners, leveled the floods, and exterminated the ferocious beasts, allowing humanity to dwell in peace once again.