[ Journals ] The Story of Storks

　　The story that babies are brought into the home by the stork may have started in northwestern Europe, where the stork is a commonplace sight and is well respected. The stork has white feathers, black wind quills, and a red beak and legs. It stalks fish and other small water creatures in meadows and marshes. Sometimes it is seen in high places such as steeples or chimneys, standing on one leg.
　　The stork has often been regarded as a sign of good luck. Whenever a pair of storks built a nest on a housetop, the Romans regarded it as a sign of good fortune given by Venus, the goddess of love. The stork was also regarded as a good-luck bird in Germany and the Netherlands. These superstitions persist today. In some places, wheels are put on the tops of houses to give storks nesting places.
Centuries ago, there was already a belief that the stork flew over a house where a birth was about to take place, bringing good luck to the family. The story of storks delivering babies probably arose from this superstition and from many fathers’ and mothers’ difficulty in explaining to their other children where the new baby came from. It is quite understandable that parents should use the symbol of good luck and guardian of the home to help explain the arrival of a new member of the family.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Summarise

　　The story talks about the origin of the superstition that babies are brought into the home by the stork. Because the stolk has often regarded as a sign of good luck in northwestern Europe, where the stolk is a commonplace sight and is well respected, there was a blief that when the stolk flew over a house where a birth was about to take place, may bring good luck to the family. The story of stolks delivering babies probably arose from this superstition. And when many parents have difficulty in explaining to their children where the new baby from, they can tell this story as an explanation.


II. Vocabulary words and phrases

i. new words/phrases
quill noun 鳥羽
stalk verb 靜悄悄捕吃...
steeple noun 尖塔
chimney noun 煙囪
gaurdian noun 守護神

ii. useful / phrases
regard A as B 將A視為B
supersition noun 迷信
arise from... 起因於...
understandable adj. 可理解的


III. The reason I chose this article

　　After finished reading this article, I think this explaination may be better than Chinese parents' explaintion. Because since we were little, whenever we ask father or mother where we came from, the answer always be "Picked up on the road side," or "Someone put a baby in front of my house." These make our children feel sad about I might be the needless child, doesn't it?