秦始皇聽聞花彩斑石是女媧補天時遺落的神石，能保佑江山穩固，所以修好馳道，率領萬千軍馬恭敬祭拜。事后果真天下太平，百官作詩慶賀。成語“馬到成功“便出自此處，但這個故事和馬到成功又有什么關系呢？讓我們看看接下來的故事吧！

In 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang created the first Chinese Empire. He became the First Emperor of China.

A storyteller told Qin Shi Huang an interesting tale about Nuwa, the Great Mother Goddess. This is what the storyteller said:

?【南京大學、南京師范大學、蘇州大學考研專業課資料，點擊關注】

In the beginning of the world, Earth and Heaven were connected. Heaven was held up by four pillars. Mount Buzhou was one of these posts.

Gong Gong was the Chinese water god. He got into a battle with Zhu Rong, the god of fire.

“I am the most important god!” Gong Gong roared.

“Silly fool, I am much more important than you!” Zhu Rong raged.

“You are the fool!”

“I will burn you to a mist!”

“I will drown you and put you out forever!”

The two gods yelled louder and louder. Their angry words turned into a real fight. Both gods were strong and powerful. The Earth felt every punch and every kick. Earthquakes shook the ground. Tidal waves flooded the beaches. Lava burst from volcanoes.

Zhu Rong proved to be the stronger god. Gong Gong was crushed when he lost the battle. He smashed his head against Mount Buzhou in anger. He hit the mountain over and over again. The Heavens began to fall to the Earth. The land was flooded. People everywhere were suffering because of Gong Gong and Zhu Rong’s fight.

Nuwa felt sorry for the people of Earth. She had created all of them!

“How can this happen to my people? They did nothing wrong!” Nuwa cried. “I must find a way to fix this mess.”

 Nuwa had an idea. She searched the Earth for five colored stones. The stones had special powers.

“Blue for water.” Nuwa grabbed the blue stone.

“White for metal. Red for fire.” Nuwa picked up two more stones.

“Black for wood,” Nuwa continued. “And finally, yellow for the earth.”

She melted the stones together to form a paste. Then she spent nine days patching up the skies. And that is why the sky has always been full of color.

Qin Shi Huang listened closely to the story of Nuwa’s stones.

“It is believed one of those stones fell down to Earth,” the storyteller said. “Some say it is on Rong Cheng Mountain.”

“If that is true, then I will be the one to find it!” Qin Shi Huang promised.

Qin Shi Huang was determined to find the stone. He believed it would help him build a strong empire. And so, his search began.

Qin Shi Huang demanded that a road to the mountain be built. (The emperor was famous for his building projects. One of them was the Great Wall of China.)

Qin Shi Huang took an army of thousands to Rong Cheng Mountain.

After a long search, Qin Shi Huang found the stone on the mountain! He held a sacred ceremony to worship it.

Soon after, the empire did become stronger and more peaceful! Qin Shi Huang believed that the sacred stone had worked!

He ordered poems and songs to be written about his journey. One poet wrote, “Thousands of horses on the royal road; victory was attained when Shi Huang worshipped the stone.”

Everyone wanted the poem to be remembered. It was passed down from parents to children. Everyone liked it very much.

Over a thousand years later, a writer of popular Chinese operas heard the poem. He loved the story about the emperor’s trip to find the sacred stone. It inspired him. He wrote the phrase “instant victory upon arrival on a horse.” He used it in one of his earliest operas.

Later, people continued to use the phrase to refer to an instant victory or quick success.

The EndQuestion:?Why do you think Qin Shi Huang built new roads during his time as leader of China?
核心詞匯

empire n. 帝國

goddess n. 女神

pillar n. 柱子

post n. 樁，柱

battle n. 戰役，戰斗

mist n. 薄霧，霧狀物

drown v. 淹死，溺死

put out v. 把（火）撲滅

yell v. 叫嚷，號叫

punch n. 猛擊，攻擊

tidal adj. 潮的

lava n. 巖漿

volcano n. 火山

smash v. 打碎，摧毀，打破

melt v. （使）融化

paste n. 糊狀物

patch up 修補，草草修理

determined adj. 已下決心的，決意的

demand v. 要求

sacred adj. 神圣的

ceremony n. 典禮

royal adj. 皇室的

attain v. 達到，獲得

worship v. 崇拜，祭拜

inspire v. 鼓舞，激勵

refer to 提到，指稱
以下翻譯來自百度翻譯：公元前221年，秦始皇建立了第一個中華帝國。他成為中國的第一位皇帝。一位講故事的人給秦始皇講了一個關于偉大的母親女神女媧的有趣故事。講故事的人是這么說的：在世界之初，天地是相連的。天堂由四根柱子支撐著。布州山就是其中之一。恭恭是中國的水神。他與火神朱榮交戰。“我是最重要的神！”龔公吼道。“傻子，我比你重要多了！”朱榮怒氣沖沖地說。“你是傻瓜！”“我要把你燒成霧！”“我要淹死你，永遠把你趕出去！”兩位神的叫喊聲越來越大。他們憤怒的話變成了一場真正的戰斗。兩位神都很強大。地球感受到了每一次撞擊和每一次踢踏。地震震動了地面。潮汐淹沒了海灘。火山爆發了熔巖。朱榮被證明是更強大的上帝。龔在戰斗中失敗了。他憤怒地把頭撞在布州山上。他一次又一次地撞到山上。天開始落到地上。土地被洪水淹沒了。由于龔公和朱榮的斗爭，各地的人們都在受苦。女媧為地球上的人民感到難過。所有這些都是她創造的！女媧哭道：“這怎么會發生在我的人民身上？他們沒有做錯什么！”。“我必須想辦法解決這個爛攤子。”女媧有個主意。她在地上搜尋五塊彩石。石頭有特殊的力量。“藍色代表水。”女媧抓起藍色的石頭。“白色代表金屬，紅色代表火。”女媧又撿起兩塊石頭。女媧繼續說：“黑色代表木頭。”。“最后，黃色代表地球。”她把石頭融化成糊狀。然后她花了九天時間修補天空。這就是為什么天空總是五彩繽紛。秦始皇仔細聆聽女媧的石頭故事。“據信其中一塊石頭掉到了地上，”講故事的人說。“有人說它在榮成山上。”“如果這是真的，那么我將是找到它的人！”秦始皇承諾道。秦始皇決心找到這塊石頭。他相信這會幫助他建立一個強大的帝國。于是，他的搜尋開始了。秦始皇要求修建一條通往這座山的道路。（皇帝以他的建筑工程而聞名，其中之一就是中國的長城。）秦始皇率領數千人的軍隊來到榮成山。經過長時間的搜尋，秦始皇在山上找到了這塊石頭！他舉行了一個神圣的儀式來崇拜它。不久之后，帝國變得更加強大和和平！秦始皇相信神石起作用了！他下令寫一些關于他的旅行的詩和歌。一位詩人寫道：“皇家大道上有成千上萬的馬；當石黃崇拜這塊石頭時，勝利就實現了。”每個人都想記住這首詩。它是由父母傳給孩子的。大家都很喜歡。一千多年后，一位中國著名戲曲作家聽到了這首詩。他喜歡關于皇帝尋找圣石之旅的故事。這激勵了他。他寫了一句話“騎馬即勝利”。他在最早的一部歌劇中使用了這句話。后來，人們繼續使用這個短語來指瞬間的勝利或快速的成功。