Friday and the Thirteenth have long been considered extremely unlucky because they have some bad associations which came from mythology, tale of the Bible, and the customs and habits. According to the Bible, the Lord God created the first man, Adam. Then he took a rib from Adam's body and out of it created the first woman, Eve. It was said that Adam was created on a Friday and it was on Friday that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and on a Friday they died.

　　Friday was also the common day in England for executing criminals, for which it was sometimes known as Hanging Day.

　　From the old Norse myth people got the idea that 13 people sitting at a table to have a dinner was unlucky. And this superstition was confirmed by the last supper of Christ and his disciples. Bible tells us that Christ sat down with his 12 disciples, which made up the number 13, at the last supper when Judas, one of the 12 disciples , sold his master for thirty pieces of silver. Christ was killed by nailing on the cross the following day on a Friday.

　　星期五和13历来被认为是非常不吉利的日子，这是从神话、圣经故事、风俗习惯产生的一些不好的联想而来的。据圣经上讲，上帝创造了第一个男人——亚当。然后，上帝从亚当身上取下一根肋骨又造了一个女人——夏娃。据说，亚当是在星期五被造出来的，他和夏娃吃禁果也在星期五，他俩死的日子也是星期五。

　　英国从前常常在星期五处死罪犯，因此星期五有时也叫“绞刑日”。

　　从挪威神话中，人们会认为13个人坐在一起聚餐是不吉利的。这种迷信被耶稣和其12个门徒的最后的晚餐加以证实。圣经上说，在最后的晚餐上，耶稣和他的12个门徒坐在一起，正好是13人。他的门徒之一——犹大，为了三十个银币而出卖了自己的主人。第二天，耶稣便被钉死在十字架上，这天碰巧是星期五。

　　(文/钱娜；英语辅导报 大学一年级版 04～05学年第16期； 版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)