雙語科技百科(地理) 第20期 大禹治水
Yu the Great Harnesses the Flood
Yu the Great was the chieftain of the legendary Xiahou clan. He was o-riginally called Yu or Xiayu. According to legend，the Yellow River floo-ded during the reign of Emperor Yao，and the people were forced to abandon their villages，and go to live in trees or on flood brought great misery to the ror Yao，the chieftain of the Yan-Huang tribal alliance，appointed Gun to har-ness the built dikes to keep back the water,but ，who succeeded Yao，killed Gun，and appointed Gun’s son Yu to continue with the flood-harnessing ing a lesson from his father’s failure，Yu adopted the dred-ging method to lead the flood waters to flow along river courses into the worked very was said that during the 13 years he spent taming the floods，he passed his home three times，but did not enter until his task was completed. As a result of his successful efforts，the people bestowed on him the title“Yu the Great” and with the approval of the tribal chieftains，Shun chose Yu as his successor.
大禹是傳說中夏后氏部落的首領，原稱“禹”，也稱“夏禹”。傳說堯的時候，黃河發大水，洪水沖毀了村莊和房屋，人們只能住到樹上和山頂上。洪水給人民帶來了極大的災害。那時，炎黃部落聯盟的首領堯任用穌(gun)治理洪水，穌採用築堤堵水的辦法治水，遭到了失敗。堯之後，擔任部落聯盟首領的舜殺死了鯨，然後命令鯨的兒子禹繼續治水。禹吸取了穌的教訓，改用疏導的方法治水，讓洪水順河道流向大海。禹辛勤地工作，傳說他在外治水13年，三次經過家門都沒有抽時間進去看看。最後，禹終於制服了水患。人們感謝禹，尊稱他爲“大禹”。由於禹治水成功，得到舜的“禪讓”，舜徵得各部落首領的同意，推舉禹爲自己的繼承人。
