It was once believed that a person was in great danger when he

　　sneezed _ people imagined that the soul could escape from the

　　body at the moment of sneezing. "God bless you" was a prayer for assistance in keeping the soul where it belonged.

　　The German word "Gesundheit" (good health) is a variation of his prayer; the "Irish deiseal" and the Italian " felicita" are similar prayers. The Hindus say a word that means "live", and when a Mohammedan sneezes, he praises God.

　　The Zulus of South Africa, far from being afraid of sneezes, believe that a sneeze signifies a friendly spirit‘s blessing. Whenever a child sneezes, they shout "Grow!"hopping the friendly spirit that stimulate the sneeze will help the child grow tall and strong . The ancient Hebrews also believed that a sneeze was good__ a sneeze indicates life; the dead never sneeze.

　　The Japanese say that if you sneeze once, someone is saying good things about you; if you sneeze twice, bad things are being said about you; if you sneeze three times, you have caught a cold.

　　译文

　　人们相信，当一个人打喷嚏时，他便大胆临头——人们曾认为，灵魂可能在打喷嚏的一刹那逃出躯体。“愿上帝保佑你”便是一句祈求救助，使灵魂不脱离归属之处的祷告语。

　　德文字Gesundheit(健康)就是这句祷告语的变体;爱尔兰语的deiseal和意大利语的felicita也是类似的祈祷词。印度教信徒们口占一词，，那意思是“活着。”当一个穆斯林打喷嚏时，他就在赞美上帝。

　　南非的祖鲁族人，对打喷嚏一点也不害怕。他们相信，一个喷嚏便意味着一位友好神灵的祝福。一个孩子无论何时打喷嚏他们都大声嚷道：“快长吧!”他们希望那促成喷嚏的有号神灵佑助这孩子长得高大健壮。古希伯来人也相信喷嚏是好兆头——喷嚏意味着生命;死者是从来不打喷嚏的。

　　日本人说，假如你打一次喷嚏，那是别人在说你的好话;如果你打两次喷嚏，那是别人在说你的坏话;设若你打三次喷嚏，那你就是患上了感冒。