After Prometheus stole fire from Zeus for mankind, Zeus became very unkind toward men and decided to give something to men from which they would suffer a lot. He made a very beautiful woman out of clay and give life to her and named her Pandora. She was so beautiful that every man would fall in love with her if they saw her. Zeus gave her to a man called Epimetheus. Knowing what Zeus meant by giving such a gift to Epimetheus, Prometheus had warned him not to accept any gift from Zeus. But struck by[1] the extreme beauty of Pandora, Epimetheus accepted her at once. Pandora was a very curious woman, when she knew that Prometheus had a big cask in her husband's keep and didn't allow anyone else to see it. She was so eager to [2] know what's inside that she tried all ways to get to [3] it. Then one day, when Epimetheus was out teaching men the art of living, she opened the cask. Out of the cask came unrest and war, plague and sickness, theft and voilence, grief and sorrow, all the evil things men ever had. From then on, the human world fell into restless chaos[4].

潘多拉

　　普罗米修斯从宙斯那里为人类盗了火之后，宙斯非常敌视人类，于是决定送给人类一些东西以示惩戒。他用泥土做了一个美丽的女人，赋予其生命，并给她取名为潘多拉。潘多拉非常美丽，以至于男人们一见她就会立刻爱上她。宙斯把她给了伊皮墨多斯。 普罗米修斯知道宙斯送这个礼物的用意何在，就警告伊皮墨多斯不要接受宙斯送的任何礼物。但是被潘多拉的美貌深深吸引的伊皮墨多斯却马上接受了她。 潘多拉是一个非常好奇的女人，她知道她的丈夫保存着普罗米修斯的一个桶，不允许任何人看。她非常想看到桶里面是什么东西，便想尽办法去接近它。有一天，伊皮墨多斯出去教授人们生存的技能，潘多拉就打开了那个桶。于是，动荡与战争、瘟疫与疾病、偷窃与暴力以及悲痛与伤心等罪恶的东西都从桶里飞了出来，人世间从此陷入了混乱。

注释：

1. struck：是strike的过去分词，在这里是被动语态，表示“被……打动”、“给人以深刻印象”的意思。翻译句子有时不可生搬硬套，如：How does the room strike you? 应当翻译成“你觉得这房子怎么样？”而不是“这房子是如何打动你的？”

2. be eager to：的意思是“热衷于”、“渴望”等，后面跟不定式，如：members of the public are eager to understand the principles（人们渴望了解这些原则）。这个词的语气很强，当你eager to do something 的时候，你是非做不可了。

3. get to：的意思是“得到……”，she tried all ways to get to it（她想方设法得到它）。顺便提一下，try all ways是“竭力”、“想法设法”、“千方百计”等意思。

4. chaos：是“无秩序”、“大混乱”的意思，如：in utter chaos (在完全的混乱中)。Bring order to chaos (整治混乱状态)。