The Greek mythology is called one of the major resources of western culture. For thousands of years, it has a wide and deep influence in western countries. In English language, there are lots of words, phrases came from Greek mythology. If we want to learn English better, learning the Greek mythology the same time is a better choice.

English vocabularies which are active came from people’s daily life. Many famous place names, people’s name, idioms of Greek mythology have totally come into English. For example, the “Europa” lead to today’s “Europe”. Europa was a very beautiful woman. Zeus coveted her beauty, so he became a cow and lead her to Crete Island. Then, Europa became Zeus’ lover in man’s world. And the place she stayed was named “Europa”. “Narcissus” is derived from the Greek myth, in which a beautiful boy “Narcissus” fell in love with herself. Because he refused Echo’ love, he was punished by Cupid and was forced to love his reflection in water. Finally, he died and became a flower named narcissus.

Many English idioms derived from the Greek myth, and went into the People's Daily life, such as several of the idiom stories produced in the Trojan War (the Trojan War): “Apple of discord” means "rift in the root". It is said that the Eris delivered a golden apple to a wedding, on which wrote “to the most beautiful goddess”. Here, Athene and Aphrodite wanted to get the golden apple. Finally, the three goddesses went to Troy and found Pari to decide who would have the apple. These three goddesses each gave Pari different promises. Aphrodite promised that she would give Pari the most beautiful girl in the world, so Pari gave the apple to Aphrodite. But Here and Athene were very angry and decided to revenge Pari. Later, Pari went to Sparta, and with the help of Aphrodite Pari seduced the queen of Sparta. Greek people were very angry and started to invade Troy. In the war, Aphrodite supported the Troy and Here and Athene supported Greek people. A golden apple led to the war, so the “apple of discord” means the “rift in the root”. There were many heroes in the war and Achilles was one of them. When Achilles was young, his mother let him dip in the Styx to have a no-dead body. But, his wheel was not dipped in water and became his weakness. When he was in Trojan War, he was shot and dead. After that, “Achilles’ heel” means the deadly weakness. Because of the fall of Troy, the “Helen of Troy” means the “dangerous beauty”.

“The sword of Damocles” is another famous idiom. Damocles was a minister of ancient dynasty Syria, envying of the emperor's splendor. One day, the emperor put a sword on Damocles’ head and said that the power was as dangerous as the sword. So “the sword of Damocles” means the “the danger concealed in the rich and honored”. “Damon and Pythias”: Damon and Pythias are good friends. Pythias who had an accident was judged death penalty. For making Pythias be able to go home and visiting close relatives, Damon stayed in the jail as a hostage, if Pythias didn't return on time, sentence to death Damon. When term would full, face to punish a moment, Pyrtbias rushed through in time. The king was deeply moved and released all of 2 people. So the “Damon and Pythias” means “very good friends”. “Pandora’s box” also came from a famous story. The Prometheus behaved as a thief coming to fire in the sky and incensed Zeus. Zeus decides to punish mankind; hence he ordered god of fire build a woman of beautiful looks and let her seduce Prometheus’ brother Epimetheus. As a result, Epimetheus got close to Pandora. Pandora opened the box, releasing the sin, disease, disaster, only leaving “hope” in the box. So the “Pandora’s box” means “evil resource”. “Penelope’s web” was from the epic odyssey of an idiom: Penelope was Odysseus’ wife, known as a loyalty woman. Trojan War lasted 10 years, Odysseus returned home on the road for another ten years. During this long period of twenty years, many kings and nobles to propose to Penelope, but she refused. She said she would think of it after she had finished weaving. But at night, she departed her cloth again. So the “Penelope’s web” means “never finished job”. Finally, Odysseus killed all unscrupulous suitors. Dr. Sigismund Schlomo Freud had a field day with Oedipus, the mythological king of Thebes who killed his own father and married his own mother. Oedipus gave his name to the Oedipus complex, which describes a person's intense attachment to the parent of the opposite sex and jealousy of the parent of the same sex. “Oedipus Complex” and “Electra Complex” were all from Greek mythology. Procrustes was a murderous bandit who subscribed to the following motto: "As I make my bed, so you must lie in it." Procrustes had an iron bed that he forced hapless passers-by to lie on. Then he secretly adjusted the length of the bed, so that no one could ever fit in. If the person proved too short, Procrustes would stretch him on the rack. If he were too long, Procrustes would cut off his feet. From this abominable practice sprang the eponymous expression a “Procrustean bed”, which describes an inflexible principle, standard, or policy to which people have to adapt and conform.

 Many common vocabularies in English come from Greece myth, this part of phrases are mostly converted since then by technical term. Adonis, he was the beautiful youth whom Aphrodite loved, unfortunately was bitten dead by the boar while hunting. After being filled by Persephone, he half year lived together with Persephone at underground, half year lived with Aphrodite on the ground. As a common noun, Adonis is the meaning of “beautiful man". “Arachnid”, the meaning is "the generic name of the spider stanza limb animals", came from Arachne. Arachne was good at knitting fabric, once held with Athene an embroidery game, because of unbearable bore with an Athene insult but commit suicide. Athene really regreted and respected and admired very much to her handicraft again, hence Athene let Arachne became Arachne spider, forever knit a net. “Cereal”, corn, came from myth Ceres in Rome. She was to take charge of corn and local fairy, namely the meter in Greece myth. The “mentor”, means "good teachers and helpful friends", came from Mentor. Mentor is Odysseus’ good friend, and is the guardian of its son, making plans for Odysseus in the Troy War. “Daphne” means "bay tree" and it also came from Greek myth. Apollo loved Daphne’ beauty, but he laughed Cupid before, so Cupid wanted to have revenge. Cupid shot Daphne with a lead arrow, shot Apollo with a gold arrow. The gold arrow started Apollo’s love, but the lead arrow closed Daphne’ love. Apollo pursues, Daphne evades, finally Daphne's had no place can escape and turned to make bay tree. Apollo felt painfully sad, swearing to think of her forever and let people remember her. Apollo took charge of music, and verse...etc., therefore person in Rome then used laurel tree branch to weave into coronation and to praise the victor of music, art, athletics contest and battle. "Laurel wreath" became the sign of the championship and the symbol of the honor. The adjective “Herculean” came from Greek mythological hero Heracles. Hercules was a symbol of prodigious strength and brute force. No wonder he became an eponym for superhuman power (as in "Herculean strength") or immense difficulty ("Herculean task"). Tantalus was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his eternal punishment in Tartarus: to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. The name "Tantalus" is the origin of the English verb "to tantalize". The underlying idea is that when someone is tantalized, that person goes through the same experience as Tantalus: something desirable is always just out of that person's reach.

The phrase language that comes from Greece myth still has a lot, I just write a small part of them. Learning some Greece myth stories, for increasing study interest, extending amount of vocabulary, understanding some origins of west culture, all be of great benefit. Apart from Greek myth, there are other important influences on English Vocabulary. In toxicology, we have learned a lot from Mr. Feng, but the time of the class is short. If we want to learn better, learning western culture is a good choice.