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16I. Introduction
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The Greek Mythology has a long history and an extremely rich cultural connotation, with a strong color of ethnic and religious. The allusions derived from it have been a vital source of English and English literary works. From the Renaissance movement in Italy in sixteenth Century, the British literary giants began to translate The Greek Mythology, which can be verified by the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Shelly and Baron(William 89). Thus, Handed down by later generations, It has permeated every corner of politics, culture and daily life in western countries. In other words, not only does it generate the western culture, but it stands for the valuable heritage in the historical course of human civilization. Therefore, for English learners, they can not ignore the allusions in Greek Mythology. It's a way for English learners to learn from its deep root. Memorizing words is a tough work for English learners. It seems that a word is just a combination of meaningless letters. However, English roots and affixes and proverbs have a close relationship with the allusions in The Greek Mythology. For instance, zephyr, which means a gentle breeze, related to Zephyrus, god of west wind; protean, which means someone continually change his or her mood, forms, or behavior, derived from Proteus who is always change his mood; echo had its meaning originated from the nymph Echo who was condemned to repeat the words of others. Therefore, this paper will mainly discussed the features of allusions, the impact of allusions on English vocabulary and the application in some fields. Through the brief discussion of the relationship between Greek Mythological allusions and English vocabulary, English learners can improve the efficiency of memorizing words and the appreciation level of Greek culture. Outside of educational benefits, many readers could simply enjoy the fantasy of Greek mythology.^源^自#优尔:文,论:文;网[www.youerw.com
II. The Characteristics of Allusions in Greek Mythology
2.1 “Implicitness” of the Allusions
“Implicitness” of allusions means a clear source and background, which could be found in the Greek Mythology. The following are some examples.
(1) Achilles heel: originated in the Greek stories, which means the weakest point in one’s character. In Greek epic, his mother Thesis took Achilles heel into the Styx at his young age. So he was arm-proof except his heel because it was held in his mother’s hand. Unfortunately, he died because of a venenous arrow shot by Paris in Troy war.
(2) Trojan horse: a hidden danger. The Greeks left a wooden horse with soldiers inside at the city gate. The Trojans thought it was a gift. At evening, the soldiers inside the wooden horse opened the city gate for the invading army, which led to the failure of Troy.