古希腊神话是世界文学艺术宝库里的一朵奇葩，它以浪漫史诗的形式再现了古希腊人的社会面貌和精神生活，滋养了上千年的欧洲文学，对西方文学的发展和繁荣产生了巨大的影响，为人类的文明留下了丰富的精神遗产。下面是一则经典的古希腊神话故事，一起来看一下吧。

Midas，son of the Great Goddess of Ida，by a hero whosename is not remembered，was a pleasure loving King of Macedonian Bromium，where he ruled over the Brigians and planted his famous rose gardens．

One day，the old hero Silenus，Dionysus' former teacher，happened to straggle from the main body of the Dionysian army as it marched out of Thrace into Boeotia，and was found sleeping and drunken in the rose gardens．The gardeners tied him and led him before Midas，to whom he told wonderful tales of a big continent lying beyond the Ocean's stream ——altogether separatefrom the united mass of Europe，Asia，or Africa——where gigantic，happy，and longlived people lived in splendid cities，enjoying a wonderful law system．Midas，delighted with Silenus' fictions，entertained him for five days and nights，and then ordered a guide to lead him to Dionysus' headquarters．

Dionysus，who had been worrying about Silenus，sent toask how Midas wished to be rewarded．He replied without hesitation：‘Please turn all I touch into gold．' However，not only stones，flowers，and the furnishings of his house turned to gold but，when he sat down to table，so did the food he ate and the water he drank．Midas soon begged to be freed from his wish，because he was fast dying of hunger and thirst．Highlyamused，Dionysus told him to visit the source of the river Pactolus and there wash himself．He obeyed，and was at oncefreed from the golden touch，but the sands of the river Pactolusare bright with gold to this day．

怎么样，读完这个故事，小伙伴们对“点金术”有了什么新的看法么？点石成金听起来很诱人，但却给生活带来了诸多不便，我们不应该期待不劳而获，而应该依靠自己的双手去创造真正的属于自己的财富。

词汇学习：

Hero英雄
Rule统治
Happened to碰巧
Drunken喝醉的
Hesitation犹豫
Beg请求
Die of死于
Obey服从