前日一大早，主頁菌被手機彈出的新聞提要嚇了一跳，大意是：土星的一個衛星上發現了生命所需成分，極有可能在我們的太陽系裡就有外星生命存在…如是云云。具體事件我不是很明白，但一下想起幾個星期前，帶自家小朋友去一家Mcdonalds的一個巨大火箭裡玩，火箭頂部內飾星系、太陽系圖案，另一玩耍小孩當時把我當成了玩伴，不停地跟我絮叨著那些關於星星的事，幾歲小孩，口齒也不是很清晰，可憐偶只記得Mars，Earth，Saturn, Jupiter?...尷尬得，連一個乳臭未乾的小孩子都無法應對……
今天索性藉機來捋捋那些我們小時候就像「三字經」一樣記下的太陽系行星們吧：「水、金、地、火、木；土星、天王、海王、冥王星」。總體來說，這些行星的命名跟羅馬、希臘神話人物直接相關。
Mercury ['mə: kjəri:] 水星；（羅馬）(神的）使者，商貿之神
「a small planet that is the closest to the sun in the Solar System, sometimes visible to the naked eye just after sunset.」 [1]
「Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital ['ɔ:bitl] period around the Sun of 88 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System. It is named after the Roman deity (['diːiti]神,神性) Mercury, the messenger to the gods. 」 [2]
Mercury是羅馬神話裡的使者、商貿之神 「(Roman mythology) messenger of Jupiter and god of commerce; counterpart of Greek Hermes;」 [3]
除去以上兩個意思，」mercury」 還有一個很常用、很重要的意思：水銀、汞「the chemical element of atomic [ə'tɔmik] number (原子量) 80, a heavy silvery-white metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures.」[1]
Eg. 「The wet lands dense foliage (['fəuliidʒ]，樹葉,植物) has the ability to handle heavy metals, like mercury , zinc ([ziŋk]鋅), nickel [『nikl]鎳 and copper ([『kɔpə]銅).」 [1]
Susan語：打算在未來某期總結一下一些我們同樣像順口溜一樣記下的常見化學元素及常說的化合物，很實用，尤其去超市買吃的的時候，經常會需要看標籤裡的成分表，特別是有很多媽媽會關心給小孩的食品裡都含了些啥成分:)
Venus[『viːnəs] 金星；（羅馬）愛與美之神維納斯
「the second planet from the sun in the solar system, the brightest celestial [si』lestjəl] object (天體), after the sun and moon and frequently appearing in the twilight ([『twailait]黃昏) sky as the evening or morning star.」[1]
「It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, … bright enough to cast shadows at night and, rarely, visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.[2]
Venus人人皆知的「維納斯」，沒想到竟然早期與廚房、花園有關，估計很像我們的「田螺姑娘」 "a goddess, worshiped as the goddess of love in classical Rome though apparently a spirit of kitchen gardens in earlier times."[1]
Earth地球
「the planet on which we live; the world.」[1] 這個沒什麼好說的，估計是「地球人都知道」:) 只是一點，這個詞另一個意思：「the substance of the land surface; soil.」[1]比我想像中要常用，比如跟小孩說「挖掘機在挖泥土」他們會說」The digger is digging earth.」
Mars [mɑːz] 火星；（羅馬）戰神
"Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the 'Red Planet' because the iron oxide (['ɔksaid]氧化物) prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance."[2] 相信這個行星大家不會陌生：「你火星人啊？！」:)
Mars 是羅馬神話裡僅次於眾神之王Jupiter的戰神 "the god of war and the most important Roman god after Jupiter. The month of March is named after him."[1]
Jupiter ['dʒuːpitə] 木星；（羅馬）眾神之王朱庇特
「Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System….The Romans named it after their god Jupiter.」[2] 木星是太陽系裡最大的行星（難怪用眾神之王的名字為它命名啊！）
Jupiter 朱庇特是羅馬神話裡的眾神之王，相當與希臘神話裡的宙斯Zeus (是不是也相當於我們的玉皇大帝呢？:) 「the chief god of the Roman state religion, originally a sky god associated with thunder and lightning.」[1]
Susan語：起初偶誤以為Jupiter就是我們耳熟能詳的「丘比特」，然而「丘比特」的英文是Cupid ['kjuːpid]: "the god of love. He is represented as a naked, winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims."[1]貌似Cupid被認為是Venus與戰神Mars的孩子。
Saturn ['sætən] 土星；（羅馬）農神
「Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. ... Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture; …」[2] It is 「circled by a system of broad,flat rings」.[1]
Saturn 農業之神，農神 (Roman mythology) god of agriculture and vegetation [3]
Saturn這顆行星有很多衛星，文初提到的新聞說的就是土星最大的衛星Titan 。
Titan ['taitən] 提坦，太陽神 (Greek mythology) any of the primordial [prai'mɔ:diəl] giant gods who ruled the Earth until overthrown by Zeus; the Titans were offspring of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth) [3]
Uranus ['juərənəs] 天王星；（希臘）天空之神
「Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun.It is the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, … Uranus is the only planet whose name is derived from a figure from Greek mythology, from the Latinised version of the Greek god of the sky Ouranos.」[2] 天王星是太陽系裡唯一一個以希臘神話人物英文命名的行星
Uranus希臘神話最早的神，天空之神」a personification ([pər‚sɔnifi'keiʃn]擬人化) of heaven or the sky, the most ancient of the Greek gods and first ruler of the universe. He was overthrown and castrated ([kæ'streit] 去勢) by his son Cronus (相當與羅馬神話裡的Saturn)」[1]
Neptune['neptjuːn] 海王星；（羅馬）海神
「Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It isnamed after the Roman god of the sea …」 [2]
Neptune 是羅馬神話裡的海王」 (Roman mythology) god of the sea」 [3]
Pluto ['pluːtəu] 冥王星；（希臘/羅馬）冥王
Pluto is 「a small planetary body orbiting the sun, discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. … The name Pluto, after the god of the underworld, was proposed by … an eleven-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford,England, who was interested in classical mythology.」 [1]
冥王星，沒想到這個命名的提議居然來自一個11歲小女孩。
Pluto 希臘及羅馬神話裡的冥王 「the god of the underworld」[1] ,「brother of Zeus and husband of Persephone」[3]
Pluto也是我們再熟悉不過的一個迪斯尼名角的名字哦：a cartoon character created by Walt Disney
太陽系九大行星：Mercury使者, Venus愛神, Earth地球, Mars戰神, Jupiter眾神之王, Saturn農神, Uranus天王, Neptune海王, Pluto冥王； 水、金、地、火、木、土、天王、海王、冥王星。
（註：[1]Google traslate; [2]Wikipedia; [3]靈格斯詞典； 本期圖片來自Google image）