They are the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of memory.  They sing and dance at Olympian festivities.  The Sirens once tried to compete with them but were defeated ignominiously.  Each Muse is now assigned to a special department of the arts such as epic poetry, lyric poetry, history, comedy, tragedy, astronomy, and other things related to music and dancing. 

[解說]

1.      “They are the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of memory”：他們是 Zeus 和記憶女神 Mnemosyne  (內莫西尼) 的九個女兒。

2.      “They sing and dance at Olympian festivities”：她們在奧林匹亞節慶時唱歌與跳舞。  festivity：節慶 (活動)。

3.      “The Sirens once tried to compete with them but were defeated ignominiously”：鳥女妖曾想跟她們競爭，可是被毫無名譽地打敗。 “Sirens”是ㄧ群半人半鳥的女妖，善於以歌聲把人迷惑致死。 “ignominiously”：不名譽地。

4.      “Each Muse is now assigned to a special department of the arts”：每個 Muse 現在被分配給ㄧ個特別的藝術部門。  be assigned to sth. : 被分配給某事物。 據說：九繆司原本沒有分配職責，大家一同為各種藝術獻身。

5.      “such as epic poetry, lyric poetry, history, comedy, tragedy, astronomy, and other things related to music and dancing”：諸如史詩、抒情詩、歷史、喜劇、悲劇、天文，以及其他有關音樂與舞蹈的事情。 

[複習填充]

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