She was daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion.   She had six sons and six daughters, and thus she boasted that she was better than Leto, who had borne only two children, Apollo and Artemis.   Her foolishness was paid with the loss of all her children, who were all killed by Apollo and Artemis with their invisible arrows.   And Niobe was finally turned into a stone petrified with grief and a fountain weeping with ever-falling tears. 

[解說]

1.      “She had six sons and six daughters, and thus she boasted that she was better than Leto, who had borne only two children, Apollo and Artemis”：她有六個兒子六個女兒，而因此她誇耀說她比 Leto 好，Leto 只生了兩個子女，Apollo 和 Artemis。據說：她的兒女可能不只六對，有的說七對或甚至十對。

    注意： “born” 只用於被動的 “be born” 中，主動的「生」要用 “borne”，故 “she had borne only two children”。

2.      “Her foolishness was paid with the loss of all her children”：她的愚蠢被付給的代價是喪失所有她的小孩。 “be paid with ...”：以 … 來償付。

3.      “who were all killed by Apollo and Artemis with their invisible arrows”：他們都被Apollo 和 Artemis 用看不到的箭殺死。  invisible：看不見的。

4.      “And Niobe was finally turned into a stone petrified with grief”：而 Niobe 最後被變成一個因悲傷而硬化的石頭。 “petrify”：使硬化、麻木、石化。

5.      “and a fountain weeping with ever-falling tears”：以及一道永遠落淚而哭泣的泉水。 

[複習填充]

　

Niobe was daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion.  She had six sons and six daughters, and thus she b        that she was better than Leto, who had b      only two children, Apollo and Artemis.  Her foolishness was p     with the loss of all her children, who were all killed by Apollo and Artemis with their in       arrows.  And Niobe was finally turned into a stone pe       with grief and a fountain weeping with ever-falling tears.