He was son of Helios, the sun god.   He asked his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun for one day.   But he was unable to control the horses that dragged the chariot.  Consequently the chariot plunged madly towards earth, searing that part of the earth which we now call the Sahara.   All would have been destroyed had not Zeus struck the hapless youth with a thunderbolt. 

[解說]

1.      “He was son of Helios, the sun god”：他是太陽神 Helios 的兒子。

2.      “He asked his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun for one day”：他要求他父親讓他駕ㄧ天的太陽馬車。 “the chariot of the sun”；太陽的馬車。據說：太陽是由馬拉車而行於天際。

3.      “But he was unable to control the horses that dragged the chariot”：但他無法控制拉車的那些馬。

4.      “Consequently the chariot plunged madly towards earth”：因此，那車瘋狂地栽向大地。 “plunge towards”：向 … 栽去，躍向 …。

    注意：the earth 是「地球」，earth 是「土地」。

5.      “searing that part of the earth which we now call the Sahara” =  and seared that ...：而燒了我們現在稱為沙哈拉 (沙漠) 的那個地球的部份。 “sear”：燒 (焦)、使枯乾。

6.      “All would have been destroyed had not Zeus struck the hapless youth with a thunderbolt”：ㄧ切可能將被毀了，要不是 Zeus 用雷霹打了那不幸的青年。 “had not Zeus struck ...” =  if Zeus had not struck ...。 “hapless”：不幸的、倒楣的。 

[複習填充]

　

Phaëthon was son of Helios, the      god.   He asked his father to let him drive the ch       of the sun for one day.   But he was unable to control the horses that d       the chariot.  Consequently the chariot p       madly towards earth, s      that part of the earth which we now call the Sahara.   All would have been destroyed had not Zeus struck the h        youth with a thunderbolt.