Could a priceless diamond bring 300 years of bad luck? Legend has it that the blue Hope jewels, one of the world's most valuable jewels, has a spooky2 side. Supposedly3, it left a trail of misfortune around the globe. Now you decide if the curse is rock solid or just a gem of a tale.
Evil Eye
As the story goes, the Hope diamond began as a giant 115-carat gem, about the size of a walnut4. Even though there was no proof, newspapers said it was stolen from the eye of a sacred statue in India in the 1600s. Some have claimed that the Hindu gods cursed the stone to punish the thieves.
Losing Their Heads
The French royal family bought the diamond in 1668 and had it cut into a 67-carat stone called the “French Blue.” For King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, the stone may have brought the blues. They were imprisoned and later beheaded5 during the French Revolution. The government confiscated6 their royal jewels—including the Hope diamond, which thieves ended up7 stealing.
Lost Hope
A giant blue diamond mysteriously turned up in England several years later. Experts now believe that the 45.5-carat stone was cut from the French Blue. A member of the wealthy Hope family purchased the gem in the 1830s. But bad luck followed. After Lord Francis Hope inherited the diamond, his wife left him and he sold the pricey8 stone to help pay off his huge debts. But the gem still bears the Hope family name.
Tempting Fate
A few years later, jeweler Pierre Cartier purchased the Hope diamond. He knew that millionaire Evalyn McLean loved jewels—and objects associated with bad luck. Sensing a big sale, he told McLean a story about the stone's curse. She bought the tale—and the diamond—in 1911. But luck was not on McLean's side. During her lifetime, two of her children died, her husband became mentally ill, and she fell into serious debt.
Doomed Delivery
In 1958 a mailman named James Todd delivered the diamond to its present home—the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C..Within a year Todd's wife died and his house burned down. Was it the curse?
Real or Fake?
“The curse isn't true,” says Richard Kurin, author of the book Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem. But some wonder if all that bad luck was really just a coincidence9. One thing's for sure, Kurin says: “The Hope diamond is so valuable because it is a unique stone and because of its famous story.”
Where Do Diamonds Come from?
Natural diamonds form about a hundred miles underground and are the hardest known natural substance. Under extreme heat and pressure, carbon atoms are squeezed together into the hard, clear crystals. Volcanic10 eruptions11 carry the diamonds toward the Earth's surface, where they are mined for use in industrial tools and sparkly jewelry.
一颗价值连城的钻石会带来300年的厄运？蓝色希望之钻是世界上最珍贵的钻石之一，传说这种钻石受过诅咒。据推测，它在全世界都留下了厄运的痕迹。现在请你来判断这个诅咒是千真万确还是只是一个有关宝石的传说？
邪恶之眼
据说，希望之钻起初是一颗足有115克拉的大钻石，约核桃般大小。报纸上说它是在17世纪被人从印度的一尊神像眼中盗走的，纵然这种说法尚无根据。还有人声称，印度教的神灵已对这颗钻石下了诅咒，以惩罚那些盗贼们。
人头落地
1668年法国皇室买下这颗钻石，并将它切割成一颗67克拉的钻石，取名为“法国蓝钻”。对于国王路易十六及王后玛丽·安托瓦内特来说，这颗宝石可能真的带来了悲伤。他们在法国大革命中沦为阶下囚，后来被斩首。政府没收了他们的皇家珠宝——包括希望之钻，但最后被盗贼窃走。
失去希望
几年后，一颗蓝色的大钻石神秘地出现在英国。专家们现在相信这颗45.5克拉的宝石就是从“法国蓝钻”上切割下来的。19世纪30年代，富有的霍普家族中的一位成员买下了它。可是厄运随之而来。弗朗西斯·霍普勋爵继承这颗钻石后，他的妻子离他而去，他变卖了这颗昂贵的钻石以偿还巨额债务。但是这颗钻石仍然沿用霍普家族的姓氏。
命运弄人
几年后，珠宝商皮尔·卡地亚买下了希望之钻。他知道百万富翁伊瓦琳·麦克林喜爱珠宝——以及与厄运有关的东西。他觉得这是桩大买卖，便对麦克林讲述了关于钻石受诅咒的传说。1911年她听信了这个传说——并买下了这颗钻石。但是厄运并没有放过麦克林。她一生中，两个孩子死去，丈夫患上了精神病，她自己则负债累累。
劫数难逃
1958年，一个名为詹姆斯·托德的邮递员将这颗钻石投递到它现在的家——位于华盛顿的史密森纳研究院。结果不到一年托德的妻子去世，他的房子被大火化为灰烬。这就是诅咒吗？
是真是假？
“这个诅咒不是真的。”《希望之钻：一颗被诅咒的钻石的传奇史》一书的作者理查德·库林说。但是有人质疑所有那些厄运是否真的仅是一种巧合？有一件事是可以肯定的。库林说：“希望之钻之所以如此珍贵，因为它是独一无二的宝石，还有它广为人知的传说。”
钻石来自何处？
天然钻石形成于地下约100英里处，是已知的最坚硬的天然物质。在极度高温和高压下，碳原子被挤压在一起形成坚硬而透明的晶体。火山喷发物将这些钻石带到地表，在那里它们被开采出来，用于工业工具上或制成闪闪发光的珠宝。
1. gem n. 宝石
2. spooky adj. 幽灵般的，可怕的
3. supposedly adv. 想像上，按照推测
4. walnut n. 核桃
5. behead v. 斩首，砍头
6. confiscate v. 没收，充公
7. end up 结束，告终
8. pricey adj. 高价的
9. coincidence n. 巧合
10. volcanic adj. 火山的
11. eruption n. （火山）喷发