英文介绍一下圣杯（holy grail）

Holy Grail

According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers. The connection of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail legend dates from Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain; building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe. The quest for the Holy Grail makes up an important segment of the Arthurian cycle, appearing first in works by Chrétien de Troyes.[1] The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers.

The development of the Grail legend has been traced in detail by cultural historians: It is a legend which first came together in the form of written romances, deriving perhaps from some pre-Christian folklore hints, in the later 12th and early 13th centuries. The early Grail romances centered on Percival and were woven into the more general Arthurian fabric.

Some of the Grail legend is interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice.

对圣杯最传统的解释是在耶稣受难时，用来盛放耶稣鲜血的圣餐杯。很多传说相信，如果能找到这个圣杯而喝下其盛过的水就将返老还童而且永生，这个传说广泛延续到很多文学、影视、游戏等作品中，比如亚瑟王传奇中，就有人说他终其一生的最大目标就是找到这个圣杯。

但历史上对圣杯有著各种各样的解释。最新的流行解释来自丹·布朗的《达芬奇密码》。书中说，圣杯并不像罗马教廷宣称的那样，是耶稣在最后的晚餐中使用的杯子，而是一个隐喻。圣杯实际上指的是耶稣的配偶，那就是抹大利玛利亚(Mary Magdalene)，象徵著神圣的女神，她在耶稣临终前已怀了他的孩子，并随之引申出基督的后裔，并涉及基督的神性与人性之争论。若圣杯真的是抹大利玛利亚，基督的神性就会被动摇，因为神是不可能有后代的，而这若属实的话，也成了世界上最大的一个欺骗，就是耶稣不是神，而只是个拥有超凡思想的一个犹太凡人。