上海学生英语报.初中进阶版第966期《The number 13——luck

Numbers have a part in our daily lives. After all, we live with numbers. From television channels to computers, numbers are used everywhere!
　　A few centuries ago, people started to make lucky numbers. This was inspired by people who were having trouble in their lives. However, when there are lucky numbers, there ought to be unlucky numbers, right? So, people started to look for that particular number and, unluckily, 13 became that “dangerous” number.
　　According to the Christian religion , Judas was the 13th person at Jesus Christ’slast supper. And it was he who betrayedJesus. So now many people consider it very inauspiciousto have 13 people around a dinner table, believing that if 13 people sit down to have dinner together, one of them would die within the year.
　　In ancient Turkey, the number 13 was nearly erased from the vocabulary because of its meaning of bad luck; many cities in the U.K. and the U.S.A. do not have a 13th street or a 13th avenue, and buildings do not have a 13th floor or a house with the number 13.
　　Friday the 13th is thought to be extremely unlucky because it is a combination of an unlucky day and an unlucky number. Now, people avoid holding a wedding on that day, some people even avoid driving on Friday the 13th!
　　However, not everyone is afraid of 13. Somebody even loves it! Pop singer Taylor Swift draws “13” on her hand before every show. She has credited it with many of her successes in the last few years. Not only is it the day she was born on in December 1989, but over the years it has become so much more. “I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 onFridaythe13th. My first album went goldin 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13 - secondintro ,” she explains. “Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter in the alphabet.”
　　So, is 13 lucky or unlucky?Igor Radun ,aprofessor who studies human behaviors ,might have the answer: “There are no lucky or unlucky numbers; they exist only in our heads — or in the heads of some of us — and they might become lucky or unlucky only if we make them as such.”