Are you superstitious? No, of course not. Do you believe in magic (魔法), and luck charms (护身符), and elves or gremlins (小精灵) ? Certainly not, but if I should greet you with the usual How's business?' You'll answer 'Oh, just so-so' although your business is profiting greatly. When you are successful in some venture you might say you were just lucky. And yet, you know it was probably due to your a bility and hard work. Why? Sometimes you knock on wood because wood was once a tree and there is a primitive belief that protective gods inhabit trees and knocking on wood attracts their attention so they may be credited with your successes. If I should sneeze, only the strongest of you could refrain(克制而不) from saying 'God bless you'. Why bless this unsanitary (不讲究卫生的) habit? Our ancestors believed that a sneeze opened the body to invasion by devils, and invoking (召唤) the name of God made the devils get out in a hurry. You may not realize it, but you express this same 'devil invasion' when you say, 'Whatever can have gotten into that child?' or 'I wonder what possessed me to do that?' Although they may no longer be believed, evidences of superstitions that have had their origins in the primitive fear of the unknown still exist in modern language and gestures. The author ______.