In our lives, we have such a friend whose nickname is so special and catchy that it is sometimes hard for us to think of his/her real name when needed. Plato, one of the most three famous philosophers in the history, is such a friend that few people know.
在我們的生活中，有這樣一個朋友，他的綽號是如此特別又好記，以至於我們有時很難在需要的時候想到他/她的真名。歷史上最著名的三大哲學家之一的柏拉圖就是這樣的一位朋友，而且很少人知道。
Plato’s real name is Aristokles. One story is that he was given the name Plato by his wrestle coach because he was strong and had well-built muscles. Another story is that he had a wide forehead and he often had great ideas when people asked him questions because the word platus meant wide and plain in Greek.
柏拉圖的真名是亞里斯多克。有一個說法是，他的摔角教練給他取了柏拉圖這個名字，因為他很強壯，肌肉發達。另一個說法是，他的額頭很寬，當人們問他問題時，他經常有很好的想法，因為platus這個詞在希臘語中的意思是寬闊而平坦。
People in Greece also called him the son of Apolo and had still another story, saying that bees could have stayed on his lips so that he could speak so well and sweetly.
希臘人還稱他為阿波羅之子，還有另一個版本的說法表示，蜜蜂很有可能曾經留停在他的嘴唇上，他才能有這樣的好口才，讓人聽了如此悅耳。
Another fun fact about Plato was the school he ran in 399 B.C. After his teacher Socrates died, Plato travelled to many countries for knowledge. When he came back to Greece, he decided to run his own school – Plato School. The school was built on the land where the famous Greek hero Academy once lived.
關於柏拉圖的另一個有趣的事實是他在公元前 399 年開辦的學校。在他的老師蘇格拉底去世後，柏拉圖遊歷了許多國家求知。當他回到希臘後，他決定創立自己的學校－柏拉圖學院。學校建在著名的希臘英雄Academy曾經居住的土地上。
The school ran for about 900 years until it was shut down by Justinian the Great in 529 A.D. In English, the word academy comes from Plato’s school and means a school that teaches a special subject or trains people for jobs.
這所學校持續了大約 900 年，直到公元 529 年被查士丁尼大帝關閉。在英語中，academy一詞源自柏拉圖學院，意思是教授特殊科目或培訓人員就業的學校。
