2013年经济学人 抚慰,欢乐与不合 Comfort, joy and disagreement

 

Books and Arts; Comfort, joy and disagreement

文艺；抚慰，欢乐与不合；

Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion. By Alain de Botton.

给无神论者的宗教：无神论者使用宗教的指南。Alain de Botton著；

The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures. By Roger Scruton. Continuum;

上帝的面孔：在Gifford的讲座。Roger Scruton著，Continuum；

Alain de Botton

It is difficult to imagine Alain de Botton and Roger Scruton becoming friends if they met at a party. All too soon the two philosophers would start talking about God. For Mr de Botton there is something slightly demented about religious belief, whereas for Mr Scruton there is something deeply tragic² about atheism³.

很难想象Alain de Botton和Roger Scruton会在聚会上遇见后成为朋友。这两位哲学家在一起很快就会讨论起上帝。对于de Botton先生来说，宗教信仰总有那么一点神神叨叨，而对于Scruton先生，无神论却带有深深的悲剧色彩。

Mr de Botton has published bestselling books on a wide range of subjects. He is an aggregator of ideas rather than an original thinker, but his skill is to write simply about complex ideas and he gives his fans the sensation of reading something profound with little effort. The premise⁴ of his new book, “Religion for Atheists”, which seeks to steer⁵ a course between religious fundamentalists and atheist¹ fundamentalists, is that there is too much of value in religion to leave it to the religious alone. It must be possible to balance “a rejection⁶ of religious faith with a selective reverence⁷ for religious rituals,” he says. In practice, this means emptying out such rituals of their meaning and using them for secular⁸ ends, a kind of spiritual pick ‘n' mix.

de Botton先生出版过关于各类话题的畅销书。与其说他是一位原创的思考者，不如把他称为是一个思想的融合者。他擅长把复杂的想法转变为简单的文字，这给了他的读者们一种轻松读懂深奥事物的感觉。他的新书《给无神论者的宗教》，希望在宗教和无神论各自的死忠追随者之间找到一条道路。引起写作的是这样一个想法：让宗教信仰者们独享宗教所包含的巨大价值实在是太可惜了。他说，“肯定有可能在‘拒绝宗教信仰'和‘有选择的尊重某些宗教仪式'之间取得一个平衡。”实际操作中，这意味着把这些仪式的内涵都统统抛弃，然后再把它们用作世俗的目的，类似于精神层面上的“混合糖果”。

Although Mr de Botton is a clever man, he often stretches a good idea beyond its elastic⁹ limit. Religions are “the most successful educational and intellectual movements the planet has ever witnessed,” he states, because they tell people what to think and hammer it home. University lecturers anxious to persuade should copy the didactic tricks of a Pentecostal preacher. “Do you hear me?” he hollers. “I say do you hear me?” An analysis of religious imagery leads him to recommend advertising¹⁰ “forgiveness” on billboards¹¹. Daily bouts¹² of meditation¹³ on the immensity of the galaxies¹⁴, he argues, will offer “solutions to our megalomania, self-pity and anxiety”.

虽然de Botton先生是一个聪明人，但是他时常把一个好的想法延伸出适当的范围之外。宗教是“这个星球历史上最成功的教育和智识运动”，他说，因为它告诉人们该去想什么，而且还确保大家都真的理解了。大学里的那些急于说服学生的讲师们真应该效仿圣灵降临教传教士的那一套说教技巧。“你听见我说的了吗？”他大叫，“我说，你听见我说的了吗？”在对宗教形象进行了分析后，他推荐在公告板上宣传“宽恕”。他主张说，每天数次对无边的银河进行沉思可以提供“对抗狂妄自大，自暴自弃和焦虑的方法”。

Had it been written as a direct response, Mr Scruton's book, “The Face of God” could hardly be a stronger refutation of Mr de Botton's project. A philosophy professor, novelist and composer, Mr Scruton is a controversial figure, lampooned¹⁵ for his love of foxhunting and tweeds and uncompromisingly elitist in his opinions about classical architecture, music and aesthetics¹⁶. The essays in this work of natural theology were first delivered as lectures at St Andrew's University, and they have a whiff of the sermon about them. Atheists do not understand sacraments and acts of worship, he says. The sacred and the transcendental are “real presences” which bind¹⁷ communities together.

如果Scruton先生的书《上帝的面孔》是写来直接回应de Botton先生的命题的，那将是最有力的回击了。作为一个哲学教授，小说家和作曲家，Scruton先生是一个充满争议的人物，他对于猎狐运动和斜纹软呢衣服的喜爱，以及他在古典建筑，音乐和美学方面所持的顽固的精英主义态度都被人讽刺过。这本关于自然神学的书里的短文先是用在了他在St Andrew's大学的讲座中，它们都颇有一丝布道的味道。无神论者们无法理解圣礼和拜神行为，他说，其实那些神圣的和超越感官的东西是“真实存在”的，它们使不同的群体团结了起来。

The underlying¹⁸ problem is that scientists have cheapened meaning, he claims. Our deepest emotions are not mere¹⁹ “adaptations”, “hard wired” in the human cortex; if you reduce people to balls of cells, you wipe away intention, responsibility, freedom and emotion. Instead, the real meaning of existence is located in people's relationships with each other, the earth and God. The face is his paradigm²⁰ of meaning, relationship and identity. It is through contemplating²¹ the face, the outward form and image of what is inside, that humans see each other as subjects, rather than objects, he says.

根本的问题是科学家们贬低了意义，他宣称，我们最深刻的感情不仅仅是“（人类对环境所做出的）适应”，然后“先天决定于”人类的基因中。如果你把人简单地归结为一大团细胞，你就一同抹掉了意愿，责任，自由和感情。与此相反，存在的真正意义在于一个人与其他人，地球还有上帝的关系中。他认为面孔是意义，关系和认同等概念的范例。他说，面孔是每一个人的外在形式和内在内容的形象，人类通过注视面孔把对方看成是一个意志的主体而不是一个物件。

That Mr Scruton simply asserts the existence of God may be regarded as a fault here, and his prose is dense²² and often hard going. But he is at least serious and thoughtful. By contrast, Mr de Botton seems to get dafter with each turn of the page. Arguing that religion can bind people together to help guard against loneliness, he concludes that the Mass should be used as a model for his pastiche²³ “Agape Restaurant”, with its own liturgy²⁴ and an annual orgy (there is even a soft-porn picture to show readers what this would be like). Mr Scruton, who frets²⁵ that people have become indifferent to beauty and smut, argues that it is because they confuse agape and eros (the ancient Greek words for deep affection and erotic attraction) that they objectify each other and devalue love in a cycle of “ever-expanding heartlessness”.

诚然，Scruton先生在书中轻易地断言上帝的存在是有问题的，而且他的文字厚重而时常难于阅读。但是它至少是严肃且深思熟虑的。相比之下，de Botton先生则看起来每翻一页都变愚钝了一点。他认为宗教可以把人联结起来以抵御寂寞和孤独，然后总结道，弥撒（这个仪式）应该用来作为他的混合版本的“友爱餐厅”的范例，在这样的弥撒中，不仅有其自身的礼仪，还包括一年一度的纵欲狂欢（书里面甚至还有一幅软色情图片来向读者说明它将会是怎样）。Scruton先生一直担心人们对美和淫秽之间的区别漠不关心，他认为，就是因为人们弄混了agape和eros（古希腊表示深沉之爱和欲望之爱的两个词）才导致他们互相疏离物化，然后在无休止地变得无情无义中贬低着爱情。

Of the two, Mr de Botton will probably sell more books. But it is Mr Scruton who gives readers much more to think about.

两者之中，de Botton先生应该会卖出更多的书。但Scruton先生将会带给读者更多的思考。

1 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

2 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

3 atheism   

n.无神论，不信神

参考例句：

• Atheism is the opinion that there is no God.无神论是认为不存在上帝的看法。
• Atheism is a hot topic.无神论是个热门话题。

4 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

5 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

6 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

7 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

8 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

9 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

12 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

14 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

15 lampooned   

v.冷嘲热讽，奚落( lampoon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His cartoons mercilessly lampooned the politicians of his time. 他的漫画毫不留情地嘲讽了他那个年代的政治人物。
• He was lampooned for his political views. 他的政治观点使他成了受奚落的对象。 来自辞典例句

16 aesthetics   

n.(尤指艺术方面之)美学，审美学

参考例句：

• Sometimes, of course, our markings may be simply a matter of aesthetics. 当然，有时我们的标点符号也许只是个审美的问题。 来自名作英译部分
• The field of aesthetics presents an especially difficult problem to the historian. 美学领域向历史学家提出了一个格外困难的问题。

17 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

18 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

19 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

20 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

21 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

22 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

23 pastiche   

n.模仿 ； 混成

参考例句：

• He has a gift for pastiche.他有模仿他人作品的天赋。Peter Baker's bathroom is a brilliant pastiche of expensive interior design.彼得·贝克的浴室是高档室内设计的集大成之作。

24 liturgy   

n.礼拜仪式

参考例句：

• A clergyman read the liturgy from the prayer-book.一名牧师照着祈祷书念祷文。
• The mass is the church a kind of liturgy.弥撒是教会的一种礼拜仪式。

25 frets   

基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The river frets away the rocks along its banks. 河水侵蚀了两岸的岩石。
• She frets at even the slightest delays. 稍有延误她就不满。