读者文摘:"食物沙漠"到"健康中心"(1)

BY THE SUMMER OF 2005,

2005年夏天，

the Reverend Richard Joyner of Conetoe Chapel¹ Missionary² Baptist Church

小镇传教浸信会的牧师——理查德·乔伊纳

realized he was conducting funerals twice a month

意识到自己一个月主持两次葬礼

—a startling number given his town's tiny population.

——考虑到小镇人口稀少，这个数字令人吃惊。

Nearly 300 souls call Conetoe home.

将近300位死去者的灵魂在这里安息。

The predominantly African American hamlet is situated³ in North Carolina's Edgecombe County,

这个以非裔美国人为主的小村庄位于北卡罗来纳州的埃奇康比县，

where a quarter of households live below the poverty line

四分之一的家庭生活在贫困线以下

and heart disease kills more 20- to 39-year-olds than do car accidents.

20到39岁死于心脏病的人数大于车祸死亡人数。

"I've closed too many coffins⁴ on young people," Joyner, 64, says.

64岁的乔伊纳说：“我为年轻人盖的棺材太多了。”

The pastor⁵ found it difficult to comfort the grieving:

牧师发现这种悲伤情绪一直难以治愈：

"How do you tell someone who's just lost a child to poor nutrition that this was God's plan when it was totally preventable?

“你如何告诉一个刚刚因为营养不良而失去孩子的人，这是上帝的计划，而这是完全可以预防的?”

Who would hang out with that God?"

谁会和上帝在一起?”

Driving home one day and beginning to doubt his own beliefs,

一天乔伊纳开车回家，开始怀疑自己的信仰，

Joyner pulled over and began to pray.

乔伊纳把车停在路边，开始祈祷。

"I heard a voice saying, 'Maybe you'd get further with your eyes open,'"

“我听到一个声音说，‘也许你睁开眼睛就能走得更远。’”

he remembers.

他回忆道。

He looked around, and all he saw was farmland. It gave him an idea:

他环顾四周，除了荒凉的土地外一无所有，他突然想到一个主意：

Get the kids involved.

让孩子们参与进来。

1 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

2 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

3 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

4 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

5 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。