精美英文欣赏:希望—西方文明的基石

More recent and disturbing history will be reviewed this week by a court in Oslo. While Anders Behring Breivik will present his own warped¹ view of reality, victims and bereaved² families will confront again the terror of what actually happened. To resist simple vengeance³, pursue justice and to relive the pain is a brave thing to do and shows in the words of the commentator⁴ Libby Purves that "the default setting of Western civilisation⁵ is not hatred⁶ or fear but hope".Perhaps, part of that default setting of hope stems from our Judaeo-Christian history. The last steel ingot from the Consett steelworks was made into a cross and is kept at a local Roman Catholic Church. It represents for me the pain of the past but also hope for the future.It is tempting⁷ to despair for the future of the world, in a time of financial insecurity and mindless terrorism. Yet history does remind me that human communities of justice and love still triumph.

这周奥斯陆法庭将会翻开最近一段纷扰的历史。尽管Anders Behring Breivik会继续歪曲事实，受害者和受害者家庭将为还原真实恐怖事件而战。不为复仇，只想讨回公道而自揭伤疤，这种行为是勇敢的，用评论员Libby Purves的话来说，“西方文明的本质不是仇恨或恐惧，而是希望。”可能，这种希望的本质部分来源于犹太-基督历史。Consett钢铁厂最后一块钢锭做成了一个十字架，现存于当地的一家罗马天主教堂里。对我来讲，这代表了过去的伤痛和对未来的希望。当遭遇财务危机或者无端恐怖事件时，人们很容易会对这世界的未来失望。但是，历史告诉我们，公道和爱终将胜利。

1 warped   

adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• a warped sense of humour 畸形的幽默感
• The board has warped. 木板翘了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 bereaved   

adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物）

参考例句：

• The ceremony was an ordeal for those who had been recently bereaved. 这个仪式对于那些新近丧失亲友的人来说是一种折磨。
• an organization offering counselling for the bereaved 为死者亲友提供辅导的组织

3 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

4 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

5 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

6 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

7 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。