英语听力—环球英语 781 Treaty for Compassion

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Robin² Basselin.
Voice 2
And I'm Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
"Never do to other people what you would not choose for yourself." --Confucius
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"None of you have faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself." -- Muhammad
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"Just as you did for yourself, do the same for others too." -- Buddha³
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"Do to others as you would have them do to you." -- Jesus Christ
Voice 1
These sayings come from many different religions. However, the sayings share the same basic idea. Many people call this idea "The Golden Rule." And the "Golden Rule" is a rule based on compassion⁴ – learning to feel with another person. This is the meaning of treating other people as you would like to be treated.
Voice 2
Many religious experts say that compassion is an important part of all world religions. Karen Armstrong is one such expert. And Karen believes that compassion is not just a belief, but a universal call to act. Karen's understanding of compassion led her to begin a global movement. Today's Spotlight is on this movement, called the Charter for Compassion.
Voice 1
As a young woman, Karen Armstrong became a Christian⁶ nun⁷. She devoted⁸ her life to the study and worship of God. However, after seven years, Karen decided⁹ to stop being a nun. Instead, she began studying English literature at a university in England.
Voice 2
Karen thought her life of religious study was over. However, after many years of teaching English and literature, Karen returned to religious study. She began by writing a book about her life as a nun. Since that time, Karen has written over 20 books - most of which are about religion. Today, Karen Armstrong is an expert on comparative religion. She studies many world religions and compares their beliefs and traditions. Karen is well known for seeking understanding and peace between religions.
Voice 1
Many groups have honoured Karen's desire for peace between religions. In 2008, the TED⁵ Prize awarded her their highest honor. You may have heard a recent Spotlight program about the TED Prize. This prize awards $100,000 each year to a person with an excellent idea. The TED Prize also gives the award winner "One Wish to Change the World."
Voice 2
Karen Armstrong explained her wish in a speech that she gave at the TED Prize ceremony. She said,
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"I wish that you would help with the creation, start and spread of a Charter for Compassion. A group of leading experts would write it. These experts would come from the three Abrahamic religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It would be based on the basic idea of global justice and respect."
Voice 1
A charter is very much like a treaty. It is a written document created by a gathering¹⁰ of people. Each person at the gathering represents people from different groups. In the beginning, Karen wanted this Charter of Compassion to represent people from the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, once she began her work, she invited people of all religions to help produce the Charter.
Voice 2
Karen did not want the Charter to be just another document written by experts and leaders. So she decided to ask normal people to help – people from all around the world, of all faith traditions, nations and languages. To do this, Karen created a website for the Charter for Compassion. On the website, people were able to communicate their ideas for the Charter.
Voice 1
The website created an online community of people interested in compassion. In the first week, over 150,000 people visited the website and many shared ideas for the Charter. The online visitors were from 180 countries!
Voice 2
Karen received thousands of ideas for the Charter. Then she formed a small group of people to write the document. She called this group the Council of Conscience. The group had nearly 20 people in it -- mostly religious leaders. These twenty people worked together to write the Charter for Compassion. They used their knowledge of their own religion. They also used the thousands ideas from the website.
Voice 1
In November 2009, the final document was ready. Karen put it on the Charter for Compassion website. The first sentence of the Charter says,
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"The idea of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical¹¹ and spiritual traditions. It calls us always to treat all other people as we wish to be treated ourselves."
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The Charter asks people to stop hurting other people. It encourages everyone to return compassion to the center of our religions and lives. And it encourages people to make compassion the means by which they seek peace.
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Today, there are over 40,000 people that have accepted the Charter for Compassion. The Charter also has over 100 partner organizations around the world. They include the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the Fetzer Institute and the TED community.
Voice 2
The Charter has helped many people to begin thinking about compassion. However, the Charter for Compassion movement does not want people to only think about compassion. The movement wants people to live out the idea of compassion. For this reason, the Charter for Compassion website asks people to tell about their own acts of compassion.
Voice 1
People have shared almost a thousand acts of compassion on the website. Some acts are amazing. Some show how a person has changed his whole life. Or they tell about someone starting their own compassionate¹² organization. However, most of the acts of compassion are simple. For example, one person bought food for someone without food. Another person simply called a woman whose father had just died.
Voice 2
These simple acts of compassion do not seem very important. Many people already do simple acts of compassion every day. However, by reading the Charter and sharing acts of compassion, people can be encouraged to do even more acts of compassion. They can be encouraged to live compassionately¹³ every day. This is the hope of Charter for Compassion movement.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

4 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

8 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

11 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

12 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

13 compassionately   

adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地

参考例句：

• The man at her feet looked up at Scarlett compassionately. 那个躺在思嘉脚边的人同情地仰望着她。 来自飘（部分）
• Then almost compassionately he said,"You should be greatly rewarded." 接着他几乎带些怜悯似地说：“你是应当得到重重酬报的。” 来自辞典例句