英语听力精选进阶版 13932

Did Jesus have a wife?

Summary

21 September 2012

The existence of what's believed to be an ancient Christian¹ text written on papyrus², has been revealed by a Harvard professor. She says that the dialogue in the ancient Coptic language makes a highly controversial claim: it quotes Christ as having said that he had a wife.

Reporter:

Alan Johnston

Report

It's just a scrap³ of papyrus paper, no bigger than a credit card. It has on it lines of writing in the Coptic language and their message is potentially sensational⁴. They quote Christ as having made a reference to having a wife. Of course, this flies in the face of traditional belief, and Professor Karen King, who's just revealed the text to the world, says it does not prove that Christ did indeed have a wife. But she says it is an indication that some early Christians⁵ believed that he did.

Professor Karen King:

"This fragment is not evidence for the marital⁶ status of the historical Jesus. Rather, it's evidence that there was a controversy⁷ going on in the 2nd century among Christians about whether they should marry or remain celibate⁸. And it's in this context that the question about whether Jesus was married or not was raised for the first time."

So far, experts have agreed that the text is authentic⁹, that it really is as old as it looks. But there's disagreement on the meaning. One Bible scholar argues that the word ‘wife’ could be used here to describe a figure who was only a domestic servant; someone who just cooked and cleaned, and wouldn't be what we would regard as a wife in the life of Christ.

1 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。

2 papyrus   

n.古以纸草制成之纸

参考例句：

• The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
• Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。

3 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

4 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

5 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

6 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

7 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

8 celibate   

adj.独身的，独身主义的；n.独身者

参考例句：

• He had defended the institution of a celibate priesthood.他捍卫了独身牧师制度。
• The instinct of the celibate warned him to hold back.单身汉的本能告诫他回头是岸。

9 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。