英语听力精选进阶版 10621（在线收听）

Not so long ago I stood on the steps of Cologne Cathedral in Germany and experienced the poignancy of being somewhere that had in recent history endured dreadful human suffering. The city was bombed to bits during the Second World War. It is now well known that the enormous Cathedral only survived Allied bombing because it served as a navigation beacon for pilots. But, when the cathedral switched off its lights earlier this week, it was intended to question a different set of bearings and offer a different moral compass.

就在不久前，我站在德国科隆大教堂的台阶上，感受着近代史上人们经历的痛苦辛酸往事。这座城市在二战期间被炸成碎片，如今，这座大教堂之所以得名，是因为它是唯一一座在盟军轰炸中幸存的大教堂，给飞行员起到了导航灯的作用。但是，当本周早些时候教堂熄灯时，其目的是在向另一种不同的问题进行质疑，并起到另外一种道德指南针的作用。

Cologne is one of the cities to have seen growing protests against what is called the “Islamisation of the West”. What began as a small demonstration by a couple of hundred from the east German right wing has grown into marches of up to 18,000 people. And the majority of these people can’t be brushed off as wild neo-Nazis, although such people are deeply involved in shaping and leading the protests. Known as Pegida, this movement has provoked counter-demonstrations and serious critical comment by leading political and public figures, including Angela Merkel in her New Year address.

科隆等城市都目睹过日益渐涨的反对所谓“西方伊斯兰化”的抗议活动，最初只是从东德几百名右翼人士开始的小规模游行，如今已壮大到1.8万人的抗议队伍。其中大多数人都不能被轻易地视为新纳粹而置之不理，尽管这些人对于促成和领导抗议活动起到很大作用。这项活动被称作Pegida，已经引发了反游行活动，一些主要政界和公共人物都表示了严厉的批评，安吉拉·默克尔就在她的新年致辞中进行了表示。

What is challenging about this phenomenon is how irrational some of the comment by protesters has been. According to some, all Muslims are to be seen as a threat to the blonde daughters of civilised Germans. In language that will sound familiar on this side of the Channel, Germany is being swamped by Muslims – despite clear evidence in some of these places that the numbers of Muslims is very low.

这一现象中的一个问题是，抗议者的一些看法非常不理智。在一些抗议者看来，所有穆斯林被视为是文明德国人金发碧眼女儿们的威胁。一些媒体的言论听起来很熟悉，它们认为德国正在被穆斯林吞噬，尽管很明显在一些地方穆斯林的人数很少。

Why is it that in such matters perception is so much more powerful than reality? And why is it that the fires of fear are so easy to stoke when people generally begin to feel a bit insecure economically – or that we often feel the need to turn inward and focus our fear or resentment on the ‘outsider’?

为何对这类问题的看法总是比现实看起来更严重？为何当人们普遍开始在经济上感到一点不安全时，恐惧之火总是很容易点燃？为何我们总是感到有必要转向内部，将我们的恐惧或怨恨指向“外人”？

This is not to question the power of perception or the need for proper (and informed) debates about immigration and culture – at every level and from political leaders. But, it is to dig beneath the presenting rationalization for such protests and ask if all is what it seems to be – or what we would like it to be. Genuine motivation is not always immediately obvious, especially where fear or discomfort are concerned.

这并不是要质疑人们看法的力量，也不是质疑是否有必要就移民和文化问题在各个层面和政治领导人间进行恰当的辩论。但是，我们需要挖掘这类抗议活动表面理智的深部，要问是否一切都属实，或者我们希望什么样的局面。真实的动机并不总是显而易见的，尤其是当恐惧和不安相互关联时。

And these aren’t exactly new questions either, are they? Read the Bible and you find ethnic cleansing, dreadful brutality and fear of those who are different. Yet, read the same Bible and you get injunctions to welcome the outsider, give hospitality to the asylum-seeker, feed the hungry, love the enemy as well as the neighbour, and drop the fear. And the message is clear: we have a choice how to behave: be driven by fear and insecurity into suspicion and hatred of the other, or take the risk of dancing to a different tune.

确切来说这些都不是新问题，不是吗？翻开圣经你会看到种族清洗、可怕的野蛮行径，以及对异己者的恐惧。然而，阅读圣经，你也能得到关于欢迎外来者的劝告，款待寻求避难者，给饥饿者提供食物，爱你的邻居和敌人，放弃恐惧。很显然，我们能决定如何表现：是受恐惧和不安全驱使陷入猜疑和仇恨，还是冒风险表现不同的态度？