VOA慢速英语 AJC推动改善穆斯林与犹太人的关系

AS IT IS 2015-06-18 Group Seeks to Improve Muslim-Jewish Relations AJC推动改善穆斯林与犹太人的关系

The AJC is one of America’s oldest and most influential¹ Jewish groups. At its recent yearly meeting, the group invited several Muslims to speak in an effort to improve Muslim-Jewish relations.

The conference began with a speech by Maajid Nawaz. He is a British-Pakistani former militant². He now heads the Quilliam Foundation in London. The group is dedicated³ to fighting Islamist extremism.

The next day, Zainab Al-Suwaij of the American Islamic Congress told people attending the meeting that, as a girl in Iraq, she was taught in school that the leader of Nazi⁴ Germany, Adolph Hitler, was “a good man.”

She condemned⁶ anti-Semitism as a serious problem in the Arab world, but said that Muslims are on the front lines of the struggle against terrorism. “In terms of condemning⁷ the extremism and violence, we are also the first victims,” she said.

Malian-born Lassana Bathily was honored for rescuing people in a terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris on January 9. He hid them in a cold store room and risked his life by leaving the supermarket to alert police. “If it were to happen again tomorrow, I would do exactly the same thing,” he said.

Rabbi Noam Marans is the AJC’s director of interreligious relations. He says “Muslim-Jewish relations is the great challenge of the 21st century.”

The major difficulty for improving relations between Muslims and Jews is their disagreement over of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Al-Suwaij of the American Islamic Congress said she has been called a traitor⁸ and a "self-hating Muslim" for her work with the Jewish community. “And not only by Muslims,” she said.

Rabbi Marans said that many Jews are concerned about engaging in dialogue even with moderate Muslims.

“There is a culture of fear, and a culture of fear can only be mitigated⁹ by relationships,” he said.

But, he also says he hopes the Muslim-Jewish dialogue can be as successful as the Christian-Jewish dialogue has been. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, an official order produced during the Second Vatican Council that ended the Roman Catholic Church’s treatment of Jews as a cursed people.

Words in This Story

influential – adj. having the power to cause changes

condemn⁵ – v. to say in a strong and definite way that someone or something is bad or wrong

kosher – adj. accepted by Jewish law as fit for eating or drinking

traitor – n. a person who is not loyal to his or her own country, friends, etc.

mitigate(d) – v. to make (something) less severe, harmful or painful

dialogue – n. a discussion or series of discussions that two groups or countries have in order to end a disagreement

curse(d) – adj. affected by something that causes bad things to happen

1 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

5 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

6 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

7 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

9 mitigated   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of getting there is mitigated by Sydney's offer of a subsidy. 由于悉尼提供补助金，所以到那里的花费就减少了。 来自辞典例句
• The living conditions were slightly mitigated. 居住条件稍有缓解。 来自辞典例句