美国牧师比利·格雷厄姆去世,享年99岁

American Religious Leader Billy Graham Dies

The Reverend Billy Graham died Wednesday at his home in the American state of North Carolina, a spokesman said.

Graham had long suffered from health problems, including cancer. He was 99 years old.

Graham influenced American religious life for generations. He offered spiritual advice to many presidents and became the most widely heard Christian² evangelist in history.

Tall, with thick hair and clear blue eyes, Graham became a Southern Baptist clergyman in 1940.

During his 70 years in public life, he spoke¹ to more than 200 million people in 185 countries and territories. He and his supporters held massive gatherings³ – called the Billy Graham Crusades. Thousands of people attended each rally, either in person or by satellite. They were held on every continent except Antarctica.

Graham often moved around while he spoke to crowds, sometimes also raising a Bible in the air while repeating words from Christianity’s holy book. At the end of his message, he invited people to come forward to seek salvation⁴ through a belief in Jesus Christ. Hundreds of people, sometimes thousands, would answer the call and come forward.

Graham visited Eastern Europe before the collapse⁵ of the Soviet⁶ Union. In the winter of 1994, he gave sermons in China and North Korea, where he also met with top political and religious leaders. As a result of his world travels, Graham said Christianity was no longer only a Western religion.

Graham was seen as a major force in developing evangelicalism in the United States.

Because of his great influence, Graham was known as “America’s pastor⁷.” He was often asked to pray or speak at major public events, such as political nomination⁸ conventions and swearing-in ceremonies for U.S. presidents.

Graham knew every president from Harry⁹ Truman to Donald Trump¹⁰. He served as a spiritual adviser¹¹ to some of them.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan awarded Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian¹² honor. When the Billy Graham Museum and Library opened in 2007, former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton attended.

At the ceremony, Clinton said of Graham, “When he prays with you in the Oval Office or upstairs in the White House, you feel he’s praying for you, not the president.”

President George H.W. Bush invited him to pray at the White House in 1991 on the first long day of the Gulf¹³ War.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: “The GREAT Billy Graham is dead. There was nobody like him! He will be missed by Christians¹⁴ and all religions. A very special man,” Trump tweeted.

Graham and his wife, Ruth Bell Graham, had five children. She died in 2007 at the age of 87.

Graham had been battling several health conditions and rarely appeared in public in recent years. But he did attend a 95th birthday celebration in November 2013. A video message from the aging preacher was played at the celebration. His son Franklin called it his father’s last message to America. In the video, Billy Graham said America was "in great need of a spiritual awakening¹⁵."

Franklin Graham followed in his father’s footsteps and rose to become leader of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He has preached to more than 7 million people worldwide.

Franklin’s son, Will Graham, also speaks at religious celebrations around the world.

I’m Alice Bryant. And I'm Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

reverend – n. a Christian clergyman

evangelist – n. person who speaks in public and urges people to become Christians

salvation – n. in some religions, a belief that God will save those

sermon – n. a talk on a religious or moral subject

who believe from the punishment of God for evil or immoral¹⁶ acts

evangelicalism – n. a movement within Protestant Christianity which holds that only Jesus Christ can save humanity

pastor – n. a clergyman or spiritual advisor

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 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。

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

7 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

8 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

9 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

13 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

14 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。

15 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

16 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。