2006年VOA标准英语-Women's Group Builds Bridges Among Different Fa

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
29 August 2006

A group of California women are building bridges among people of different faiths, forming bonds of friendship despite their disagreements.  Mike O'Sullivan reports the group, called Sarah, is bringing together Muslims, Jews, Christians¹ and others in a dialogue.

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		Ghada Wadi, left, Clarita Karlin, center, Sande Hart, right

The women live in the quiet neighborhoods of suburban² Orange County, California, and include homemakers, a retired³ deputy district attorney, and a software consultant⁴.

Sande Hart says the terrorist attacks of September, 11, 2001, indirectly⁵ spurred the group's formation.  Extremists who claimed to act in the name of Islam carried out the attacks, which were immediately condemned⁶ by prominent US Muslims.  Sande, who is Jewish, wanted to learn more about Islam.

"Prior to 9/11, I didn't know anything about the Islamic community.  I didn't know a lot about my own Jewish faith, let alone the Islamic faith," she noted⁷.  "And then I was fortunate enough to be invited into some interfaith dialogues by my rabbi."

Those dialogues, hosted by the Orange County Human Relations Commission, explored the attitudes of residents toward people of different religions.

Sande formed a friendship with a Muslim participant, a Lebanese-American woman named Ghada Wadi.  After the final dialogue, the two women and others formed a group to continue the discussions.  They called it Sarah, after the wife of Abraham, a patriarch revered⁸ by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

A dozen or more women take part in monthly meetings, where they share meals and hold discussions.

"One meeting was about what our cultural observances are on birth," she added.  "And then the next month, it was on coming-of-age - bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, christenings and such, marriage and divorce and death."

They learn about sacred rituals and visit the sites where people of different faiths worship.  With other community members, they also create tapestries⁹, art works devoted¹⁰ to peace.

Ghada Wadi says the members of Sarah have become close friends, avoiding topics that may divide them.

"We have come to a point in Sarah, we've built a friendship between Jews and Muslims and Christians alike, because we do not talk politics," she explained.  "We have differences in terms of politics, but we came to an agreement that in the end, we are human beings.  And we looked at each other as friends, as Sande was saying, and we built this trust."

Clarita Karlin came to the group through an interfaith charity project involving Jews, Muslims and Christians.  Together, they built a home for a needy¹¹ family in Mexico.  It was her first experience getting to know Muslims.

That project would lead her to Sarah.  Like Sande, Clarita is Jewish, and says she holds strong opinions, and has an attachment¹² to Israel.

"I'm married to an Israeli," she said.  "I lived thought the years of the Holocaust¹³, when part of my mother's family were German.  Part stayed in Germany.  They're all dead.  The part that came were the ones that had remained Jewish and filled me with the fear that if it happened in Germany, it could happen anywhere."

As the recent war raged in Northern Israel and Lebanon, the group postponed¹⁴ its meetings out of respect for the feelings of its members.

Ghada Wadi experiences those feelings when she talks about her homeland.  The Lebanese native lived through a civil war that began in 1975, and the 1982 invasion by Israel.  She says she felt an emotional barrier toward Jews, which came down as she got to know the women of Sarah.  But she says the recent fighting again raised the barrier.

"And it came up very strong and very quickly, because this brought up a lot of memories of the war and a lot of memories of what happened during the invasion of Israel into Lebanon in 1982," she explained.

Ghada still has brothers in Lebanon and says the destruction was painful for her.  

Sande Hart says the women of Sarah are struggling to understand those of different faiths, a process made difficult by war and political tension.  The women's life experience is also different.  Sande grew up in a comfortable suburb.  Ghada lived through a war.

Clarita Karlin says that growing up as a Jewish child in the 1930s and '40s, her life experience is also very different.  She has witnessed anti-Semitism in the United States, and seen the horrors of the Holocaust experienced by her family in Europe.  Today, she has relatives in Israel.

"My husband's family are still all in Israel," she explained.  "And I have a nephew in the Israeli army now.  And so this war affected¹⁵ me very much, impacted me very much, in the way that it did Ghada.  My barriers came up, and my memories came up."

But the women say they are committed to maintaining their friendship, and will continue their cultural and religious explorations as they work to understand their differences.

1 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。

2 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

5 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

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 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

9 tapestries   

n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The wall of the banqueting hall were hung with tapestries. 宴会厅的墙上挂有壁毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rooms were hung with tapestries. 房间里都装饰着挂毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

12 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

13 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

14 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。