VOA标准英语2009年-Have You 'Given Up the Ghost' or 'Cast

Ted¹ Landphair | Washington, DC 01 December 2009

This book connects many stories and sayings that we use in everyday life with their biblical antecedents

The Hebrew and Christian² bibles are quoted thousands of times a day across America.  Not just by men and women who preach from pulpits, or by politicians courting the evangelical vote.  People from all walks of life, including some who haven't been to a worship service in years, reference the Bible without knowing it.

And Timothy Beal, a professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, thinks they could use a handy reference to the stories behind well-worn expressions like the blind leading the blind.  So he has written a book called Biblical Literacy.

People sometimes talk about a sum of money, for instance, as just a drop in the bucket.  Few of them know that this phrase comes straight from the Old Testament³ book of Isaiah, chapter 40:

        Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
        and are accounted as dust on the scales.
   
We often say that a good fellow is a man after my own heart.  Timothy Beal found that phrase in First Samuel, Chapter 13, where Samuel, a leader of early Israel, says to King Saul:

        The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart;
        and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people.

 

Timothy Beal, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, has published ten books and dozens of essays about religion. He is married to a Presbyterian minister

Beal writes that he does not expect readers to take up the faith or to become biblical scholars.  But his book could come in mighty⁴ handy, even for atheists, who might want to deftly⁵ weave Bible sayings into a script or conversation and actually know what they're talking about.

Oh, if you're curious about that blind leading the blind quotation⁶, it comes from the New Testament book of Matthew, Chapter 15:

        Let them go alone; they are blind guides of the blind. 
        And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.

Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know, by Timothy Beal, is published by HarperOne.
 

Read more of Ted's personal reflections and stories from the road on his blog, Ted Landphair's America.
 

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

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 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

4 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

5 deftly   

adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He deftly folded the typed sheets and replaced them in the envelope. 他灵巧地将打有字的纸折好重新放回信封。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last he had a clew to her interest, and followed it deftly. 这一下终于让他发现了她的兴趣所在，于是他熟练地继续谈这个话题。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。