美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-03-03

 It's Thursday, February 28, and it's Pope Benedict the XVI's last day as Pope. He announced his resignation earlier this month and his time as Pope officially ends this evening. The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic church, Christianity is the world's largest religion and Catholics are the largest group of Christians¹. There are around 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. Yesterday, Pope Benedict made his final public speech in St.Peter's Square. That's part of Vatican city, the headquarters of the Catholic church and the world's smallest country. In yesterday's speech, the Pope talked about his spiritual journey during his nearly eight years as head of the church. There's been controversies² and scandals surrounding the Catholic church, like accusations³ of some priests abusing children and claims of corruption⁴. Some analysts⁵ think the Pope was referring to these issues during his speech.

"He spoke⁶ about how he had so much joy, he said in the church and in his eight years of reign⁷, but he also talked about how that it'd been difficult times, he said it had been far from easy on occasion, he talked about how the church had come across agitated⁸ waters, and sometimes found itself of facing the different directions of the winds."

Pope Benedict is the first Pope in nearly 600 years to resign. What comes next? He'll still be called Benedict, the name he chose when he became Pope. He'll still be referred to as "His Holiness", but his official title will be Pope Emeritus⁹. He'll live in Vatican city in a small monastery¹⁰ and Benedict is expected to devote his time to prayer and study. As for the Roman Catholic church, it has to elect a new Pope. And here is how that process happens.

"The Pope is the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world and the most visible religious leader of any kind on the planet."

The new Pope is always chosen by the members of College of Cardinals¹². They are the highest office in the church under the Pope himself. Normally, when a papacy ends, either through death or resignation, cardinals from around the world gathered in the Rome, they had daily meetings to talk about the issues facing the church and the qualities the new Pope needs. We're talking about slightly over 100 cardinals who file into the Sistine Chapel¹³ cast ballots¹⁴ and pick a Pope.

Conclave¹⁵ is a term that comes from the two Latin words, meaning with a key, referes to the fact that the cardinals are locked behind closed doors while they go through a highly ceremonial process of casting ballots and then burning them, then it goes as long as it takes for someone to get two thirds, the shortest conclave in history took a couple of hours, the longeset one took three years.

In the old days, they would burn ballots, largely because they wanted to maintain the secrecy¹⁶ of the conclave, that is they didn't want the vote totals to get out. What they realized is that when people saw the smoke from chimney atop the Sistine Chapel, they knew a round of balloting¹⁷ had ended and so they came up with the system or they would put chemicals into the mix to turn the smoke black if no Pope had been elected, and white, if a Pope had been elected.

In theory according to the law of the church, any person who was eligible¹⁸ for ordination¹⁹ to the priesthood and therefore for an unmarried male, could be elected as Pope, but in practice, a new Pope will be elected from among cardinals who are voting, that is the cardinals who are under the age of 80 who will take part in this election. Which means that the roughly 150 cardinals aren't merely voters, they are all also candidates.

When a candidate cross that two thirds threshold, another cardinal¹¹ will approach him and say, "Do you accept your canonically²⁰ valid²¹ election as Supreme²² Pontiff? If he answers yes, from that moment forward, he becomes the Pope. The next question is by what name will you be known. And at that stage, the new Pope tells his brother cardinals what he wants to be called and then a few minutes later when the announcement was made from a balcony outside St.Peter's Square, the whole world will know the name of the new Pope.

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 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 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。

7 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

8 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

9 emeritus   

adj.名誉退休的

参考例句：

• "Perhaps I can introduce Mr.Lake Kirby,an emeritus professor from Washington University?"请允许我介绍华盛顿大学名誉教授莱克柯尔比先生。
• He will continue as chairman emeritus.他将会继续担任荣誉主席。

10 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

11 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

12 cardinals   

红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数

参考例句：

• cardinals in scarlet robes 身披红袍的枢机主教
• A conclave of cardinals was held to elect the new Pope. 红衣主教团举行了秘密会议来选举新教皇。

13 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

14 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 conclave   

n.秘密会议，红衣主教团

参考例句：

• Signore,I ask and I prey,that you break this conclave.各位阁下，我请求，并祈祷，你们能停止这次秘密会议。
• I met my partner at that conclave and my life moved into a huge shift.我就是在那次大会上遇到了我的伴侣的，而我的生活就转向了一个巨大的改变。

16 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

17 balloting   

v.（使）投票表决( ballot的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Clark took a commanding leading in the early balloting. 在最初投票时，克拉克遥遥领先。 来自辞典例句
• The balloting had stagnated, he couldn't win. 投票工作陷于停顿，他不能得胜。 来自辞典例句

18 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

19 ordination   

n.授任圣职

参考例句：

• His ordination gives him the right to conduct a marriage or a funeral.他的晋升圣职使他有权主持婚礼或葬礼。
• The vatican said the ordination places the city's catholics in a "very delicate and difficult decision."教廷说，这个任命使得这个城市的天主教徒不得不做出“非常棘手和困难的决定”。

20 canonically   

adv.照宗规地，宗规上地

参考例句：

• The deacon was canonically inducted. 执事是按照宗规任命的。 来自互联网

21 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

22 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。