环球英语 — 321：Rich Man’s Tomb

　　Voice 4
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Peter Laverock. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier to understand no matter where in the world you live.
In today’s programme we look for a special place. Something wonderful happened in this special place. There is no map to help us find it. But there are some ancient stories that tell us what it is like.
Voice 1
Mary, can you smell the flowers? Careful! It is difficult to see where we are going. The sun is only just coming up. Since Friday we have learned² where the path is! We will get there soon.
Voice 2
We were all frightened that day. Now it is Sunday morning and we are not so frightened. I think it will be safe today. I hope the soldiers will be sleeping. Then they will not laugh at us or hurt us.
Voice 1
Ah! Mary, look! The soldiers have gone away.
Voice 2
Oh no! What is happening? The earth is shaking.
Voice 3
Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus. You are looking for the man who died - the man who was executed³. He is not here. He is alive again. Come and see the place where he was.
Voice 4
This is from the story of Jesus told in the Bible⁴ by Matthew. It describes things that happened in Jerusalem, in the Middle East. The angel says ‘Come and see the place where he was’. Well, after 2000 years of history, I wonder if it is possible to see ‘the place where he was’. I have been to Jerusalem only once in my life. I was there for one day; one long and very busy day. I was with a lot of people on a holiday. A holiday guide showed us the beautiful churches of Jerusalem. We also looked at the Temple of the Jewish⁵ people. Only one wall of it is still there, the western wall. And there is a large mosque⁶ - a place of worship⁷ for Muslims. The mosque is called the Dome⁸ of the Rock. I was in the middle of one of the most famous cities in the world. But where was the place that Matthew wrote about? Marina Santee is here now to talk about a man who is also in the story of Jesus.
Voice 5
When Jesus was in Jerusalem he had many followers⁹. Some were very rich and powerful. One of these men was Joseph of Arimathea. He was a leader of the Jewish people. He had a special place cut out of a rock. He was making a place to bury the bodies of dead people. Rich men liked to have these places, called tombs. If your body was in a tomb then people would remember you. Your name would remain famous for years. When soldiers executed Jesus in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, Joseph took the body and put it in his own family tomb.
Voice 4
In the Bible, there is another detail about the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. It says that there were flowers and trees around the tomb. This shows that Joseph was a rich man! He employed workers to look after the flowers and trees around his tomb. His workers made a beautiful garden around his tomb.
The surprising thing is, there is a tomb just like this in Jerusalem today. It is on the Nablus Road. It is a quiet place called the Garden Tomb. Many people visit it today. An historian¹⁰ named General Charles Gordon found it more than 120 years ago. General Gordon was a British soldier. He was interested in finding¹¹ the real places in Bible stories.
Voice 5
General Gordon was visiting a friend in Jerusalem in the year 1884. He was looking across the city one day when he saw a hill in the shape of a human head. He knew that in the Bible the place where Jesus died was called Golgotha. It is a word in the Hebrew language which means ‘a hill that looks like the human head-bone, the skull¹²’.
Voice 4
General Gordon went to the hill that looked like a skull. Across the road he saw a small piece of land with no houses on it. This land belonged to a Greek man. The man had already found a lot of human bones in a hole in the rock. This made General Gordon think that it could be an ancient place for burying human bodies.
Voice 5
A few years later, the General was killed in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. But his ideas about the piece of land in Jerusalem did not die with him. His friends decided¹³ to investigate the place. They needed money to buy the land. And in the famous London newspaper, the Times, they appealed for money. In 1894 they had 2000 pounds. That was enough money to buy the land and look after it. To this day it still belongs to a British group called the Garden Tomb Association¹⁴.
Voice 4
Experts still debate the question of the Garden Tomb today. There is another part of Jerusalem that could be the place where Jesus had been buried. It is a rock in the city where there is now a beautiful church. This church was first built in the year 326. It was destroyed two times. And it was re-built for the third time in 1149. Is it the real place where Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus? Many have believed this over the years. But the church is surrounded by the ancient city walls of Jerusalem. And in those days people did not bury dead bodies in the city. They buried bodies on the other side of the wall. I do not want to start a big debate on the programme. Jesus is not like other famous men who have a tomb to help us remember them. Let us close with some words from the guide book of the Garden Tomb. I hope you can visit the place one day.
Voice 3
There is no way of knowing if this is the true place. Too many centuries have passed. Yet how much does it matter? The Bible gives only a few details of the place. The Bible stories are more concerned with telling us that the tomb is empty. The point of the story is that Jesus came back to life. Faith in Jesus does not depend on knowing where he was buried. As it says on the door of the Garden Tomb, ‘He is not here; he is risen.’
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

3 executed   

v.执行（法令）( execute的过去式和过去分词 )；（按计划或设计）作成；履行；演（戏）

参考例句：

• He was executed for treason. 他因叛国罪被处死。
• He was executed in 1887for plotting to assassinate the tsar. 他因密谋暗杀沙皇在1887年被判处极刑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

5 Jewish   

adj.犹太人的，犹太民族的

参考例句：

• The coin bears a Jewish symbol.硬币上有犹太标记。
• They were two Jewish kids;I was friendly with both of them.他们是两个犹太小孩；我同他们都很要好。

6 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

7 worship   

n.崇拜，礼拜；v.崇拜，敬仰；做礼拜

参考例句：

• The Greeks used to worship several gods.过去，希腊人崇奉好几种神。
• Blind worship must be ended.盲目崇拜必须停止。

8 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

9 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

10 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

11 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

12 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。