英语听力—环球英语 457：Bonhoeffer

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Adam Navis.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Would you ever kill someone? Wait, do not say “no” immediately. Think about it. What if someone was threatening your family? What if your country were being attacked? What if you could save millions of lives by taking only one? Would you kill then?
Voice 2
Ethics² is the debate over how people should act. Sometimes this debate takes place in school – as a theory. Other times these debates take place in the middle of life. People need to make difficult decisions. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one man who had to move ethics out of theory and into his life. He had to decide if he was going to help kill another man.
Voice 1
In 1931 Dietrich Bonhoeffer became an ordained³ Lutheran pastor⁴. He had completed his studies and had been teaching and writing for a few years. Around this time, Germany was changing. The Nazi⁵ political party was rising to power and Adolf Hitler was taking control of the country. To get more control for himself, Hitler only permitted the state approved church. He began to tell people that their first loyalty⁶ belonged to the nation of Germany, not to God.
Voice 2
Bonhoeffer became part of a group of two thousand pastors⁷ who formed the Pastors Emergency League. They opposed the state approved Nazi church. When pressure from the government increased, this group changed into the illegal Confessing Church. The Confessing Church believed that Christians⁸ should follow God first, not the nation or Hitler. Bonhoeffer served as the head of the Confessing Church’s illegal school.
Voice 1
Bonhoeffer was a pacifist. A pacifist does not believe that violence is ever the solution to problems. But as Bonhoeffer heard stories of Jewish people being killed, his ideas changed. He decided⁹ that pacifism was a good theory, but to not act was to act. If he, and others, did not act, they were letting Hitler succeed. If he did nothing to fight the evil he saw, he was supporting the evil. He said this:
Voice 3
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us innocent. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Voice 2
This is how a pacifist minister found himself working to kill an evil dictator¹⁰. Bonhoeffer joined a group working to fight Nazism¹¹. He could still travel outside the country, so he took information to Great Britain. He tried to gather support for the Confessing Church and tell the world that not every German supported Hitler.
Voice 1
Bonhoeffer did have the chance to escape from Germany completely. Once, he travelled to New York City. But after only a few weeks, he decided to return. He knew that if he was going to help rebuild the country he loved, he would have to stay during the struggle for the heart of Germany.
Voice 2
So he returned. He could not support Hitler’s government. But he could not do nothing. He believed that killing¹² was wrong, but he also believed it was wrong not to help people in trouble. During this time he spent a lot of time thinking and writing about the right thing to do.
Voice 1
Eventually he decided to join a group trying to kill Adolf Hitler. And when the attempt failed, the German government arrested him and put in prison.
Voice 2
In prison, Bonhoeffer wrote many letters and documents. Some of these explained how he decided to join the group trying to kill Hitler. He said that there are two things to guide Christians in life’s situations. The first is the needs of the people around you. In this case, these were the millions of people Hitler was killing.
Voice 1
The second guide is the model of Jesus Christ and his teaching called “The Beatitudes” These centre on the poor, those who are sad, and those who suffer. When trying to make a difficult decision, he tried to remember these things.
Voice 2
We began today’s program by asking if you would kill someone. Now, put yourself in Bonhoeffer’s position. If you had the chance to kill a single person and save the lives of millions of people, would you do it? If you say “no” then what would you do? Nothing? Walk away? Let the people suffer and die? These are not easy questions. Every answer leads to suffering.
Voice 1
For Bonhoeffer, his answer led to his death. Here is what happened as told by the prison doctor:
Voice 4
“On the morning of the day, sometime between five and six o’clock, the prisoners were led out of their cells and the judgements read to them. Through the half–open door of a room I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, still in his prison clothes, on his knees in prayer to the Lord his God. The devotion and clear belief of being heard that I saw in this man, moved me to my depths.”
Voice 1
Then, Bonhoeffer had all his clothes removed. He was led outside to the gallows¹³. Here he prayed once more. Five minutes later his life was ended. He was only thirty–nine years old.
Voice 2
Bonhoeffer believed that being a pacifist would require he remove himself too far from the suffering of the people that he wanted to help. He would have been no help at all. There are many Christians who would have encouraged Bonhoeffer to find a non–violent form of resistance. And yet, what makes Bonhoeffer’s actions different from other acts of violence was that he was moved by Jesus Christ’s command to help the poor and the suffering, those who cannot help themselves.
Voice 1
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not trying to develop a model of action. He was not telling people that all acts of violence were good as long as you felt God was behind you. Instead, he was one man in one situation trying to decide what was best. He was not sure he was doing the right thing. But he was willing to accept the results of his actions, both for his body and for his soul.
 

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 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

3 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

6 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

7 pastors   

n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do we show respect to our pastors, missionaries, Sunday school teachers? 我们有没有尊敬牧师、宣教士，以及主日学的老师？ 来自互联网
• Should pastors or elders be paid, or serve as a volunteer? 牧师或长老需要付给酬劳，还是志愿的事奉呢？ 来自互联网

8 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。

9 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。

10 dictator   

n.独裁者，爱发号施令的人

参考例句：

• We felt quite impotent to resist the will of the dictator.我们感到无力抗拒独裁者的意志。
• A dictator must have a firm hand.独裁者的手段是很厉害的。

11 Nazism   

n. 纳粹主义

参考例句：

• His philosophical eyes were obviously shortsighted by the evil influence of Nazism. 显然，他那双哲学家般的深邃的眼睛也被纳粹的妖氛所眩惑。 来自中国文学部分
• Nazism suppressed all three movements as degenerate. 纳粹把所有三个运动都作为颓废艺术而加以镇压。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 gallows   

n.绞刑架，绞台

参考例句：

• The murderer was sent to the gallows for his crimes.谋杀犯由于罪大恶极被处以绞刑。
• Now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows.现在我将在绞刑架上赎我一切的罪过。