英语听力—环球英语 1110 Martin Luther: Understanding the Bible

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Robin² Basselin.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I’m Ryan Geertsma. 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

 

　　It was May of 1521. A man was secretly travelling home.  He was riding in a horse pulled wagon³. He was deep in the forests of Germany. The man in the wagon was afraid.  He knew that people wanted to kill him. As he rode through the forest, he prayed.  He asked God to protect him. Suddenly, he heard something loud. It was the noise of horses. He looked around.  He tried to find a way to escape. But he could not! Five men on horses surrounded him. The men pulled him out of the wagon.  And they took him away. This man was Martin Luther. He had been kidnapped!

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Martin Luther was born in Germany in 1483. He was an intelligent boy. His father wanted him to go to law school and become a lawyer. So when Luther was 19 years old, he attended the University of Erfurt.  He earned his degree.  Then, he began law school.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　One day, Luther was returning to law school from his home. He was in the middle of a large field, when it began to storm. There was lightning and thunder all around him. A bolt of lightning struck the ground near him.  Luther was very afraid.  He thought he was going to die. He began praying and he made a promise to God.  He told God that if he survived this storm, he would become a Christian⁴ monk⁵. He would separate himself from the world. And he would devote his life to serving God.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Luther did survive the storm. And, he kept his promise to God.  He left law school. This decision made his father angry. But Luther wanted to become a monk. Luther joined a monastery⁶. There he lived with other Christian monks⁷. Together, they served God and tried to live holy lives. Luther also began studying to be a Christian religious leader.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　In 1507, Martin Luther became a Christian priest⁸. As a gift, someone gave Luther a Latin Bible. At this time in Europe, Christian Bibles cost a lot of money.  They were only found in churches. And they were only printed in the Latin language.  Luther was excited.  He had learned Latin in his studies.  And he began reading the Bible often.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Through reading the Bible, Martin Luther gained new understanding about God. He read things that seemed different than what Christian church leaders had taught him.  Church leaders had taught Luther that he had to earn or pay for God’s love and forgiveness. The church sold expensive letters of forgiveness.  They also encouraged people to visit and touch relics¹⁰. A relic⁹ is a part of a holy person’s body or something he owned. People believed that by touching¹¹ relics, they would receive God’s love and forgiveness.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　However, when Luther read the Bible himself, he found a different message.  He believed the Bible said that God offered his love and forgiveness freely.  He read about how God offered this salvation¹² through Jesus Christ.  Luther thought the Bible was clear – people only needed to have faith in God and his message.  If they had faith, they would receive God’s love and forgiveness.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　This new understanding of the Bible brought Luther great joy. He felt free. He no longer had to fear that he would not do enough to earn God’s love and forgiveness.  He believed he had salvation through faith alone.  And he wanted other people to know this truth.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Luther decided¹³ to write a paper about his new understanding of the Bible’s message.  It was called “The 95 Theses¹⁴.” Luther brought it to the city of Wittenberg in Germany. He nailed the paper onto the church doors. Many people read Martin Luther’s paper. And many people agreed with it.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　However, Church leaders were not happy with Luther for doing this. They called him a heretic – a person who taught wrong belief. The leaders of the church decided that they must stop Luther from spreading his message.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　So, the highest leaders of the Church invited Luther to meet with them in Germany. They told Luther that he had to apologize for writing the paper. But Luther refused. They told him they would punish him if he did not remove particular parts of the document. Luther still refused.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　After the meeting, Church leaders declared Martin Luther a criminal. They warned people all over Germany not to give him food or shelter. Martin Luther was in danger.  He had to travel in secret.  He had to avoid government and church leaders, and all other enemies.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　This is where our story began.  Luther was secretly travelling through the forest. Suddenly, a group of men stopped him.  They surrounded him and kidnapped him. However, these men were not Luther’s enemies.  They were allies¹⁵.  They worked for a man that agreed with Luther’s teaching.  They brought Luther to a safe place.  It was Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. There, Luther hid so no one could find or kill him.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Martin Luther stayed at Wartburg Castle for many months.  He continued to write and study the Bible.  He also continued to think about the German people.  He wanted all Germans to be able to read the Bible like he did. However, very few people were able to read the Bible themselves.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　As young boy, Luther remembered going to church. Everyone that attended the church spoke¹⁶ the German language. But, when the Christian priest spoke – he spoke in Latin.  He also read from the Latin Bible. Most people could not understand the priest. They did not know Latin. Even as a young boy, Luther wondered,

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　“How do those people know if the priest is telling the truth? They cannot read the Bible for themselves!”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　These memories caused Luther to act.  He decided to translate the Latin Bible into German. After 11 weeks at Wartburg Castle, Luther finished translating a major part of the Christian Bible called the New Testament¹⁷. Years after that, he finished translating the rest of Bible or the Old Testament. This was a major achievement!  Luther translated the whole Christian Bible into German.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　After this, printing presses printed many German Bibles. People all over Germany were now able to buy and read the Bible in their own language! Like Luther, Germans could now read and interpret¹⁸ the Bible for themselves! Reading the Bible helped many people to understand God better - just like Luther.  This created many big changes in the Christian church. And it took one man’s courage and devotion to make this possible.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The writer of this program was David Phelps.  The producer was Mark Drenth. The voices you heard were from the United States. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at http://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called, “Martin Luther: Understanding the Bible.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye!

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 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

4 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。

5 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

6 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。

7 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 priest   

n.神父，牧师，司铎，司祭，领导者，神甫；vt.使成为神职人员

参考例句：

• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned.他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。
• The priest visited all the old people in the parish.牧师探望了教区里的所有老人。

9 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

10 relics   

[pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸

参考例句：

• The area is a treasure house of archaeological relics. 这个地区是古文物遗迹的宝库。
• Xi'an is an ancient city full of treasures and saintly relics. 西安是一个有很多宝藏和神圣的遗物的古老城市。

11 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

12 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

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 theses   

指挥棒的朝下挥动； 论题( thesis的名词复数 )； 命题； 论文； 毕业（或学位）论文

参考例句：

• Two Ph. D. theses attest to the results of his work. 有两篇哲学博士论文论证了他的研究结果。
• The collection of the theses is ready for publication. 这本论文集已准备好可以出版了。

15 allies   

联盟国，同盟者； 同盟国，同盟者( ally的名词复数 )； 支持者； 盟军

参考例句：

• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。
• A number of the United States' allies had urged him not to take a hasty decision. 美国的一些盟友已力劝他不要急于作决定。

16 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。

17 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。

18 interpret   

vt.解释，说明，理解；vi.作口译

参考例句：

• We have to interpret his words in a modern light.我们不得不用现代观点来解释他的话。
• Please interpret the comments of our foreign guest.请把外宾的话翻译一下。