智慧人生篇章 第14期:财富公平

 　　I'm hesitant here to quote anyone from the Bible¹ because recently when I mentioned a saying of Jesus someone objected that he had never run anything in his life. The same's true of St Paul. But writing to the well-off in the city of Corinth about helping² the poor in Jerusalem, Paul said, It's a question of a fair balance between your abundance³ and their need, as it is written 'the one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.On this programme I've listened to debates about fairness. They always seem pretty inconclusive. Some might say that it's all relative. And maybe they're right for it's in the relationship between abundance and poverty that fairness is to be found. It's only when we come face to face with other people's need that we then know when we have too much. So let the creators of wealth walk the streets of the poor in search of that fair balance. Perhaps that's what Lord⁴ Heseltine was looking for when he walked the streets of Toxteth.

　　我有点不敢引经据典，最近我引用了一段耶稣的话，有人就反对了，说耶稣这辈子啥也没干。圣保罗也是。为了帮助耶路撒冷的穷苦大众，圣保罗给科林斯地区的有钱人写信道：“既然你们现在富足，就应该帮助那些贫穷的，正如圣经所说‘多收的，没有余；少收的，没有缺.’在这个节目里我听到过一些关于公平的辩论，但基本没什么结论，有人说这些都是相关的。也许他们说的对，因为公平只有在富足和贫穷的互动中才能被发现。只有当我们面对别人的需求时才能发现自己拥有的太多了。就让那些财富创造者们穿行于穷街陋巷寻找公平吧。也许这才是Heseltine爵士在Toxteth的大街小巷寻找的东西。

1 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。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 abundance   

n.大量，丰富，充足

参考例句：

• At the feast there was food and drink in abundance.宴会上有丰富的饮食。
• There is an abundance of commodity supplies on the markets.商品供应充足。

4 lord   

n.上帝，主；主人，长官；君主，贵族

参考例句：

• I know the Lord will look after him.我知道上帝会眷顾他的。
• How good of the Lord not to level it beyond repair!上帝多么仁慈啊，竟没有让这所房子损毁得不可收拾！