精美英文欣赏:灵魂—我们心中的神仙

It's hard enough to describe the synergy between the idea of a soul and the material world. Talk of eternity¹ is even more difficult. How does a person gain the whole world and lose his soul? And how does a soul die?Is the soul the phantom² me, which floats off to heaven or is it inextricably who we always are?These are huge questions. It's so much easier to limit soul to a category of music.But oddly I'm with Da Vinci in one respect. The soul is indeed an intricate part of God's grand design in our humanity. It's what it means to be made in God's image and likeness³. But the soul, which some believe to be stronger than death itself, is never immune from the limitations, myths and meanings in our physical world.It can pollute behaviour or elevate us to better ways of being human.Meshed⁴ in a coil of intuitions, instincts, emotions and values by which we live, the soul lives in the material world but should never be defined by it. When it does it dies.

要具体描述灵魂和物质世界的联系真的很困难，更别提什么永生来世了。一个人怎么会赢得全世界却丧失了灵魂？灵魂怎么会消亡？灵魂是我的幻影会飞升天堂，或者灵魂其实就是我们本身？这些都是大问题。灵魂的问题要是能像灵魂乐那样容易归类就好了。奇怪的是，在某一方面，我同意达芬奇的说法。灵魂是上帝造人时在人性中设计的一个很错综复杂的部分。这是参照上帝本身和他的想象产生的。有人相信灵魂比死亡更强大，但灵魂也不能对现实世界中的各种局限、神话和意图完全免疫。灵魂能影响行为，或者让我们成为更好的人。本能、直觉、感情和价值观是我们生活的基础，灵魂存于物质世界但不应该为物质世界所左右，否则必然消亡。

1 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

2 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

3 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

4 meshed   

有孔的，有孔眼的，啮合的

参考例句：

• The wheels meshed well. 机轮啮合良好。
• Their senses of humor meshed perfectly. 他们的幽默感配合得天衣无缝。