精美英文欣赏:残疾不等于异类

Newspaper obituaries¹ are a useful window onto history and reading accounts of the life of the late politician Alf Morris this week reminded me just how different Britain was 50 years ago before Morris and fellow MP Jack² Ashley championed the disabled. Until the late 1960s disability was something that was seen as essentially³ a private misfortune. When I was a child you would often see outside shops models of little children in callipers holding out a collection box. They were objects of pity and seen as different. Alf Morris altered all that, introducing with cross-party support legislation to make life easier for the disabled. But Morris didn't just help improve facilities, mobility⁴ and access, he also helped change a mindset. Disabled people were not to be hidden from view but were as much part of society as the able-bodied. We've still a long way to go, as recent stories about the harassment⁵ and bullying⁶ of people with special needs shows. But there's certainly been change, driven by a desire for social justice. In the Christian⁷ tradition that desire for social justice has been inspired by the account in Matthew's Gospel of how people will be judged by the way they treat others. Christ tells his followers⁸ that people will be blessed if they serve the vulnerable as if they are responding to God himself. "When I was hungry, you fed me, " Christ says, "When I was sick you cared for me, when I was in prison you visited me. " It's clear from the Gospels that at the time of Christ people with disabilities or disease were on the outside of society, and were often feared. An illness like leprosy or a disability put you on the margins⁹. But Christ urged that the vulnerable should be drawn¹⁰ back into society, that the rest should walk alongside them. And yet there's still a danger with Christ's call to visit the sick and feed the hungry that it will be interpreted as an invitation to bestow¹¹ our help like Lady Bountiful's, to make a distinction between them and us. But Christ's words must be read alongside his other urging too: to love one's neighbour as oneself. Then feeding the hungry or caring for the sick is about giving people respect and dignity because we understand they are, indeed, just like us. Alf Morris and Jack Ashley helped society make huge strides but they wouldn't have wanted people to be complacent¹². The disabled might have been given more respect. But what about the elderly or those with dementia? They seem in sore need of an Alf Morris, and of society being reminded of Christ's words too.

新闻讣告是非常实用的历史之窗，本周，读着已经作古的政治家阿尔夫·莫里斯的生平，我意识到50年前的英国和如今相比是多么的不同。那时，莫里斯和同为议员的杰克·阿什利还没有开始捍卫残疾人的权利。在1960年代之前，残疾被视为个人的不幸。在我的孩提时期，常常会看到戴着双脚规形夹孩子们拿着募捐箱站在店外，像模特般一动不动。人们十分同情他们，视其为异类。阿尔夫·莫里斯改变了这一切。他引进了跨党派支持法案，残疾人的生活因此轻松了不少。然而莫里斯不仅仅帮助改善了设施，使残疾人的出行更加方便，他还改变了人们的观念。残疾人不再躲藏在人们的视线外，而和健全人一样是组成社会的一份子。鉴于最近有关特殊人群遭受骚扰和欺负的报道，我们还有很长的一段路要走。不过在社会正义的驱使下，情况发生了明显的变化。在基督教中，《马太福音》激发了人们对社会正义的渴望，它讲述了人们如何对待他人，就会受到怎样的评判。基督告诉他的追随者，如果他们像服务上帝那样服务弱者，他们就能得到上帝的赐福。“当我饿的时候你给我食吃，”基督说，“当我生病的时候你照顾我。当我入狱时你来看望我。”从福音书中可以很明显的看出，在基督那个年代，残疾人或病人是游离于社会之外的，并常常让人感到害怕。残疾还有麻疯病这类疾病把人推向社会边缘。但基督呼吁弱者应当被带回社会，其他人则应陪在他们周围。然而在基督的呼吁声中仍存在着危险因素，他要求人们探望病人，给饥饿的人食吃，这会被诠释为像富太太一样去施舍，会在他们和我们之间划下一道鸿沟。不过基督的这番话应和他说的其它的话放在一起看：像爱自己一样爱自己的邻居。那么，给饥饿的人食吃或者探望病人就是在给他们尊重和尊严，因为我们明白他们和我们一模一样。阿尔夫·莫里斯和杰克·阿什利帮助我们的社会前进了一大步，但是他们绝不愿意人们就此自鸣得意。残疾人应得到更多的尊重。不过老年人和痴呆患者又应如何呢？他们似乎亟需一个类似阿尔夫·莫里斯这样的人，还需要一个把基督的话语铭记在心的社会。

1 obituaries   

讣告，讣闻( obituary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Next time I read about him, I want it in the obituaries. 希望下次读到他的消息的时候，是在仆告里。
• People's obituaries are written while they're still alive? 人们在世的时候就有人给他们写讣告？

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

5 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

6 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 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。

9 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 bestow   

v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费

参考例句：

• He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.他希望将那些伟大的荣誉授予这位英雄。
• What great inspiration wiII you bestow on me?你有什么伟大的灵感能馈赠给我？

12 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。