2006年VOA标准英语-Pope Reiterates Remorse Over 'Misunderstanding'

By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
20 September 2006

Pope Benedict XVI once again clarified his comments on Islam, last week, saying they were misunderstood. He was addressing a large crowd of pilgrims in St. Peter's Square for the general audience.

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Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict once more sought to clarify his comments on Islam that caused outrage¹ and anger in the Muslim world. Addressing thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter's Square, he said the subject of his speech at the University of Regensburg, in Germany, was the relationship between faith and reason.

But he acknowledged that his words were open to misinterpretation.

"I included a quotation² between religion and violence," he said. "This quotation unfortunately was misunderstood. In no way did I wish to make my own the words of the Medieval emperor."

The quotation described some of the teachings by the Prophet Mohammed as "evil" and "inhuman³."

Pope Benedict also said Wednesday he hopes that, after the initial reaction, his words will lead to positive and even critical self-dialogue among religions.

"I hope that my profound respect for world religions and for Moslems, who worship the one God, and with them we promote peace, liberty and social justice and moral values for the benefit of all humanity is clear," the pope said.

Sunday, Pope Benedict said that he was "deeply sorry" over the reactions to his comments and that they did not reflect his own opinions. Not all in the Islamic world were satisfied by the pope's statement of regret.

Muslim anger turned violent, following the Pope's words. Churches were firebombed in the Middle East and papal effigies⁴ burned. Security has been stepped up around the Vatican.

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

3 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

4 effigies   

n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• stone effigies in the church 教堂里的石雕像
• On 5 November British children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 每逢11月5日英国儿童都焚烧盖伊．福克斯的模拟像。 来自辞典例句