欧美文化博览 文化博览:犹太人的故事(6)

The Promised Land.

乐土，福地，希望之乡。

This is the view from Mount Nebo in Jordan.

这是约旦的尼波山。

According to the Bible, this is where Moses died after leading the Israelites for 40 years through the wilderness¹, on the very threshold of the God-Promised Land he was never actually allowed to set foot in.

据圣经记载,这就是摩西耗费40余年带领以色列人穿过茫茫荒野后来到实际上他从未允许涉足神所应允的乐土前就死去的地方。

You don't have to accept the Bible as literal truth to believe that, 3,500 years ago, something extraordinary and fateful in world history did happen over there on the other side of the Jordan Valley.

你不必对圣经的一字一句锱铢必较,早在3500年前,世界历史上意义重大的事情的确发生在约旦河谷的另一边。

Trying to understand what remains² as urgent and necessary for me as it once was for Sigmund Freud.

对我来说试图了解残留下什么才是当务之急,因为对西格蒙德·弗洛伊德曾经也是如此。

But the first people in the modern era to actually go there and explore the history of the Jews from the ground up weren't Jewish at all.

但在现代实际上第一个前往那里探究犹太人的历史的并不是犹太人自身。

They were evangelical Christians⁴, Victorian scientists, surveyors, clerics and military engineers, funded by bishops⁵ and philanthropists.

这些先驱是由主教和慈善家所资助的福音派基督徒,维多利亚时代的科学家、测量员、神职人员和军队工程师。

150 years ago, the Palestine Exploration Fund despatched a series of expeditions to the place its supporters called the Holy Land.

150年前,巴勒斯坦探索基金会派遣一系列考察队前往称为圣地的地方。

They wanted to prove the truth of their Christian³ faith by discovering the Jewish foundation stones on which that faith stood.

他们想通过找寻犹太人信仰的基石证明基督教信仰的真理。

Equipped with the latest in technology that Victorian science could provide, they sought nothing less than the precise grid⁶ references for the places where the miraculous⁷ events described in the Book of Exodus⁸ actually took place.

配备了维多利亚时代的科学可以提供最新的技术,他们仍然找寻不到在《出埃及记》中所描述的神奇事件实际发生的精确网格坐标地点。

That's a lovely one, isn't it?

这很可爱,不是吗?

That's just beautiful!

太漂亮了!

Felicity Cobbing, curator of the PEF collection, showed me the fruits of their labours.

PEF收藏馆的馆长向我展示了他们的劳动成果。

1 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 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。

4 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

5 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

6 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

7 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

8 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。