英语流行话题阅读-单词5500 unit002（在线收听）

The Puritans Behind the Myths

Who were the real Puritans? And why did Puritan become a derogatory label? In what ways have the Puritans shaped what we believe and how we live today?

Most Americans picture the Puritans as people who had no humor and no compassion.In their minds,the Puritans sat in self-righteous judgment on the rest of the word.That stereotype has lent the word Puritanical the dark meaning it assumes today.That myth should be dispelled.The Puritans were fascinated with bright clothing,and not opposed to parties.They were not prudes.It's true that promiscuity was absent from colonial New England.But for husband and wife ,sex was important, and Puritan families were routinely large. A spouse could be punished by the authorities for withholding sex from his or her partner.

So how did the "joyless Puritan" sterotype get started? It began during Prihibition. When people asked ,"Whom do we blam for this Victorian Amercia we live in"？ and the Puritans came out as culprits.In fact,the Puritans were not teetotalers. Scholars estimate the Puritans had a rum consumprion rate that surpasses the alcoholconsumption rate in the twentirth century.

Puritans were intense lovers and intense haters.They were intensely reverent. For the Puritans ,nothing was done unthinkingly or unfeelingly.They believed that their life mattered,that what they were doing was more important than anything else in the world.The Puritans also feared the rising generation would not measure up to the piety of their fathers and mothers.They often talked about loss of faith in their children.

To understand the Puritans,you have to adopt their attitude :Life is a great adventure.The Puritans saw themselves on a group mission ,like a corporate Pilgrim's Progress.If you read the Puritans' writings as cold ,theological prose,they will kill you quickly.You have to look deeper to see what's motivating them:the yearning to build a Christian civilization, a new world order.Creating this was the adventure of a lifetime.

Puritanism shaped American society to an extraordinary degree.They exerted an influence in Amenican culture disproportionate to their numbers .For instance ,thet gave us a vision infuses American literature,foreign policy and our entire sense of identity.

Listen to Jimmy Carter ,Ronald Reagan ,George Bush,or BIll Clinton.They often speak of "destiny" and "providence" .Or civil-rights leaders speak of a dream of treatment under the law.All of these people are drawing from Puritan roots,whether they know it or not .The Puritans believes that education was central to the Christian life.Harvard was formeng while people were didding out the first settlements.The first classes at Harvard took place with bears running through the campus,yet classes were in Latin.The Puritan colleges were steeped in the Western Christian,classical tradition.In fact,Harvard and Yale wre the only colleges in the Western world that required Hebrew.