精美英文欣赏:基督教的禁食运动（在线收听）

Everyone loves a bargain, as those restaurant chains which offer you special "all you can eat" deals for a fixed price know all too well. In Pakistan a pizza company had been doing a roaring trade during the Muslim month of fasting. Families who were ravenous after a day of not eating would pile into the restaurants for the evening meal of Iftar to eat pizza after pizza for as little as ￡7. But now there's been a national outcry over the cutting of this special deal. The pizza chain says stuffing yourself with endless food goes against the spirit of Ramadan and is an invitation to gluttony. Gluttony's not about eating considerable amounts but eating just for the sake of it. Olympic athletes like Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins consume huge amounts of protein and carbohydrates at particular times as part of their preparation for races. The food has a purpose. They control it, it doesn't control them. Gluttony is the exact opposite, which is why Christianity describes it as a deadly sin, an occasion when we let our desires be so sated that they shape us, both physically and spiritually. With fasting, many religions use it as a discipline of the body, as a sacrifice for God. And yet fasting is also beneficial to our health, as a Horizon documentary this week explained. Medical evidence shows that not eating a couple of days a week can boost the brain and aid longevity, something that's apparently due to how we evolved. That makes me wonder if the ancient peoples of the desert where the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam originated had somehow realised this. But what they certainly advocated is that just as exercise is good for the body, so fasting is a spiritual exercise, allowing us to flex the muscles of the soul. They believed that if we limit what we eat, particularly on special days or seasons, it helps us focus on God, putting love of him before our love of things, before our earthly desires, before ourselves. The Gospels record Jesus' 40 day fast in the desert had him tempted again and again by the Devil. It was a testing of his humility. That is why in the Christian tradition fasting goes hand in hand with prayer and the giving of alms to help those less fortunate than ourselves. It is a moment to focus on what is truly important, or to use current sporting jargon, get in the zone. Giving up food for the spiritual athlete can do the same job as targeted eating for a sporting hero as he prepares for the race of their life.

每个人都喜欢讨价还价，因为这些连锁餐厅，为您提供特殊的“你可以吃”的固定价格的交易都非常清楚。在巴基斯坦的一个比萨饼公司已在穆斯林斋戒月生意兴隆。谁是后一天不吃饭狼吞虎咽的家庭会堆积成的开斋晚餐餐厅后吃比萨饼比萨饼英镑少。但现在有这会是一个国家在这种特殊处理的切割哗然。比萨连锁店说，馅用自己无尽的食物，违背了斋月的精神，是暴食邀请。暴食不是吃相当数量，但吃的缘故。像莫法拉和布拉德利威金斯奥运健儿消耗大量的蛋白质和碳水化合物，特别是他们为比赛准备的一部分时间。食物都有一个目的。他们控制它，它不控制他们。暴食是正好相反，这是为什么基督教描述为一个致命的罪，借势当我们让我们的欲望，所以吃饱，他们塑造了我们，无论是身体上和精神上。禁食，许多宗教都使用它作为身体的纪律，作为一个为上帝牺牲。但空腹也有利于我们的健康，作为地平线纪录片本周解释。医学证据表明，吃了一个星期天的情侣，可以促进大脑和援助长寿，这显然是由于我们如何进化的东西。这使我不知道如果沙漠亚伯拉罕宗教犹太教，基督教和伊斯兰教的起源的古老民族在某种程度上意识到了这一点。但他们肯定提倡的是，正如运动是对身体有益，因此禁食是一种精神锻炼，让我们灵魂的弯曲肌肉。他们认为，如果我们限制我们吃什么，特别是在特殊的日子或季节，它可以帮助我们专注于神之前，我们对事物的爱，把爱他之前，我们尘世的欲望在自己的面前，。福音记录耶稣在沙漠中的40天快了，他一次又一次诱惑的魔鬼。这是一个测试他的谦逊。这就是为什么在基督教传统禁食，祈祷的手手和施舍，帮助那些比自己幸运。这是一个时刻把重点放在什么是真正重要的，或者使用现有的体育术语，得到区。放弃的精神运动员的食物，可以做同样的工作，有针对性的体育英雄吃，因为他准备为他们的生活比赛。