VOA标准英语2009年-A Grassroots 'Charter for Compassion'

Faiza Elmasry | Washington 01 December 2009

British scholar Karen Armstrong says the Charter for Compassion¹ is a grassroots movement

 
Two decades of studying the world's major religions and writing more than 20 books about them led British scholar Karen Armstrong to conclude that compassion is the core value that all religions share.

Defining compassion

"People seem to think it means to be sorry for people or to feel pity," Armstrong says. "In fact, it means to experience with, to feel with the other, to put yourself in the position of another person. And it's summed up well in the golden rule; do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you," she says.

To be compassionate², she says, requires introspection.  "That requires you to look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain, and then refuse under any circumstance whatsoever³ to inflict⁴ that pain on anybody else."

Compassion is deemed an idea worth spreading

Last year, Armstrong got the chance to turn a desire to encourage people to practice compassion, into reality. She was one of the winners of a TED⁵ prize. The non-profit group presenting the award seeks out what it calls 'ideas worth spreading.' It grants winners one world-changing wish, then arranges for the resources and support to help make it come true.

"I dreamed up the idea of a charter that would restore compassion to the center of religious life.  So I wrote a draft charter. We put the charter online. We invited the world to contribute online, on a multi-lingual website. And hundreds and thousands of people from all over the world put [in] their ideas. So it's a grassroots movement," Armstrong says.

She says the input⁶ received is part of a final charter that was written at a meeting in Switzerland with help from some 20 leading thinkers and activists⁷ representing six religious faiths.  She says the purpose of the document is to unify⁸, inspire and bring compassion back into the heart of societies around the world.

People of many faiths helped write the charter

The Charter for Compassion was unveiled Nov. 12. Visitors to the website can support the charter and share their own stories of acts of compassion. There's also a video in which dozens of people take turns reading the charter.

One passage reads, "We therefore call upon all men and women to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion; to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation⁹ of scripture¹⁰ that breeds violence, hatred¹¹ or disdain¹² is illegitimate; to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures; to encourage a positive appreciation¹³ of cultural and religious diversity; to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings - even those regarded as enemies."

Armstrong says, "It's a short document, 300 words long. It is, first of all, a call to work actively¹⁴ and energetically for the benefit of the whole of humanity, and this is a religious duty. We should be concerned about the environment, world hunger, world poverty, poverty in our own societies, sickness (and) health problems. All these are religious issues. Secondly¹⁵, we must also refrain from inflicting¹⁶ harm. That includes violence of any kind, and also unkind speech in public or private life."

Events promote the compassion movement

To celebrate the launch of the charter more than two dozen organizations held events and activities.

"There was an essay competition, for example, for young people in Australia," Armstrong says. "There's going to be an art exhibition in New York on the theme of compassion. In Kuala Lumpur, they set up a wall for compassion right in the middle of the city. And the Muslim communities in several countries in Europe are holding public debates and discussions to propagate the notion of compassion. And that's important because there is so much trouble in Europe with the Muslim immigrant communities who are having a very rough time at the moment," she says.

Compassion in religious teachings

Armstrong also wants compassion to shape the way religion is taught to youngsters.

"We must also decide what we're going to do with those violent texts that are in all our scriptures¹⁷," she says. "How are we going to deal with them when they're often used for such harm. And I like to see a sort of cooperative effort. This is certainly happening, I know for fact, in Jerusalem. Right at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, you have a movement where Imams and Rabbis are studying their scriptures together for precisely¹⁸ this purpose. It can be done. So if you're bringing up children bring them up to be compassionate, to respect others, to respect differences and not see it as a threat," she says.

Raising the profile of the compassionate point of view

The charter has been endorsed¹⁹ by religious and public figures including Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, as well as by cultural icons²⁰ including fashion designer Kenneth Cole, record producer Quincy Jones and author Isabel Allende.  And Armstrong has more ideas to add momentum²¹ to her movement.

"One of the things that I'm thinking of is setting up a rapid response team worldwide, she says."If a crisis blows up that needs a compassionate voice, we are poised²² to go speak on the media, to write an [editorial] in the newspaper, go on television, organize a an event or something to bring a compassionate voice because we're hearing so much hatred on the media. We need another voice out there. I want to empower people," she says.

Armstrong says the Charter for Compassion can give a voice to the silent majority of all faith traditions and provide a tool for building a better global society where people can live together in peace and harmony.
 

1 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

2 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。

3 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

4 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

5 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

6 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

9 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

10 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

11 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

12 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

13 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

14 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

15 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

16 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

17 scriptures   

经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典

参考例句：

• Here the apostle Peter affirms his belief that the Scriptures are 'inspired'. 使徒彼得在此表达了他相信《圣经》是通过默感写成的。
• You won't find this moral precept in the scriptures. 你在《圣经》中找不到这种道德规范。

18 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

19 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

21 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

22 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。