the last dinner

　　jesus spent his last few hours of liberty quietly in the suburb of bethany. it was the day of passover. the jews observed this feast by eating roast lamb and unleavened bread. 2

　　jesus asked his disciples to go to town and reserve a room in one of the smaller inns and order a dinner that they might all be together.

　　when evening came, judas, looking bland3 and innocent, left the house together with the others. they went down the mount of olives and entered the city and found that everything was ready. they took their seats around one long table and began to eat.

　　but it was not a cheerful meal. they felt the dread of those coming events which already were casting their terrible shadow over the small group of faithful friends.

　　jesus spoke very little. the others sat in gloomy silence. at last peter could stand it no longer, and he blurted4 out what was in everybody’s mind . “master, ”he said,“we want to know. do you have reason to suspect one of us?” softly jesus answered, “ yes. one among you who is now sitting at this table will bring disaster upon us all. ” then all the disciples got up and crowded around him. they protested their innocence. at that moment judas slipped quietly out of the room. they now all knew what was to come. they could no longer remain in that little room. they needed fresh air, and they left the inn and walked out of the gate and went back to the mount of olives and opened the wicket to a garden which a friend had told them to use whenever they wished to be alone . it was called gethsemane5 , after an old oil-press which stood in a corner. after a while jesus walked away from the little group. but three of the disciples who were closest to him, followed at a distance.

　　he turned around and bade them wait and watch while he prayed.

　　the time had come for a final decision. escape was still possible , but escape would mean a silent confession of guilt and defeat for his ideas.

　　he was alone among the silent trees and fought his last great battle . he was a man in the fullness of his years. life still held a great promise. death, once his enemies captured him, would come in a most terrible form. he made his choice . he stayed. he went back to his friends. and behold! they were fast asleep . a moment later, the whole garden was in an uproar. led by judas, the guards of the sanhedrin rushed upon the prophet. judas was at their head. he threw his arms around his master and kissed him. 6 that was the sign for which the soldiers had waited. at that moment, peter realized what was happening.

　　閱讀自測

　�、�. welcome to the eden of animals . according to chinese , choose the correct english word: ( bee, rabbit, butterfly, lark, lion, mouse, d&111nkey)

　　1. tom always has a lot of things to do. every time you see him, he is as busy as a ________( 忙得團團轉) .

　　2. although it was an easy problem, i still made a mistake . it really made feel that i was as stupid as a ________( 蠢如驢) .

　　3. cathy is dressed very well and looks as beautiful as a ________( 像蝴蝶一樣漂亮) .

　　4. the villagers beat the enemy and lived as merry as a ________( 非�？旎�) .

　　5. tom and jerry are twins, but they are quite different. tom is as timid as a ( 膽小如鼠) while jerry as bold as a________ ( 莽如雄獅) .

　　6. after the company went into bankruptcy ________( 宣告破產(chǎn)) , he was as poor as a church ________( 一貧如洗) .

　�、�. can you crack the riddle ?

　　have you heard of sphinx ( 斯芬克司) of greek mythology?

　　sphinx was a monster with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, the wings of a bird, a serpent’s tail and lion’s paws. it had a human voice and usually asked passers-by to guess her riddle. if the man was unable to find the answer, she would eat them. if he could, she would kill herself. the riddle is this: what goes on four feet, on two feet, and three , but the more feet it goes on, the weaker it be ?

　　do you get the answer? explain yourself.

　　參考答案

　�、�. 1. bee 2. d&111nkey 3. butterfly 4 . lark 5 . rabbit / lion 6 . mouse

　�、�. it is a man. as an infant, the man crawls upon all fours. when in manhood, he goes erect on two feet and when in old age , he supports his tottering legs with a stick.

　　參考譯文

　　最后的晚餐

　　耶穌在貝瑟尼郊區(qū)平靜地度過了生命 中最后幾小時的自由行動時間。那天是逾越節(jié),猶 太人吃烤羔羊肉和無酵餅來慶祝這一節(jié)日。

　　耶穌讓門徒進城到一家小酒館訂了房間及晚餐, 他們將在那里聚會。

　　夜色降臨, 猶大若無其事地和其他人一起離開了家。他們下了橄欖山, 進了城, 發(fā)現(xiàn)一 切均已備好。他們圍著一張長桌坐了下來, 然后開始用餐。

　　可這并不是一頓讓人感到愉快的晚餐。即將發(fā)生的事早已在這一小群忠實的教友中 間投下了可怕的陰影, 他們感到了恐懼。

　　耶穌沒怎么說話。其他人憂郁且安靜地坐著。

　　最后, 彼得再也無法忍受, 脫口道出了大家的心聲。 “ 老師, ”他說,“ 我們想知道, 您是否有充分的理由懷疑我們中間的一個? ” 耶穌輕聲地回答:“ 是的�，F(xiàn)在坐在這張桌子旁的, 你們中間的一人將給我們大家?guī)��?災難。” 隨后, 所有的門徒都站起來圍在了他的四周, 聲辯各自的清白。 就在那一刻, 猶大悄悄溜出了房間。 這下他們都知道要發(fā)生什么事了。他們再也無法呆在那個小房間里了。 他們需要呼吸一些新鮮的空氣, 就離開小酒館, 走出大門, 返回橄欖山, 然后打開通往 一個花園的邊門。一個朋友告訴他們, 無論何時只要他們想單獨呆一會, 都可以進那個花 園。

　　那個花園叫客西馬尼, 就在角落里榨油機的后面。

　　過了一會兒, 耶穌走開了。和他關系最近的三個門徒在不遠處跟著他。

　　他轉過身, 命令他的門徒等待并守護著他做禱告。 做出最后決定的時刻來臨了。雖然他仍有可能逃跑, 但那將意味著默認自己有罪和承 認自己思想的失敗。 他獨自呆在靜悄悄的樹林里, 作出了生前最英勇的斗爭。 他正值壯年。生活仍有很多希望。 一旦敵人逮捕了他, 他將以一種很可怕的方式被處死。 他做出了抉擇。他不逃。他回到教友們中間。 看! 他們都睡熟了。 片刻之后, 整個花園一片喧嘩。 一群猶太教公會衛(wèi)兵在猶大的帶領下, 向這位先知沖過來。 猶大就在最 前面。 他摟著老師并親吻了他。 這正是士兵們等待的信號。 那一刻, 彼得終于明白發(fā)生了什么。

　　閱讀導評

　　人的一生就像是道選擇題, 而我們每個人, 無時無刻不在做出自己的選擇, 以期達到所追求的境界。哈姆雷特在生死之間也曾猶豫過,“ 生還是死, 這是個問題�！币�穌在逃跑與 留下之間, 選擇了留下, 選擇了承擔責任。盡管這樣做的代價是在痛苦中結束自己的生命, 然而他得到的卻是自己的清白和堅貞不渝的宗教信仰以及他不曾預想到的對后世的深遠 影響。

　　閱讀導釋

　　1. 最后的晚餐, 講述的是耶穌在逾越節(jié)的時候和他的12 個門徒聚餐時的情形。那天, 他被門 徒猶大出賣, 后來被釘死在十字架上。達·芬奇的名畫《最后的晚餐》描繪的就是這次聚 餐時的情形。由于在最后的晚餐中, 猶大被認為是第13 個人, 因此現(xiàn)代英語國家對數(shù)字 “13”就很忌諱, 他們在請客時一定會避開這個數(shù)字, 既不會選13 日也不會請13 個人。

　　2. 這一小段主要是講逾越節(jié)( passover) 的過法。猶太人吃烤羔羊肉和無酵餅慶賀。注意, 這里的observe 不是通常大家所說的“觀察”或“ 評述”的意思, 而是“慶祝, 過( 節(jié)日、生日 等) ”的意思, 等同于celebrate, 如: observe the national day ( 慶祝國慶) ; we always observe birthdays at home. ( 我們總是在家里過生日。)

　　3. 這個詞是“無動于衷的, 滿不在乎的, 泰然自若的”的意思。還可作形容詞, 作“淡而無味的, 枯 燥乏味的”解, 如:this is a bland story with little plot. ( 這是個缺乏情節(jié)而又枯燥乏味的故事。)

　　4. 指“ 脫口而出, 沖口說出”, 如: he blurted out the secret. ( 他不慎說出了秘密。)

　　5. 客西馬尼, 地名, 耶路撒冷附近的一個小花園。在《圣經(jīng)》中, 這是耶穌蒙難的地方, 故常 被引作為“ 蒙難地, 蒙難時刻”。

　　6. 這句話即judas kiss 一詞的來源。在《圣經(jīng)》中猶大以親吻的方式暗示衛(wèi)兵抓住耶穌, 所 以judas kiss 指“ 口蜜腹劍的偽善陰險行為”。與猶大有關的詞語還有judas goat, 專指用 于引領羊群到屠宰場的“ 頭羊, 領頭山羊”。

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