智慧人生篇章 第11期:同性恋婚姻之争(1)
时间：2018-12-03 作者：英语课 分类：智慧人生篇章
The debate on gay marriage is making me uncomfortable. Columnists 1 tell me breezily that I should welcome it because of equality. Catholic and Anglican Bishops 2 say I should shun 3 it because it undermines one of the fundamental building blocks of society. Now my instincts are liberal. I think the introduction of civil partnerships 4 was a great achievement and I don't like the tone of recent church pronouncements.But there is an issue here which is in danger of being trivialised on both sides. The issue is the nature of marriage. Is it a convention or a sacrament? If it is a convention of course it can be redefined. But if a sacrament this is not so easy. The point about sacraments is that they can't be made up. They work because they are a precise configuration 5 of the material and the spiritual. When I celebrate Holy Communion I need bread and wine. Tea and biscuits won't do because they don't carry the memory of what this sacrament points to, which is the bread and wine that Jesus declared to be his body and blood. If marriage is a sacrament it needs male and female because the inner memory of marriage goes back to the Garden of Eden - it is about procreative sex, the possibility of children, born from the bodies of both parents. It is all very earthy and concrete and physical.
关于同性恋婚姻的争论让我很不安。专栏作家们轻快的告诉我，基于平等原则，我应该坦然接受。天主教和国教主教们则说，我应该断然回绝，因为这动摇了最根本的社会基石。我很宽容。我认为人与人的伙伴关系是文明的一大进步，而且我不怎么喜欢最近教会申明展现的那种态度。但有个可能被双方都忽视了问题：婚姻的本质，是约定俗成还是基督圣礼？如果是习俗，这当然可以重新定义。如果是基督圣礼，那就很难了。之所以称之为圣礼，就是因为不能更改。它被广为接受就是因为它是灵与肉的完美结合。当我举行圣餐礼，我需要面包和红酒而不是茶和饼干，因为后两者无法代表圣礼的含义 ——耶稣声称面包和红酒代表着他的血肉。如果婚姻是圣礼，那么它就需要男人和女人的结合，因为婚姻的本质要追溯到伊甸园——这是事关繁衍后代的性，父母双方共同创造后代。这些道理很朴实，很具体，很自然。
- This story will be more fodder for the gossip columnists. 这个传闻会是闲谈专栏作家的又一素材。
- The columnists coined the phrase \"to broderick\", meaning to rough up. 专栏作家们杜撰出一个新词“布罗德里克”意思是“动武”、“打架”。 来自辞典例句
- 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。
- Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
- This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。
- Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
- It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句
- Geographers study the configuration of the mountains.地理学家研究山脉的地形轮廓。
- Prices range from $119 to $199,depending on the particular configuration.价格因具体配置而异，从119美元至199美元不等。