VOA标准英语2013--State Department Establishes Office for Religious Engagement
时间：2019-02-01 作者：英语课 分类：VOA常速英语2013年(八月)
State Department Establishes Office for Religious Engagement
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry has appointed a professor of Christian 1 ethics 2 as the first director of the State Department’s Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives.
The new office is the outgrowth of an initiative by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said it was important to engage foreign religious groups. She paid her respects at a Sufi shrine 3 near Islamabad when she visited Pakistan in 2009.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, her successor John Kerry followed up on that point - by mentioning his recent meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah. Kerry said the king recognizes that Islam has in large measure been hijacked 4 by people who distort the faith.
“We ignore the global impact of religion, in my judgment 5, at our peril,” he said.
Kerry chose Christian theologian Shaun Casey to lead the new office for religious engagement. “As religious leaders and faith communities shape their environments, they also have an influence and shape our own foreign policy concerns here in the United States. It’s essential for the United States to understand them and to bring them into our diplomacy 6 and development efforts.”
There was considerable controversy 7 when the Bush administration created offices for faith-based initiatives at other government agencies. Now there are again worries that such an office at the State Department could blur 8 the line between church and state.
Kerry promised to respect that constitutionally-mandated line. “But what we are doing is guided by the conviction that we have to find ways to translate our faiths into efforts that unify 9 for the greater good. That can be done without crossing any lines whatsoever,” he said.
Casey said he would work with the state department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, which monitors the mistreatment of religious groups abroad.
- They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
- His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
- The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
- Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。
- The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
- They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。
- The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
- The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。
- The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
- He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。
- The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
- This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。
- That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
- We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。