The Last Dinner 

　　Jesus spent his last few hours of liberty quietly in thesuburb of Bethany. It was the day of Passover. TheJews observed this feast by eating roast lamb andunleavened bread. 2

　　Jesus asked his disciples to go to town and reservea room in one of the smaller inns and order a dinnerthat they might all be together.

　　When evening came, Judas, looking bland3 and innocent, left the house together with theothers. They went down the Mount of Olives and entered the city and found that everythingwas 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 werecasting 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 nolonger, and he blurted4 out what was in everybody’s mind . “Master, ”he said,“we want toknow. Do you have reason to suspect one of us?” Softly Jesus answered, “ Yes. One amongyou who is now sitting at this table will bring disaster upon us all. ” Then all the disciples got upand crowded around him. They protested their innocence. At that moment Judas slippedquietly out of the room. They now all knew what was to come. They could no longer remain inthat little room. They needed fresh air, and they left the inn and walked out of the gate andwent back to the Mount of Olives and opened the wicket to a garden which a friend had toldthem 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 threeof 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 asilent 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 thefullness 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 hisfriends. And behold! They were fast asleep . A moment later, the whole garden was in anuproar. Led by Judas, the guards of the Sanhedrin rushed upon the prophet. Judas was attheir head. He threw his arms around his master and kissed him. 6 That was the sign for whichthe soldiers had waited. At that moment, Peter realized what was happening.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. Welcome to the Eden of animals . According to Chinese , choose the correct English word: (bee, rabbit, butterfly, lark, lion, mouse, donkey)

　　1. Tom always has a lot of things to do. Every time you see him, he is as busy as a ________( 忙得团团转) .

　　2. Although it was an easy problem, I still made a mistake . It really made feel that I was asstupid as a ________( 蠢如驴) .

　　3. Cathy is dressed very well and looks as beautiful as a ________( 像蝴蝶一样漂亮) .

　　4. The villagers beat the enemy and lived as merry as a ________( 非常快活) .

　　5. Tom and Jerry are twins, but they are quite different. Tom is as timid as a ( 胆小如鼠) whileJerry as bold as a________ ( 莽如雄狮) .

　　6. After the company went into bankruptcy ________( 宣告破产) , he was as poor as a church________( 一贫如洗) .

　　Ⅱ. 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 abird, a serpent’s tail and lion’s paws. It had a human voice and usually asked passers-by toguess 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 , butthe more feet it goes on, the weaker it be ?

　　Do you get the answer? Explain yourself.

　参考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. bee 2. donkey 3. butterfly 4 . lark 5 . rabbit /lion 6 . mouse

　　Ⅱ. It is a man. As an infant, the man crawls upon allfours. When in manhood, he goes erect on two feetand when in old age , he supports his tottering legswith a stick.

　　参考译文

　　最后的晚餐

　　耶稣在贝瑟尼郊区平静地度过了生命中最后几小时的自由行动时间。那天是逾越节,犹太人吃烤羔羊肉和无酵饼来庆祝这一节日。

　　耶稣让门徒进城到一家小酒馆订了房间及晚餐, 他们将在那里聚会。

　　夜色降临, 犹大若无其事地和其他人一起离开了家。他们下了橄榄山, 进了城, 发现一切均已备好。他们围着一张长桌坐了下来, 然后开始用餐。

　　可这并不是一顿让人感到愉快的晚餐。即将发生的事早已在这一小群忠实的教友中 间投下了可怕的阴影, 他们感到了恐惧。

　　耶稣没怎么说话。其他人忧郁且安静地坐着。

　　最后, 彼得再也无法忍受, 脱口道出了大家的心声。 “ 老师, ”他说,“ 我们想知道, 您是否有充分的理由怀疑我们中间的一个? ” 耶稣轻声地回答:“ 是的。现在坐在这张桌子旁的, 你们中间的一人将给我们大家带来 灾难。” 随后, 所有的门徒都站起来围在了他的四周, 声辩各自的清白。 就在那一刻, 犹大悄悄溜出了房间。 这下他们都知道要发生什么事了。他们再也无法呆在那个小房间里了。他们需要呼吸一些新鲜的空气, 就离开小酒馆, 走出大门, 返回橄榄山, 然后打开通往 一个花园的边门。一个朋友告诉他们, 无论何时只要他们想单独呆一会, 都可以进那个花园。

　　那个花园叫客西马尼, 就在角落里榨油机的后面。

　　过了一会儿, 耶稣走开了。和他关系最近的三个门徒在不远处跟着他。

　　他转过身, 命令他的门徒等待并守护着他做祷告。 做出最后决定的时刻来临了。虽然他仍有可能逃跑, 但那将意味着默认自己有罪和承 认自己思想的失败。 他独自呆在静悄悄的树林里, 作出了生前最英勇的斗争。 他正值壮年。生活仍有很多希望。 一旦敌人逮捕了他, 他将以一种很可怕的方式被处死。 他做出了抉择。他不逃。他回到教友们中间。 看! 他们都睡熟了。 片刻之后, 整个花园一片喧哗。 一群犹太教公会卫兵在犹大的带领下, 向这位先知冲过来。 犹大就在最前面。 他搂着老师并亲吻了他。 这正是士兵们等待的信号。 那一刻, 彼得终于明白发生了什么。

　　阅读导评

　　人的一生就像是道选择题, 而我们每个人, 无时无刻不在做出自己的选择, 以期达到所追求的境界。哈姆雷特在生死之间也曾犹豫过,“ 生还是死, 这是个问题。”耶稣在逃跑与 留下之间, 选择了留下, 选择了承担责任。尽管这样做的代价是在痛苦中结束自己的生命, 然而他得到的却是自己的清白和坚贞不渝的宗教信仰以及他不曾预想到的对后世的深远 影响。

　　阅读导释

　　1. 最后的晚餐, 讲述的是耶稣在逾越节的时候和他的12 个门徒聚餐时的情形。那天, 他被门 徒犹大出卖, 后来被钉死在十字架上。达·芬奇的名画《最后的晚餐》描绘的就是这次聚 餐时的情形。由于在最后的晚餐中, 犹大被认为是第13 个人, 因此现代英语国家对数字 “13”就很忌讳, 他们在请客时一定会避开这个数字, 既不会选13 日也不会请13 个人。

　　2. 这一小段主要是讲逾越节( Passover) 的过法。犹太人吃烤羔羊肉和无酵饼庆贺。注意, 这里的observe不是通常大家所说的“观察”或“ 评述”的意思, 而是“庆祝, 过( 节日、生日 等) ”的意思, 等同于celebrate, 如:observe the National Day ( 庆祝国庆) ; We always observe birthdays at home. ( 我们总是在家里过生日。)

　　3. 这个词是“无动于衷的, 满不在乎的, 泰然自若的”的意思。还可作形容词, 作“淡而无味的, 枯 燥乏味的”解, 如:This is a bland story with little plot. ( 这是个缺乏情节而又枯燥乏味的故事。)

　　4. 指“ 脱口而出, 冲口说出”, 如: He blurted out the secret. ( 他不慎说出了秘密。)

　　5. 客西马尼, 地名, 耶路撒冷附近的一个小花园。在《圣经》中, 这是耶稣蒙难的地方, 故常 被引作为“ 蒙难地, 蒙难时刻”。

　　6. 这句话即Judas kiss 一词的来源。在《圣经》中犹大以亲吻的方式暗示卫兵抓住耶稣, 所 以Judas kiss指“ 口蜜腹剑的伪善阴险行为”。与犹大有关的词语还有Judas goat, 专指用 于引领羊群到屠宰场的“ 头羊, 领头山羊”。