the successful paul of tarsus

　　most of the people who lived near jerusalem were jewish. the romans were pagans , but they allowed the jews to practice their faith and did not force them to worship roman gods. about a. d. 30, a holy man named jesus began to attract a following in the roman province of judea. judea is part of the modern nation of israel. his followers came to believe that jesus was the son of the god of the jews and that he performed miracles. the followers of jesus angered roman authorities because they refused to follow either jewish or roman laws. the authorities arrested and crucified jesus. three days after his execution, jesus followers said they saw him rise from the dead.

　　the followers of jesus called him christ. christ is a greek word that means“ chosen one”, because they believed he was chosen by god to be his messenger. in time the followers of jesus became known as christians. the christians taught that people’s sins would be forgiven if they became christian. this message was not successful with many jews, but many pagans responded to the idea of christian salvation.

　　many fervent believers carried the message of jesus throughout the roman empire. one of the most successful was a greek-speaking jew named paul of tarsus, known to christians as saint paul. as a young man, he helped to persecute christians, but one day he had a vision in which he believed jesus spoke to him from heaven. paul spent the rest of his life thinking and writing about christianity and winning new converts to the faith. through the persistence of paul and other christian missionaries, small christian communities developed throughout the roman empire.

　　the first christians believed that jesus would quickly return to earth, so there was no need to create any written records of his life . after about thirty years, christians began to see a need to write down an account of the life and wisdom of jesus. about fifty years after jesus died, christians combined the stories of the life and wisdom of jesus into four books known as gospels. gospel means“ good news”. the holy book of christianity is known as the bible and has two parts. the old testament consists of the sacred writings of the jewish people and was written long before the time of jesus. the new testament of the bible includes the gospels, along with letters written by paul and other christian writers. the bible has been translated into more than 1, 000 languages and has been read by more people than any other book.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. fill in each blank:

　　1. the romans were pagans, but they allowed the jews to_________ ( 实践) their faith and did not force them to _________( 信仰) roman gods.

　　2. his followers came to believe that jesus was the son of the god of the jews and that he performed _________( 奇迹) .

　　3. the christians taught that people’s sins would be_________ ( 宽恕) if they became christian.

　　4. about fifty years after jesus died , christians _________( 组成) the stories of the life and wisdom of jesus into four books known as _________( 福音) , which means “good news”.

　　5. the holy book of christianity is known as the _________( 圣经) and has two parts: the old testament and the new testament.

　　Ⅱ. questions :

　　what is the holy book of christianity and how many parts does it have ? what are they about?

　　参考答案

　　Ⅰ.

　　1. practice / worship 2 . miracles 3. forgiven 4. combined / gospels 5. bible

　　Ⅱ.

　　the holy book of christianity is known as the bible and it has two parts. the old testament consists of the sacred writings of the jewish people and was written long before the time of jesus. the new testament of the bible includes the gospels, along with letters written by paul and other christian writers.

　参考译文

　　成功的塔尔苏斯人保罗

　　居 住在耶路撒冷附近的人大多都是犹太人。罗马人虽然是异教徒, 但是他们允许犹太 人进行自己的宗教活动, 并不强迫犹太人信奉罗马神。大约公元30 年, 一位名为耶稣的圣 人在罗马朱迪亚省城附近吸引了一大群信徒。朱迪亚是现代以色列的一部分。信徒们相 信耶稣是犹太人的上帝的儿子, 并且会创造奇迹。他们既不遵奉犹太法也不遵奉罗马法, 从而激怒了罗马当局。官方逮捕了耶稣并将他钉死在十字架上。行刑后三天, 耶稣的信徒 说他们看到耶稣死后升天了。

　　耶稣的信徒称他为基督。christ 是个希腊词, 意思为“ 被选中的人”, 因为他们相信耶 稣是被上帝选中充当信使的人。最终, 耶稣的信徒们也就成了大家所知道的基督徒。基督 徒教导人们如果他们成为基督徒, 他们的罪恶就会得到宽恕。这个说法虽然对很多犹太人 没什么效果, 却让许多异教徒接受了基督救世的思想。

　　许多狂热的信徒在罗马帝国到处传播耶稣神示。最为成功的信徒之一是叫保罗的塔 尔苏斯人, 他是个说希腊语的犹太人, 也就是基督徒们知道的圣保罗。保罗年轻时, 曾帮助迫 害基督徒。但是有一天, 他看到了一幅幻景: 耶稣自天国对他说话。保罗倾其余生都在 思考和写基督教方面的东西并最终皈依基督。在保罗和其他基督教传教士坚持不懈的努 力之下, 许多基督教小团体在罗马帝国发展起来。

　　早期的基督徒都相信耶稣很快就会重返人间, 所以他们认为没有必要对他的生活经历 作任何书面记载。大约30 年后, 他们开始认识到记录耶稣的生平及其思想的必要性。耶 稣死后大约50 年, 基督徒们将记录耶稣的生活和思想的内容合在一起编成四本书, 这就是 大家熟悉的《福音》。“ 福音”即“ 佳音”。基督教的圣书是《圣经》, 它分《旧约》与《新约》两 部分。《旧约》包含记载犹太人祭祀神的文章, 写成于耶稣之前很久的年代。《新约》则包 括了《福音》及保罗和其他基督教作者写的书信。《圣经》已经被翻译成一千多种语言, 比 其他任何书的流传都要广。

　　阅读导评

　　对于西方国家, 特别是说英语的国家, 基督教占有十分重要的地位, 是其人民的精神支 柱, 是国家文化的组成部分。所以, 要了解西方文明, 就绕不开基督教及其经典著作《圣经》。

　　阅读导释

　　1. 耶路撒冷, 地名, 是西南亚巴勒斯坦地区著名古城, 伊斯兰教、犹太教和基督教的圣地, 因 此, 耶路撒冷被比作“天堂, 福地”。

　　2. 这个词是“ 异教徒”的意思。它原本指“ 非基督教徒、非犹太教徒或非伊斯兰教徒”。这 里, 根据文章的含义, 它指的是不信犹太教的人。

　　3. ( 神创造的) 奇迹, 人间奇迹。它可作“ 惊人的事例, 令人惊叹的人或事物”解, 如: the bridge was a miracle of engineering. ( 这座桥是工程学上的一大奇迹。)

　　4. crucify 是个与基督教联系很紧密的词语, 它指“ 把⋯⋯的手脚钉在十字架上处死”。它 所派生出的名词the crucifixion 特指“耶稣之钉死于十字架”或“ 耶稣被钉死在十字架上 的画或雕像”。

　　5. 基督, 原是耶稣的头衔: jesus the christ, 现成为其名字jesus christ 的一部分。现在世界 通用的公元纪年即是以耶稣诞生那年定为公元1 年的, 公元纪年的表示法ad 即拉丁语 anno domini 的缩写, 意思就是“耶稣纪元后( since christ was born) ”, 而大家通常所说的 “ 公元前”即bc, 也就是指耶稣诞生前, bc 是before christ 的缩写。

　　6. 罗马帝国。公元前27 年到公元476 年间, 古罗马占据了整个地中海地区, 395 年分裂为 东西两部。西罗马帝国灭亡于476 年。马克思主义史学一般认为这是西欧奴隶占有制 社会历史的终结。