为什么我们可以爱上任何人：英语精读讲义

Irrespective of whether you consider Jesus a popular itinerant preacher or the Son of God, 講解

无论你是把耶稣当作一位受欢迎的云游传教士，还是上帝的儿子，

there's a very odd thing about his views on love.

他关于爱的观点都非常奇特。

He not only spoke a great deal about love, 語法

他不仅长篇大论地谈论爱，

he went on to advocate that we should love some highly surprising people. 短語動詞

甚至还主张我们应该去爱一些极其出人意料的人。

At one point, described in chapter seven of Luke's gospel,

有一次，在《路加福音》第七章中写道，

Jesus goes to a dinner party and a local prostitute turns up, 短語動詞

耶稣去参加一个晚宴，一个当地的妓女出现了，

much to the disgust of his hosts. 短語搭配

这让主人感到非常厌恶。

But Jesus is friendly and sweet and defends her against everyone else's criticism.

但耶稣却对她友善温柔，并在众人指责她时为她辩护。

In a way that shocks the other guests,

他的做法让其他客人都感到震惊，

he insists that at heart she is a very good person. 習語

他坚持认为她的本质是个非常好的人。

There's another story in Matthew chapter 8 where Jesus is approached by a man with leprosy.

在《马太福音》第八章中还有另一个故事，一个麻风病人走近耶稣。

He is in a disgusting state,

他身上令人作呕，

but Jesus isn't shocked,

但耶稣并没有感到震惊，

reaches out his hand and touches the man. 短語搭配

而是伸出手摸了摸那个人。

Despite the horrendous appearance,

尽管外表可怕，

here is someone in Jesus's eyes entirely deserving of closeness and kindness. 習語

在耶稣眼里，这却是一个完全值得亲近和善待的人。

In a similar vein at other times, 習語

同样，在其他时候，

Jesus conspicuously argues that tax collectors, thieves, and adulterers

耶稣还引人注目地主张，税吏、小偷和通奸者

are never to be thought of as outside the circle of love. 短語動詞

绝不应该被排除在爱的圈子之外。

Many centuries after his death,

在他死后几个世纪，

the foremost medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas defined what Jesus was getting at 短語動詞

最重要的中世纪思想家托马斯·阿奎那对耶稣的意图做出了定义，

in this way of talking about love. He wrote, "The person who truly understands love

用这样谈论爱的方式。他写道：“真正懂得爱的人

could love anyone."

可以爱上任何人。”

In other words, true love isn't specific in its target. 表達脈絡

换句话说，真爱的目标并不具有针对性。

It doesn't fixate on particular qualities. 短語搭配

它不执着于特定的品质。

It's open to all of humanity,

它向全人类敞开，

even and in a way especially its less appealing examples. 表達脈絡

甚至，或者说尤其向那些不那么讨喜的人敞开。

Today, this can sound like a deeply strange notion of what love is.

在今天，这听起来可能是对爱的一种极为奇怪的理解。

For our background ideas about love tend to be closely tied to a dramatic experience, 短語搭配

因为我们对爱的潜在认知，往往与一种戏剧性的体验紧密相连，

that of falling in love.

那就是坠入爱河。

That is, finding one very specific person immensely attractive,

也就是说，发现某一个特定的人极具吸引力、

exciting, and free of any failings or drawbacks.

令人兴奋，且没有任何缺点或不足。

Love is, we feel,

我们觉得，爱

a response to an overt perfection of another person.

是对另一个人明显完美的反应。

Yet, via some admittedly extreme examples,

然而，通过一些不可否认的极端例子，

a very important aspect of love is being pushed to the fore in Jesus's vision. 習語

爱的一个非常重要的层面在耶稣的愿景中被推到了台前。

And we don't have to be Christian, 語法

我们不必是基督徒，

that is, we don't have to believe there's an afterlife

也就是说，我们不必相信有来世，

or that Jesus was born to a virgin

也不必相信耶稣是童贞女所生，

to benefit from it.

就能从中受益。

At the heart of this kind of love is an effort to see beyond 習語

这种爱的核心，是努力看透

the outwardly unappealing surface of another human

另一个人表面上不吸引人的外表，

in search of the tender, interesting,

去寻找内在那个温柔、有趣、

scared, and vulnerable person inside.

恐惧且脆弱的人。

What we know as the work of love 語法

我们所知道的“爱的工作”，

is the emotional, imaginative labor that's required to peer behind an off-putting facade. 習語

就是看穿令人反感的表象所需的情感和想象力的劳动。

Our minds tend fiercely to resist such a move.

我们的头脑往往会强烈抵制这种做法。

They follow well-worn grooves that feel familiar and justified. 習語

它们会顺着熟悉的、看似理所当然的固定轨迹思考。

For instance, if someone's hurt us,

比如，如果有人伤害了我们，

we naturally see them as horrible. 語法

我们自然会觉得他们很可怕。

The thought they might themselves be hurting inside feels weird. 語法

一想到他们内心可能也很痛苦，就会觉得很怪异。

If a person looks odd,

如果一个人看起来很古怪，

we find it extremely difficult to recognize

我们就很难意识到，

there might well be many touching things about them deep down. 語法

他们内心深处可能也有许多令人感动的地方。

If unpleasant events happen in someone's life,

如果某人的生活中发生了不幸的事，

if they keep losing their job or acquire a habit of drinking too much

如果他们总是失业，或者养成了酗酒的习惯，

or even develop cancer,

甚至患上了癌症，

we're somehow tempted to hold them responsible for their misfortunes. 短語搭配

我们有时会忍不住认为这都是他们咎由自取。

It takes a deliberate, taxing effort of the mind 語法

这需要我们刻意地、费力地运用心智，

to move ourselves off these deeply established responses.

才能摆脱这些根深蒂固的反应。

To do so might mean taking an unappealing-looking person

这么做可能意味着，面对一个外表不讨喜的人，

and trying to imagine them, say, as a young child, 語法

试着想象他们，比如说，作为一个小孩子，

unselfconsciously playing on their bedroom floor.

在卧室地板上无忧无虑地玩耍的样子。

We might try to picture their mother,

我们可以试着想象他们的母亲，

not long after their birth,

在他们刚出生不久时，

holding them in her arms,

把他们抱在怀里，

overcome by a passionate love for this new little life. 短語搭配

被对这个小生命的热爱所淹没。

Or, perhaps, drunk and passed out, 短語動詞

或者，也许母亲喝醉了且不省人事，

ignoring their desperate cries.

完全无视他们绝望的哭喊。

We might see a furious person in a restaurant violently complaining

我们可能在餐厅里看到一个暴怒的人，正在激烈地抱怨

that the tomato sauce is on the wrong side of their plate.

盘子里的番茄酱放错了位置。

But rather than condemn and feel superior, 語法

但与其谴责并感到高人一等，

we might try to construct a story 短語搭配

我们不如试着去构思一个故事，

of how this individual had come to be so impossible

想象这个人是怎么变得如此不可理喻的，

and how powerless things feel in a world where something,

以及在这个世界上，当某种东西——

and obviously not what they're ostensibly complaining about,

显然不是他们表面上抱怨的东西——

has frustrated them to the core. 習語

让他们深感挫败时，那种无力感是怎样的。

The more energy we expend in thinking like this, 語法

我们在这种思考上投入的精力越多，

the more we stand to discover a very surprising truth, 短語搭配

就越有可能发现一个非常令人惊讶的真相：

that we could potentially see the lovable sides of pretty much anyone.

我们可能看到了几乎任何人可爱的一面。

That doesn't mean we should give up on all criteria 講解

这并不意味着我们在寻找伴侣时

when searching for a partner.

应该放弃所有的标准。

It's a way of saying that the nicest person

它是说，即使是最好的人，

will eventually require us to look at them

最终也需要我们用想象力

with imagination

去看待他们，

as we try to negotiate around some of their gravely dispiriting sides. 用詞

因为我们需要试着去包容他们某些令人极其沮丧的一面。

And of course,

当然，

the traffic won't ever be all just one way. 習語

这绝不是单向的付出。

We too are deeply challenging to be around 短語搭配

和我们相处也极具挑战性，

and therefore stand in need of a constantly imaginative, 短語搭配

因此，我们也需要一种不断充满想象力、

tender gaze to rescue us

温柔的目光来拯救我们，

from being dismissed as merely another everyday monster or leper. 用詞

避免被当作另一个普通的怪物或麻风病人而不予理睬。