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.

　　閱讀自測(cè)

　　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 ________( 忙得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)) .

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

　　3. Cathy is dressed very well and looks as beautiful as a ________( 像蝴蝶一樣漂亮) .

　　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 ( 膽小如鼠) whileJerry as bold as a________ ( 莽如雄獅) .

　　6. After the company went into bankruptcy ________( 宣告破產(chǎn)) , he was as poor as a church________( 一貧如洗) .

　　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.

　　參考答案

　　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.

　　參考譯文

　　最后的晚餐

　　耶穌在貝瑟尼郊區(qū)平靜地度過(guò)了生命中最后幾小時(shí)的自由行動(dòng)時(shí)間。那天是逾越節(jié),猶太人吃烤羔羊肉和無(wú)酵餅來(lái)慶祝這一節(jié)日。

　　耶穌讓門(mén)徒進(jìn)城到一家小酒館訂了房間及晚餐, 他們將在那里聚會(huì)。

　　夜色降臨, 猶大若無(wú)其事地和其他人一起離開(kāi)了家。他們下了橄欖山, 進(jìn)了城, 發(fā)現(xiàn)一切均已備好。他們圍著一張長(zhǎng)桌坐了下來(lái), 然后開(kāi)始用餐。

　　可這并不是一頓讓人感到愉快的晚餐。即將發(fā)生的事早已在這一小群忠實(shí)的教友中 間投下了可怕的陰影, 他們感到了恐懼。

　　耶穌沒(méi)怎么說(shuō)話。其他人憂郁且安靜地坐著。

　　最后, 彼得再也無(wú)法忍受, 脫口道出了大家的心聲。 “ 老師, ”他說(shuō),“ 我們想知道, 您是否有充分的理由懷疑我們中間的一個(gè)? ” 耶穌輕聲地回答:“ 是的。現(xiàn)在坐在這張桌子旁的, 你們中間的一人將給我們大家?guī)?lái) 災(zāi)難。” 隨后, 所有的門(mén)徒都站起來(lái)圍在了他的四周, 聲辯各自的清白。 就在那一刻, 猶大悄悄溜出了房間。 這下他們都知道要發(fā)生什么事了。他們?cè)僖矡o(wú)法呆在那個(gè)小房間里了。他們需要呼吸一些新鮮的空氣, 就離開(kāi)小酒館, 走出大門(mén), 返回橄欖山, 然后打開(kāi)通往 一個(gè)花園的邊門(mén)。一個(gè)朋友告訴他們, 無(wú)論何時(shí)只要他們想單獨(dú)呆一會(huì), 都可以進(jìn)那個(gè)花園。

　　那個(gè)花園叫客西馬尼, 就在角落里榨油機(jī)的后面。

　　過(guò)了一會(huì)兒, 耶穌走開(kāi)了。和他關(guān)系最近的三個(gè)門(mén)徒在不遠(yuǎn)處跟著他。

　　他轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身, 命令他的門(mén)徒等待并守護(hù)著他做禱告。 做出最后決定的時(shí)刻來(lái)臨了。雖然他仍有可能逃跑, 但那將意味著默認(rèn)自己有罪和承 認(rèn)自己思想的失敗。 他獨(dú)自呆在靜悄悄的樹(shù)林里, 作出了生前最英勇的斗爭(zhēng)。 他正值壯年。生活仍有很多希望。 一旦敵人逮捕了他, 他將以一種很可怕的方式被處死。 他做出了抉擇。他不逃。他回到教友們中間。 看! 他們都睡熟了。 片刻之后, 整個(gè)花園一片喧嘩。 一群猶太教公會(huì)衛(wèi)兵在猶大的帶領(lǐng)下, 向這位先知沖過(guò)來(lái)。 猶大就在最前面。 他摟著老師并親吻了他。 這正是士兵們等待的信號(hào)。 那一刻, 彼得終于明白發(fā)生了什么。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)評(píng)

　　人的一生就像是道選擇題, 而我們每個(gè)人, 無(wú)時(shí)無(wú)刻不在做出自己的選擇, 以期達(dá)到所追求的境界。哈姆雷特在生死之間也曾猶豫過(guò),“ 生還是死, 這是個(gè)問(wèn)題。”耶穌在逃跑與 留下之間, 選擇了留下, 選擇了承擔(dān)責(zé)任。盡管這樣做的代價(jià)是在痛苦中結(jié)束自己的生命, 然而他得到的卻是自己的清白和堅(jiān)貞不渝的宗教信仰以及他不曾預(yù)想到的對(duì)后世的深遠(yuǎn) 影響。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)釋

　　1. 最后的晚餐, 講述的是耶穌在逾越節(jié)的時(shí)候和他的12 個(gè)門(mén)徒聚餐時(shí)的情形。那天, 他被門(mén) 徒猶大出賣, 后來(lái)被釘死在十字架上。達(dá)·芬奇的名畫(huà)《最后的晚餐》描繪的就是這次聚 餐時(shí)的情形。由于在最后的晚餐中, 猶大被認(rèn)為是第13 個(gè)人, 因此現(xiàn)代英語(yǔ)國(guó)家對(duì)數(shù)字 “13”就很忌諱, 他們?cè)谡?qǐng)客時(shí)一定會(huì)避開(kāi)這個(gè)數(shù)字, 既不會(huì)選13 日也不會(huì)請(qǐng)13 個(gè)人。

　　2. 這一小段主要是講逾越節(jié)( Passover) 的過(guò)法。猶太人吃烤羔羊肉和無(wú)酵餅慶賀。注意, 這里的observe不是通常大家所說(shuō)的“觀察”或“ 評(píng)述”的意思, 而是“慶祝, 過(guò)( 節(jié)日、生日 等) ”的意思, 等同于celebrate, 如:observe the National Day ( 慶祝國(guó)慶) ; We always observe birthdays at home. ( 我們總是在家里過(guò)生日。)

　　3. 這個(gè)詞是“無(wú)動(dòng)于衷的, 滿不在乎的, 泰然自若的”的意思。還可作形容詞, 作“淡而無(wú)味的, 枯 燥乏味的”解, 如:This is a bland story with little plot. ( 這是個(gè)缺乏情節(jié)而又枯燥乏味的故事。)

　　4. 指“ 脫口而出, 沖口說(shuō)出”, 如: He blurted out the secret. ( 他不慎說(shuō)出了秘密。)

　　5. 客西馬尼, 地名, 耶路撒冷附近的一個(gè)小花園。在《圣經(jīng)》中, 這是耶穌蒙難的地方, 故常 被引作為“ 蒙難地, 蒙難時(shí)刻”。

　　6. 這句話即Judas kiss 一詞的來(lái)源。在《圣經(jīng)》中猶大以親吻的方式暗示衛(wèi)兵抓住耶穌, 所 以Judas kiss指“ 口蜜腹劍的偽善陰險(xiǎn)行為”。與猶大有關(guān)的詞語(yǔ)還有Judas goat, 專指用 于引領(lǐng)羊群到屠宰場(chǎng)的“ 頭羊, 領(lǐng)頭山羊”。