2016年12月大學英語六級閱讀練習(30)

　　Buddhism

　　Buddhism is the only important foreign religiousinfluence that has become part and parcel2 ofChinese life. The influence is so deep that we nowspeak of children’s dolls, and sometimes the childrenthemselves, as“ little Buddha ”, and the EmpressDowager3 herself was addressed as“Old Buddha”.The Goddess of Mercy and the laughing Buddha 4have become Chinese household words. Buddhism has affected our language , our food, ourarts, our sculpture and directly inspired the characteristic pagoda5 . It has stimulated ourliterature and our whole world of imagination. The little monkish figure, with his bald head andhis gray robes, forms an intimate part of any panorama of society, and Buddhist temples,rather than those of Confucius, are the center of the town and village life, where the eldersgather to decide on6 village matters and annual celebrations. Its monks and nuns penetratethe privacies of Chinese households, on all occasions of births, deaths and weddings, as noother persons are allowed to do, and hardly a widow or virgin can be seduced , according to theChinese novels, without the help of these religious figures.

　　Buddhism has conquered China as a philosophy and as a religion, as a philosophy for thescholars and as a religion for the common people. Whereas Confucianism has only a philosophyof moral conduct, Buddhism possesses a logical method, a metaphysics7 , and a theory ofknowledge . Besides, it is fortunate in having a high tradition of scholarship in the translationsof Buddhist classics, and the language of these translations, so succinct and often sodistinguished by a beautiful lucidity of language and reasoning, cannot but attract scholarswith a philosophical bias. Hence Buddhism has always enjoyed a prestige among the Chinesescholars, which so far Christianity has failed to achieve.

　　閱讀自測

　?、? Fill in each blank with the proper form of the words given in the brackets :

　　1. The injury to their key player could be a________ ( decide ) factor in the basketball game .

　　2. The president is paying a ________ ( privacy) visit to Europe.

　　3. She had the good ________ ( fortunate) to be free from the disease.

　　4. Some ________ ( influence) politicians change the world chaotic situation.

　　5. The offer of a high salary and a free house is very________ ( seduce) . 6. He is a truly________ ( religion ) man who goes to church every day.

　　Ⅱ. Answer the following question in your own words :

　　Why can Buddhism win the favor of Chinese scholars?

　　參考答案

　?、? 1. decisive / deciding 2. private 3 . fortune 4.influential 5 . seductive 6. religious

　　Ⅱ. Because Buddhism possesses a logical method,a metaphysics, and a theory of knowledge, inaddition, Buddhist classics have been translatedinto brief and beautiful Chinese .

　　參考譯文

　　佛教

　　佛教是唯一一個成為中國人生活重要組成部分的重要外國教派。佛教對中國影響巨大, 現(xiàn)在我們常常將一些孩子的玩具娃娃稱為“ 小菩薩”, 有時甚至將孩子也稱為“ 小菩 薩”, 我們還將慈禧太后稱為“ 老菩薩( 老佛爺) ”。觀音菩薩和彌勒佛已經(jīng)成為中國家喻戶 曉的名字。佛教影響了我們的語言、飲食、藝術、雕塑, 還直接給我們靈感, 建造起佛教特有 的寶塔。佛教促進了我國文學的發(fā)展, 刺激了我們整個想象空間。留著光頭、穿著灰色長 袍的小和尚形象已成為中國社會全景圖中不可缺少的畫面。佛教寺廟成為中國鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)人民 生活的中心, 在寺廟里村中老人聚集在一起對村里事務和每年舉行的慶?；顒幼龀鰶Q定, 而儒教的寺廟則不能發(fā)揮如此大的作用。佛教里的和尚和尼姑已經(jīng)滲透到中國家庭的日 常生活中, 他們出現(xiàn)在孩子出生、葬禮和婚禮等所有重要場合里, 而和尚和尼姑在這些場合 的作用是他人所無法替代的。在中國傳統(tǒng)小說里, 如果沒有這些宗教人物的幫助, 幾乎沒 有一個寡婦或處女不會被人引誘而誤入歧途。

　　佛教作為哲學和宗教征服了中國。作為哲學, 佛教贏得了中國學者的心; 作為宗教, 佛 教則獲得了平民百姓的支持。儒教只具有道德行為的哲學, 而佛教則擁有邏輯方法、形而 上學理論和一整套認識學說。另外, 幸運的是, 在翻譯佛家經(jīng)典著作時, 中國具有優(yōu)良的學 術傳統(tǒng), 翻譯過來的語言簡潔明快, 經(jīng)文中的語言和推理因美妙易懂而卓爾不群, 即使對哲 學抱有偏見的學者也會被其吸引。因此, 佛教在中國學者中一直享有較高的威望, 這一點 基督教至今還未能達到。