Islam
The number of Muslims worldwide is estimated to bein excess of one billion, making Islam the largestfaith community after Christianity. Of this numberthe overwhelming majority would identifythemselves as Sunni2 Muslims whilst about 15 percent follow a variety of Shiah3 Muslim persuasions.The Arabic word islam means the willingrecognition of and active submission to the guiding command of the One God, Allah4.Whoever acts in this manner is called a muslim, one who acknowledges and submits to the sole, unique God. The Islamic tradition or din( a word which conveys the sense of obedienceclosely related to islam ) is founded upon the guiding command of Allah as contained in theKoran5 . Muslims hold the Koran to be the word of God delivered to Muhammad6, God’s electedmessenger. The revelations were received in just over a twenty-year period , first in Mecca7 ,the Prophet’s birthplace , and later in Medina8 where the first community was established.Both these cities are in present day Saudi Arabia and are regarded by all Muslims as the centralholy places of their faith.
A Muslim must make formal prayers each day at five appointed times: at daybreak, at noon, inmidafternoon, at sunset and after nightfall. The mosque is the place of public worship in Islam.If a mosque is too far away, a Muslim may pray in his own home or elsewhere on a specialprayer rug or mat. He takes formal postures for each statement in the prayer, until heachieves full prostration in the direction of Mecca. Mecca is the holy city and the center ofworship for Muslims. It is not only because Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad, but alsobecause there exist the Kaaba 9— the holiest shrine, and the Black Stone. It is believed thatthe Kaaba was built by Abraham and the Stone was brought out of Paradise by Adam. Everyyear numerous pilgrims go to Mecca to pay homage. Thus the word“Mecca”has come intoEnglish language, meaning“place one aspires to visit”
閱讀自測(cè)
Ⅰ. Are the sestatements True or False according to the article ?
1. Shiah is the biggest sect of Islam.
2. Muhammad founded the religion of Islam and he was the messenger of Allah.
3. Every Muslim must go to mosque every day to say his prayers. )
Ⅱ. Translate the Chinese into English , using the word or phrase in paren theses :
1. 花錢切勿超過(guò)你的收入。( in excess of) 2. 他拒絕服從不公正的決定。( submit to) 3. 我們對(duì)莎士比亞的天才表示敬仰。( pay homage to)
參考答案：
Ⅰ. 1. F 2. T 3 . F
Ⅱ. 1. Never spend in excess of your income. 2. Herefused to submit to an unjust decision. 3. We payhomage to the genius of Shakespeare.
參考譯文：
伊斯蘭教
據(jù)估計(jì)，全世界穆斯林人數(shù)超過(guò)10億，伊斯蘭教是僅次于基督教的最大宗教團(tuán)體。阿拉伯語(yǔ) "伊斯蘭"（ismlam）一詞的意思是自愿承認(rèn)并積極服從獨(dú)一真主安拉（Allah）的指導(dǎo)命令。伊斯蘭教的傳統(tǒng)或 "訓(xùn)誡"（這個(gè)詞表達(dá)了與伊斯蘭教密切相關(guān)的服從之意）是建立在《古蘭經(jīng)》中真主的指導(dǎo)性命令之上的。穆斯林認(rèn)為《古蘭經(jīng)》是真主傳給真主選派的使者穆罕默德的圣言。這兩座城市都位于今天的沙特阿拉伯，被所有穆斯林視為其信仰的中心圣地。
穆斯林每天必須在五個(gè)指定時(shí)間進(jìn)行正式祈禱：日出、正午、午后、日落和夜幕降臨后。清真寺是伊斯蘭教的公共禮拜場(chǎng)所。如果清真寺太遠(yuǎn)，穆斯林可以在自己家中或其他地方，在專用的祈禱毯或墊子上祈禱。他在祈禱中的每一句話都會(huì)采取正式的姿勢(shì)，直到他向麥加的方向完全跪拜。麥加是穆斯林的圣城和崇拜中心。這不僅因?yàn)辂溂邮悄潞蹦碌某錾?，還因?yàn)檫@里有最神圣的圣地卡巴和黑石。據(jù)說(shuō)，卡巴是亞伯拉罕建造的，而黑石則是亞當(dāng)從天堂帶出來(lái)的。每年都有無(wú)數(shù)朝圣者前往麥加朝拜。因此，英語(yǔ)中出現(xiàn)了 "麥加 "一詞，意思是 "人們向往的地方"。
