[文化速递] 从圣经开始，了解西方思想文化

沃得前言：

《圣经》几乎无人不知，它对人类的思想文化影响深远。《圣经》不仅仅是一部宗教典籍，也是一个语言、艺术、文化的宝库。《圣经》里的很多典故、语言已经于无形中渗透在了人们的生活中，特别是在西方社会，日常的生活和交流常常都有《圣经》的影子。比如美国大片里经常会有关于《圣经》的对白，而且，《圣经》由于影响巨大，都已经形成了一个学术研究的科目，由此可见《圣经》所蕴含的海量信息。我们今天不谈那么多的内容，一张纸，一个月都远远不够用的。今天主要和大家一起分享一些《圣经》中的成语，让我们通过这样的只言片语来对《圣经》这部经典，有点初步的了解。出国留学，不仅要学习西方社会的科学和知识，还要了解他们的文化，这样才能真正的体现留学的意义。多了解一下《圣经》，在留学的时候和当地的同学和人们交流的时候，距离感就不会那么明显了，交流、交友就会变得更容易些，对我们的生活和学习是非常有帮助的。好了，现在就让我们一起来看看吧！

1.Salt of the earth

出处（A biblical reference） Matthew 5:13.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
意思（meaning）the most worthy of people; a very good or worthy person.
例句（example）
I use heaps of postage stamps, pay the expenses of many indifferent lecturers, defray the cost of printing reams of pamphlets and hand-bills which hail the laborer flatteringly as the salt of the earth, write and edit a little socialist journal, and do what lies in my power generally.
An Unsocial Socialist by Shaw, George Bernard

源自：《新约·马太福音》第5章
原文：你们是世上的盐。盐若失了味，怎能叫他再咸呢。以后无用，不过丢在外面，被人践踏了。
含义：比喻社会的中坚力量，栋梁之才

2.The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

出处： Matthew 26：41
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
意思：A modern equivalent is I would if I could but I can't.
例句：A:  Another set of tennis?
      B:  The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

源自：《新约·马太福音》第26章
原文：（耶稣对门徒说）：“总要儆醒祷告，免得入了迷惑。你们心灵固然愿意，肉体却软弱了。
含义：心有余而力不足，比喻力不从心

3.Eye for eye, tooth for tooth

出处：Exodus 21:24
“But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
意思： someone does something wrong, that person should be punished by having the same thing done to them
例句：Oh, I would fight for such a cause; but in return for a slow, profound, eternal torture, I would give back the same, were it possible; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, as the Orientalists say, -- our masters in everything, -- those favored creatures who have formed for themselves a life of dreams and a paradise of realities.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Alexandre

源自：《旧约·出埃及记》第21章
原文：若有别害，就要以命偿命，以眼还眼，以牙还牙，以手还手，以脚还脚，以烙还烙，以伤还伤，以打还打。
含义：以其人之道，还治其人之身

4.A drop in a bucket

出处：Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales;
he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
意思：a very small or unimportant amount
例句：``It's a drop in the bucket to what they should and could do,'' said Ezell, one of the prime sponsors of Proposition 187, which sought to deny benefits to illegal immigrants.
DEPORTATIONS CUTTING CRIME, AUTHORITIES SAY by Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

源自：《旧约·以赛亚书》第40章
原文：看哪，万民都像水桶的一滴，又算如天平上的微尘。他举起众海岛，好像极微之物。
含义：沧海一粟，九牛一毛

5.Beating the air

出处：1 Corinthians 9:26
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
意思：Continue to make futile attempts, fight to no purpose.
例句：The candidates for office were so much alike that we thought our vote amounted to beating the air .

源自：《新约·哥林多前书》第9章
原文：所以我奔跑，不像无定向的。我斗拳，不像打空气的。
含义：白费力气

6.Having itching ears

出处：2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
意思：the scurrilous desire to hear the latest gossip or an off-color joke.

源自：《新约·提摩太后书》第4章
原文：因为时候要到，人必厌烦纯正的道理。耳朵发痒，就随从自己的情欲，增添好些师傅。并且掩耳不听真道，偏向荒渺的言语。
含义：比喻喜欢听新鲜的事情

7.Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die

出处：1 Corinthians 15:32
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
意思：Enjoy yourself whenever you can, because you may die soon.
例句：Fred: No cake for me, thank you. I'm on a diet. 
      Jane: But, Fred, this is a birthday party. Eat, drink, and be merry. Natasha encouraged all her guests to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

源自：《旧约·以赛亚书》22章
原文：当那日，主万军之耶和华叫人哭泣哀号，头上光秃，身披麻布。谁知，人倒欢喜快乐，宰牛杀羊，吃肉喝酒，说：“我们吃喝罢，因为明天要死了。
含义：人生苦短，及时行乐

8.Labor of love

出处：Hebrews 6:10
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
意思：Work done for one's satisfaction rather than monetary reward.
例句：So it is, but this is a little labor of love, and doesn't spoil the day at all.
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Alcott, Louisa May

源自：《新约·帖撒罗尼迦前书》1章
原文：在神我们的父面前，不住的记念你们因信心所作的工夫，因爱心所受的劳苦，因盼望我们主耶稣基督所存的忍耐。
含义：不计报酬，自觉自愿的工作

9.Thorn in the flesh

出处：2 Corinthians 12:7–9:
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
意思：Thorn in the flesh is a colloquialism used to describe a chronic infirmity, annoyance, or trouble in one's life. It is most commonly used by Christians.
例句：In the evenings they would sit around the cleared supper table, she doing odd jobs of mending, Martin reading, checking up the interest dates on his mortgages or making entries in his account book, while Bill at his books, would study to the accompaniment of record after record, blissfully unconscious of what a thorn in the flesh he and his music were to both his parents.
Dust by Haldeman, Julius Mr. and Mrs.

源自：《新约·哥林多后书》
原文：又恐怕我因所得的启示甚大，就过於自高，所以有一根刺加在我肉体上，就是撒但的差役，要攻击我，免得我过于自高。
含义：眼中钉，肉中刺

10.Cast the first stone

出处：John 8：7
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
意思：to make the first criticism; to be the first to attack.
例句：As for the shemozzle over who cast the first stone, from the very start Jeremy Clarkson kept commenting about the end game: "What could possible go wrong?
False start for Top Gear special edition by Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales)

源自：《新约·约翰福音》第7章
原文：他们还是不住的问他，耶稣直起腰来，对他们说：“你们中间谁是没有罪的，谁就可以先拿石头打他。
含义：比喻首先发难或先发制人