2006年VOA标准英语-Pope Benedict XVI Visits Auschwitz

By Sabina Castelfranco
Oswiecim, Poland
28 May 2006

Calling himself a son of Germany, Pope Benedict XVI prayed at the former Nazi¹ death camp in Auschwitz. The visit was the most poignant² moment in the pope's four-day visit to Poland.

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Pope Benedict XVI with Poland's President Lech Kaczynski in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz  
  

Pope Benedict XVI walked silently past the infamous³ gate of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, under the metal arch reading "Arbeit Macht Frei", German for "Work sets you free".

He stopped in front of the Wall of Death where thousands of prisoners were executed during World War II. He was handed a lighted candle, which he placed before the wall.

Then Benedict XVI walked up to a long line of 32 elderly camp survivors⁴ to greet them. He stopped to talk to each one of them. One and one half million people died in Auschwitz during the Nazi regime, most of them Jews.

Solemn music was played. Then the pope prayed in German, the first time he spoke⁵ in his native language during this visit to Poland.

He addressed those present, saying it was almost impossible to speak in this place of horror, in this place, he said, where unprecedented⁶ mass crimes were committed against God and man.

Words fail here, he said adding that he had to come to Auschwitz to implore⁷ the grace of reconciliation⁸ from the men and women who suffered here. Benedict said that in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau humanity walked through a valley of darkness.

Benedict XVI said he came to Auschwitz as a son of the German people. He said he could not fail to come here. He had to come as a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness.

The German pope said this is a place of living memory, and behind the inscriptions⁹ he saw, is hidden the fate of countless¹⁰ human beings. He said they show us the terrifying effect of hatred¹¹, and help us see evil as evil and to reject it.

1 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

2 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

3 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

7 implore   

vt.乞求，恳求，哀求

参考例句：

• I implore you to write. At least tell me you're alive.请给我音讯，让我知道你还活着。
• Please implore someone else's help in a crisis.危险时请向别人求助。

8 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

9 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

10 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

11 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。