VOA标准英语2010年-Indonesian Cleric Plans to Promote Mod

A prestigious¹ Indonesian Islamic theologian is traveling to Europe to promote the country's tolerant, pluralist interpretation² of Islam and counter the violent ideology³ of radical⁴ extremists. The tour is organized by groups that promote pluralism and is part of a plan to develop a network of Muslim leaders to give voice to what they call the "great silent majority" of peace-loving Muslims.

Preaching tolerance⁵ and moderation

Kyai Haji Achmad Mustofa Bisri, an influential⁶ Islamic cleric and member of the supreme⁷ council of Nahdlatul Ulama, an Indonesian Muslim organization with 40 million members, has preached tolerance and moderation for over 30 years. Now he has agreed to travel to Europe to help reconcile what he describes as growing animosity between Muslims and Christians⁹ there.

He says his perception of the world that we live in is that it is like very dry grass that is easy to catch fire and burn.

Islam, the cleric says, is a religion that promotes love, peace and tolerance.

He says if one misreads the message of love to give rise to hatred¹⁰, then clearly there is a failure to understand.

And Bisri says that both Islamic extremists and those who hate Muslims share the misguided view that Islam sanctions violence.

Mission to promote democracy, education

Next month, Bisri will give speeches and meet with government officials and Muslim leaders in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The trip is organized by two international groups that promote democracy and education in Muslim-majority countries.

C. Holland Taylor heads one of the organizations, the LibForAll Foundation. He says Indonesian police have been effective in marginalizing terrorist groups, and religious leaders like Bisri have helped counter the radical ideology. He wants to export Indonesia's moderate Muslim philosophy to the world.

"It is our belief that Indonesia is best suited to play not a military role, not an economic role, not a political role, but rather to exercise soft power in the field of Islam," Taylor said. "Helping¹¹ to educate people around the world, helping to educate decision-makers, mass media, public policy, intellectuals and the public regarding the nature of Islam and how to overcome the crisis of misunderstanding that afflicts¹² so many people in both East and West."

Denounces violence, repression¹³

Indonesia has its share of religious conflict. Fundamentalist groups and a government minister have called for the Ahmadiyah sect¹⁴ to be disbanded because mainstream¹⁵ Muslims do not agree with some of its teachings. And some Christian⁸ groups have been attacked. Bisri says his organization has spoken out against these acts of violence and repression.

Rainer Heufers is with the other organizing group, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty. He says similar tensions are growing in countries such as Germany, which has seen an influx¹⁶ of Muslim immigrants from Turkey.

"A lot of people feel that the country is changing and are not comfortable with it," said Heufers. "Politics play a role here to mitigate¹⁷ that but as we all know, politics sometimes also play a not so good role on capitalizing on these feelings."

Sending Bisri to Europe, he says, could help alleviate¹⁸ these tensions by reinforcing a non-threatening, non-political image of Islam.
 

1 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

2 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

3 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

10 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。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 afflicts   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Level 3-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 三级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。
• Level 1-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 一级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。

13 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

14 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

17 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

18 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。