VOA标准英语2011--Biblical Bad Girls Get a Makeover

Biblical Bad Girls Get a Makeover

Men in the Bible - like Abraham, Moses, King David - are often well-developed characters playing a central role in complex stories. But, more and more authors are focusing on the women of the Bible - developing their characters and giving them a stronger voice.
The Bible, says historian Alice Bellis, is a product of its time. "Of course it was written over several thousand years so different parts of it reflect different cultural norms at the time that that part was written. But certainly much of the Hebrew Bible was written during the period in which the men had the upper hand."
Jezebel gets a more sympathetic portrayal¹ in author Martha Shelley's 'The Throne in the Heart of the Sea.'
That - she says - meant men wrote the stories in the Bible and narrated² them. But Bellis, a professor of Old Testament³ at Howard University's Divinity School, notes that over the past two decades, a new genre⁴ of historical fiction has emerged, in which women are the narrators of familiar Bible stories which are recounted from their point of view.
"I think it's a result of the women's movement and women being interested in the stories of women in the Bible and wanting to read between the lines because there are so many gaps in the text that can be filled in multiple ways and tell the stories in different ways."
Writers have re-imagined the stories of some of the most-admired women in the Bible - Sarah, Rachel, and Deborah - and some of the most reviled⁵, including Jezebel.
"I looked at the story in the Bible and thought, 'That woman has been slandered⁶.' I got the impression that she was a harlot, an evil woman and so on," says author Martha Shelley, who read Jezebel's story in the "Book of Kings." It tells how the Phoenician princess marries Ahab, king of northern Israel. She angers Elijah and other prophets of the Hebrew god by supporting the priests of her pagan god, Baal. After Ahab's death, her sons are driven from the throne, and Jezebel is murdered.
Fascinated by the drama, Shelley decided⁷ to discover the real woman behind the Biblical bad girl, who has come to be associated with false prophets and prostitutes. Her novel about Jezebel is called "The Throne in the Heart of the Sea."
The Bible, says historian Alice Bellis, is a product of its time - during which men had the upper hand.
To bring to life the people and customs of the Middle East of nearly 3,000 years ago, Shelley had to steep herself in the region's complex history.
"Because it took place long ago, I had to go to Israel and to the West Bank and do what I could to research it," she says. "Then, there is a question of researching the cultural stuff. I read a lot about anthropology⁸. I had to read books like "Mesopotamian Chemistry," another one called, "Olive Oil in the Holy Land" about how they processed olives. I wanted to know the technology."
But there was no way to know about Jezebel herself. That had to come from interpreting what her enemies had written about her - and from the author's imagination.
"She was actually very loyal to her husband and devoted⁹ to her own religion," says Shelley, who also believes Jezebel was smart, headstrong and let nothing stand in her way. In the novel, Shelley explores 10-year old Jezebel's feelings when an unexpected rival arrives in the form of a baby brother:
The old woman lifted the infant out of the cradle and began rubbing it with salt.
It was male. Jezebel felt betrayed. She'd never considered that her mother would present her with a rival. No, a sister would be a rival--a brother would simply assume entitlement. In one night the throne had been stripped from her.
"Well, sweetness, what do you think?"
Jezebel stretched the corners of her lips in the right direction. "Very handsome." Maybe I could poison him, the princess thought.
Historian Alice Bellis is not surprised that Jezebel and other Biblical woman are getting a second look. She thinks these modern re-tellings might be just as accurate as the ancient ones.
"It's pretty clear that all of the biblical narratives¹¹, which we think of as historical narratives, do not adhere to the same standards of historicity which we think of history in the 20th, 21st century," says Bellis. "That there's a looser understanding of history in the Biblical times than we have today. Some feminist¹² scholars have looked at her story and said that her intense devotion to her god is very similar to Elijah's intense devotion to his god. And if we could step back and look at it from a more neutral perspective, we would see that - as modern Western people who value tolerance¹³ - we would not really like either one of these characters because both of them are out to kill the prophets of the other one. So, they are both cut from the same cloth. But the way the Biblical narrative¹⁰ depicts¹⁴ it, Elijah is wonderful and Jezebel is terrible."
Bellis says "The Throne in the Heart of the Sea" and novels like it are part of a long tradition of finding new meaning in ancient stories, bringing Biblical characters to life for modern audiences.

1 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

2 narrated   

v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Some of the story was narrated in the film. 该电影叙述了这个故事的部分情节。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Defoe skilfully narrated the adventures of Robinson Crusoe on his desert island. 笛福生动地叙述了鲁滨逊·克鲁索在荒岛上的冒险故事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

4 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

5 reviled   

v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The tramp reviled the man who drove him off. 流浪汉辱骂那位赶他走开的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The old man reviled against corruption. 那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 slandered   

造谣中伤( slander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She slandered him behind his back. 她在背地里对他造谣中伤。
• He was basely slandered by his enemies. 他受到仇敌卑鄙的诋毁。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

9 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

10 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

11 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

12 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

13 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。

14 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。