英文自修40：改变与救赎的可能
本系列内容英文原文取自BBC Thought for the Day节目网站，朋友们也可以下载节目录音收听。
本篇译者：默谦，沪上某名牌大学英语专业学生
审读、定稿、图片、背景图文：武太白
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Thought for the Day 20140304 Rev Dr Jane Leach
Last week, following the ruling of the court of appeal that whole-life sentences can be used for the "most heinous crimes”, two whole-life tariffs were handed down - one to Michael Adebolajo, killer of Fusilier Lee Rigby and one to multiple murderer, Joanna Dennehy.
上周，随着上诉法庭判决无期徒刑适用于“最恶之罪”，两桩无期徒刑宣判：一是杀害了里格比的迈克尔•阿德波拉杰，一是多次行凶的杀人犯乔安娜•丹尼希。
Whilst no-one could deny the brutality and premeditation of either of their crimes - or that there aren’t some people who need to spend the whole of their lives in custody for the protection of others - detention for the whole of one’s life, as the European Court of Justice’s judgment had previously recognized, raises issues about what it is to be human – in particular what does it say about human hope and the capacity for change?
所有人都肯定他们是有预谋犯罪，而且手段残忍，也肯定为了保护其他人，他们需要被终身监禁。欧洲法院此前的裁决确认了终身监禁的适用范围，这引起了关于什么是人这一问题的争论，尤其是，无期徒刑对人生希望与知错能改的可能又有何说法?
Perhaps it is not easy to see how some of those serving whole-life tariffs might be capable of reform. But already Michael Adebolajo’s lawyer has protested against this sentence saying that whilst his crime has shocked the nation, he believes his client to be capable of change and redemption.
或许很难看到那些被判处终身监禁的犯人能够改邪归正。但阿德波拉杰的律师曾辩称其不当此罪，并指出尽管其罪行震惊国人，他还是相信其有能力改变并为之赎罪。
The possibility for change and redemption are themes at the heart of the Christian understanding of what it means to be human – that whatever we have done; however misguided our motives; however appalling the impact of our actions, there is hope for us because God sees all and yet refuses to withhold his embrace, which is ours if only we can begin to recognize our responsibility for our actions and ask for help. So Jesus, crucified with two criminals either side of him, tells the one who acknowledges that he is being punished justly, that he will join him in paradise.
基督教对“何以为人”问题的理解，其中心主题即有“改变与救赎之可能”——不论做了什么，不管动机如何谬误，行为之影响何等令人惊骇，都还有希望，因上帝洞悉万物，不以善恶定亲疏，只要我们能对自身的行为负责，要求帮助，上帝就拥抱我们。所以基督和两旁的罪犯一同受刑时，他告诉那个承认自己受到公正惩罚的罪犯，说他会在天堂跟上帝见面。
Some of our young Muslims are being formed in the belief that paradise will come to them through martyrdom and acts of jihad – even outside a battle zone. And whilst this may be incomprehensible reasoning to many of us, locking up those who act on such thoughts and throwing away the key may not resolve the cycle of violence.
我们一些年轻的穆斯林成长时就坚信牺牲和圣战能给他们带来天堂——即便在战场外。我们许多人无法理解这一理论，但把按此论行动的人关起来，却扔掉解决问题的钥匙，也解决不了暴力的循环。
I had dinner recently with a Muslim prison chaplain. He is acutely aware that prisons can be environments in which attitudes harden or alternatively can become contexts for transformation. After all it was in prison on Robben Island that Nelson Mandela renounced arms and found a non-violent way to give his people hope. The chaplain was explaining his work with the young men in his care and in particular their need to understand better the teachings of Islam around jihad. Similar thoughts were echoed by a former member of Al Qaeda on the Today programme yesterday when he asked for a stronger counter-narrative to be articulated by the British government, to help imams work with their young people within the rule of law.
最近我和一位穆斯林监狱教士共进晚餐。他深切意识到监狱可能使犯人更执迷不悟，也可能使他们改变。毕竟，曼德拉正是在罗本岛监狱中宣布了放弃武力，找到非暴力方式为他的人民带来希望的。教士说明了他的工作：他一直努力教导所管理的年轻人，其对伊斯兰教关于圣战的训诫尚需深入理解。昨天“今日”节目里一名基地组织前成员也表达了类似观点，并要求英国政府发出更强声音，反驳极端组织的歪理邪说，帮助阿訇在法制框架内做好年轻人的工作。
A dose of scepticism is undoubtedly wise when dealing with the claims of some prisoners to have reformed but I find myself wondering whether it can be right that from the outset we pronounce that anyone’s sentence can never be reviewed.
对一些囚犯声称“已得改造”采取一定的怀疑态度，这无疑是明智的，但我还是在想，从一开始我们就宣布某判决绝不重审，这是否正确？
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Murder of Lee Rigby （今日“英文自修”背景）
On the afternoon of 22 May 2013, a British Army soldier, Drummer (Fusilier) Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. Rigby was off duty and walking along Wellington Street when he was attacked. Two men ran him down with a car, then used knives and a cleaver to stab and hack him to death. The men dragged Rigby's body into the road and remained at the scene until police arrived. They told passers-by that they had killed a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British armed forces. Unarmed police arrived at the scene nine minutes after an emergency call was received and set up a cordon. Armed police officers arrived five minutes later. The assailants, armed with a gun and cleaver, charged at the police, who fired shots that wounded them both. They were apprehended and taken to separate hospitals. Both are British of Nigerian descent, raised as Christians, who converted to Islam.