新概念英语85年上外美音版第四册 第60课：On
Moral Courage
Lesson 60 On Moral Courage 论道德勇气
Although truth and justice1 may be the most powerful impulses to show moral courage, there are others. Compassion is one of these. 2Tentatively it can be suggested that this is the main influence upon those who urge the abolition of capital punishment. 3It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the upholders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 4This is nonsense but with it some organs of the popular Press played upon the emotions of their readers so successfully that many candidates for Parliament were afraid to support abolition for fear of losing votes and the result was the muddle-headed Homicide Act of 1957 which made murder with robbery a capital crime and allowed the poisoner to escape the gallows. 5That
illogical qualification shows how flimsy is the argument that capital punishment is a deterrent to murder. 6The poisoner always works on a calculated plan of action and therefore is able to consider whether or not his taking another's life is worth the risk of his own; the violent thief is usually at the mercy of an instant emotion. 7The only arguable plea for capital punishment is the right of society to retribution in this world with the prospect of life in another, but since what used to seem to the great majority of civilized humanity the assurance of another life beyond the grave has come to seem to more and more people less certain, a feeling for the
value of human life has become deeper and more widespread. This may seem a paradoxical claim to make at a time when mankind is so much preoccupied with weapons of
destruction.8Nevertheless, it is a claim that can be sustained and if compassion animates those who urge the abolition of the death penalty it is not a sentimental compassion for the mental agony inflicted upon a condemned man but a dread of destroying the miracle of life.
When in the eighteenth century offences against the law that today would no earn a month in prison were punished with the death penalty, the severity of the penal code had no serious effect on the prevalence of crime. 10When it made no difference to the fate of a highwayman whether he had killed his victim or merely robbed him of a few pieces of silver, there were no more murders then than there were when men like Sir Fraricis Burdett succeeded in lightening the excessive severity of the penal laws. 11In those days the sacredness of life on earth was not greatly regarded because a life in the world to come was taken for granted except by a comparatively small minotity of philosophers.
Nor was the long-drawn ordeal of the condemned cell inflicted either upon the condemned man or his gaolers once upon a time. Those who believe in capital punishment may have arguments for its retention, 13but surely no reasonable argument can be found for retention of the sickening mumbo-jumbo that accompanies it from the moment that the judge dons the black cap with what looks like a pen-wiper balanced on the top of his wig, to the reading of the burial service over the condemned man before he is dead. Moreover, it was more merciful to launch the condemned man into eternity twenty-
four hours after he was sentenced than to keep him shivering on the brink of that dread gulf for nearly three weeks. 14Hanging is an atrociously archaic way of killing a human being and the self-satisfied modernity of the electric chair is just as atrocious. 15The administration of a strong
sleeping draught to the condemned man every night from which one night he does hot awake, seems a more civilized
alternative to our present barbarous procedure, if capital punishment through the influence of backward minds be retained.
1. impulse n. 推动力,冲动 短语：out of impulse =act on impulse 出于冲动 同2. 义词：impetus /momentum/ drive ; drive for something
3. compassion n. 同4. 情 短语：compassion for sth.
/sympathy for sth .同5. 义词：sympathy (不6. 及compassion) 7. tentatively adv.尝试性地 常用于文学 短语： tentatively study on clone 刍8. 以克隆 experiental study 尝试性研究 tentatively smile 勉强的笑
9. abolition n. 废除 abolish []v. abolishnist []n.短语：to abolish the slavery
10. capital n. 可处死刑的 原意：首的,主要的;短语：capital punishment =death penalty死刑 decapitate v.斩首
11. upholder n.支持者 hold up 同12. 义词：advocator /proponent
13. sentimentality n. 多愁善感(本质)、感情脆弱、感伤 辨义：emotional （一时的）情绪化
14. muddle-headed adj. 糊涂的
15. homicide n..凶杀、杀人者 构：homi= homo： the same 人、同16. 类 cide ：kill 组词：homosexual同17. 性恋 homonym 同18. 音（形）异义词、同19. 名20. 人 synonym 同21. 义词
antonym反义词 pesticide 杀虫剂 suicide 自杀 autocide 撞车自杀 uxorious 害怕老婆的、气管炎 filicide 杀子女 filial 孝顺的 22. gallows n. 绞刑架（木制的）短语：gallows bird 应受罚 同23. 类词：guillotine绞刑架（铁制的）
24. qualification n.规定、条件 词源：qualify合格
unqualified不25. 合格（常自已本身） disqualify 取消资格 （被别人）例句：what qualifications do you have ? 你有什么特长？force start 抢跑（体育用语）
26. flimsy adj. 站不27. 住脚的、不28. 足信的（理论）、脆弱的 联想词：groundless理论太薄/fragile脆弱的玻璃易碎/
rickets软骨病convincing 令人信服29. 的 unconvincing不30. 让人信服31. 的
32. deterrent n. 威慑 deter v . ：prevent 短语：deter him from smoking
33. caculated adj. 精心制作的,有计划的 短语：caculated plan/scheme 精心策划 同34. 类词：deliberate精心策划 /well planned /well designed 精心设计/well schemed
35. at the mercy of 受…支配(抽象意义)：under the control of 例句：at the mercy of emotion(reason\\impulse) 受感情(理智/冲动)支配
36. plea n. 辩解 例句：make a plea for sth 为…而37. 辩解 make a plea for wrongdoing(misconduct)为错误行为(过失)而38. 辩解;I took leave under the plea of headache.以头疼为借口离开. 39. retribution n. 惩罚，40. 报应（宗教）
41. sustain v. 确认 原意：支撑 例句：sustain an applicant in his claim 认定此人申诉有效 his words hold water his words hold water 言之有理 his words can not hold water站不42. 住脚 43. animate v. 促使,、激烈、激活 例句：animate the discussion /animated discussion (heat and lively)激烈争论 44. penalty n. 刑罚 短语：death penalty死刑 penalty kick 罚点球 free kick 任意球 corner角球队 例句： no penalty for guessing 不45. 倒扣分
46. agony n. 极度痛苦难 agonise v.短语：agony column(英语报纸常用) ：claim 寻人启事 /divorce 离婚声明 同47. 类词： torture 折磨/anguish痛苦 / pang痛苦(一阵一阵的)也可引申用/ throes分娩时阵痛临死前苦痛 痛苦水准： throes>anguish 例句： it’s agonizing to …
48. inflict v. 使遭受 短语： inflict sth on sb. 例句：I inflict the trouble(misery) on him 我给他带来麻烦(不49. 幸) 特殊用法：inflict myself on you 对不50. 起,打搅您了. 51. prevalence n. 盛行 prevail v. 例句：Nowdays Korean pop music prevails.同52. 义词：popular
53. sacredness n. 神圣不54. 可侵犯性 sacred adj.sacred cow 圣牛(宗教) 同55. 类词： holy /goldly/ heavenly /saint 圣人/saintly例句： he is saintly 他真是圣人一样的人 holiday 比较正式高雅带宗教色彩vocation (暑假)
56. ordeal n.折磨 词源：ancient Greece roman 57. assurance n.信心
新概念英语85年上外美音版第四册 第60课：On Moral Courage
