27. the last dinner

jesus spent his last few hours of liberty quietly in the suburb of bethany. it was the day of passover. the jews observed this feast by eating roast lamb and unleavened bread. 2

jesus asked his disciples to go to town and reserve a room in one of the smaller inns and order a dinner that they might all be together.

when evening came, judas, looking bland3 and innocent, left the house together with the others. they went down the mount of olives and entered the city and found that everything was ready. they took their seats around one long table and began to eat.

but it was not a cheerful meal. they felt the dread of those coming events which already were casting their terrible shadow over the small group of faithful friends.

jesus spoke very little. the others sat in gloomy silence. at last peter could stand it no longer, and he blurted4 out what was in everybody’s mind . “master, ”he said,“we want to know. do you have reason to suspect one of us?” softly jesus answered, “ yes. one among you who is now sitting at this table will bring disaster upon us all. ” then all the disciples got up and crowded around him. they protested their innocence. at that moment judas slipped quietly out of the room. they now all knew what was to come. they could no longer remain in that little room. they needed fresh air, and they left the inn and walked out of the gate and went back to the mount of olives and opened the wicket to a garden which a friend had told them to use whenever they wished to be alone . it was called gethsemane5 , after an old oil-press which stood in a corner. after a while jesus walked away from the little group. but three of the disciples who were closest to him, followed at a distance.

he turned around and bade them wait and watch while he prayed.

the time had come for a final decision. escape was still possible , but escape would mean a silent confession of guilt and defeat for his ideas.

he was alone among the silent trees and fought his last great battle . he was a man in the fullness of his years. life still held a great promise. death, once his enemies captured him, would come in a most terrible form. he made his choice . he stayed. he went back to his friends. and behold! they were fast asleep . a moment later, the whole garden was in an uproar. led by judas, the guards of the sanhedrin rushed upon the prophet. judas was at their head. he threw his arms around his master and kissed him. 6 that was the sign for which the soldiers had waited. at that moment, peter realized what was happening.

阅读自测

Ⅰ. welcome to the eden of animals . according to chinese , choose the correct english word: ( bee, rabbit, butterfly, lark, lion, mouse, donkey)六级试题及答案下载

1. tom always has a lot of things to do. every time you see him, he is as busy as a ________( 忙得团团转) .

2. although it was an easy problem, i still made a mistake . it really made feel that i was as stupid as a ________( 蠢如驴) .

3. cathy is dressed very well and looks as beautiful as a ________( 像蝴蝶一样漂亮) .

4. the villagers beat the enemy and lived as merry as a ________( 非常快活) .

5. tom and jerry are twins, but they are quite different. tom is as timid as a ( 胆小如鼠) while jerry as bold as a________ ( 莽如雄狮) .

6. after the company went into bankruptcy ________( 宣告破产) , he was as poor as a church ________( 一贫如洗) .

Ⅱ. can you crack the riddle ?

have you heard of sphinx ( 斯芬克司) of greek mythology?

sphinx was a monster with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, the wings of a bird, a serpent’s tail and lion’s paws. it had a human voice and usually asked passers-by to guess her riddle. if the man was unable to find the answer, she would eat them. if he could, she would kill herself. the riddle is this: what goes on four feet, on two feet, and three , but the more feet it goes on, the weaker it be ?

do you get the answer? explain yourself.

参考答案

Ⅰ. 1. bee 2. donkey 3. butterfly 4 . lark 5 . rabbit / lion 6 . mouse

Ⅱ. it is a man. as an infant, the man crawls upon all fours. when in manhood, he goes erect on two feet and when in old age , he supports his tottering legs with a stick.