And on the Seventh Day We Rested英語美文
And on the Seventh Day We Rested?
Once upon a time, in the “Dominion Of New Haven,” it was illegal to kiss your children on Sunday。 Or make a bed or cut your hair or eat mince pies。 Or cross a reviver unless you were ea clergyman riding your circuit。 If you lived in Connecticut on 1650, there was no mistaking Sunday for just another shopping day; regardless of whether you’d go to hell for breaking the Sabbath, you could certainly go to jail。 Centuries later, the sense that Sunday is special is still wired in us, a miniature sabbatical during which to peel off the rest of the week and savor ritual, religious or otherwise: Sunday worship, Sunday football, Sunday papers, Sunday brunch, the day you call your mother, the night the family gathers around the TV to watch, once upon a time, The Wonderful World of Disney and, now, The Simpsons。
The idea that rest is a right has deep roots in our history。 Blue laws were a gift as much as a duty, a command to relax and reflect。 That tension, explains Sunday historian Alexis McCrossen, has always been less between sacred and secular than between work and respite, America does not readily sit still, even for a day。 The Civil War and a demand for news begat the Sunday paper; industrialization inspired progressives to argue that libraries and museums should open on Sundays so working people could elevate themselves。 Major league baseball held its first Sunday game in 1892(the Cincinnati Reds beat the St。 Louis Browns, 5—1)。 Joseph Pulitzer realized the Sunday paper was less about news than about fun, comics and book reviews, and soon the theaters were open too, as well as amusement parks and fairs。
Over time, Sunday has gone from a day we could do only a very few things to the only day we can do just about anything we want。 The U。S。 is too diverse, our lives too busy, our economy too global and our appetites too vast to lose a whole day that could be spent working or playing or power shopping。 Pulled between piety and profit, even Christmas bookstores are open。 Children come to Sunday Scholl dressed in their soccer uniforms; some churches have started their own leagues just to control the schedule。 Politicians recite their liturgies in TV studios。 Post offices may still be closed, but once you miss that first Sunday e—mail from the boss, it becomes forever harder not to log on and check in。 Even the casinos are open。
If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan, Albert Schweitzer said—which raises a question for our times: What do we lose if Sunday becomes just like any other day? Lawmakers in Virginia got to spend part of their summer break debating that question, thanks to a mistake they made last winter when they inadvertently revived a “day of rest” rule; hotels and hospitals and nuclear power plants would have had to give workers a weekend day off or be fined $500。 After a special legislative session was convened to fix the error, Virginia’s workers, like the rest of us, are once more potentially on call 24/7。 Meanwhile, Rhode Island just became the 32nd state to let liquor stores open every Sunday; until this month, they could do so only in December, perhaps because even George Washington’s s eggnog recipe called for brandy, whiskey and rum。 Social conservatives may want tot honor the Fourth Commandment, but businesses want the income, states need the tax revenues, and busy families want the flexibility。
With progress, of course, comes backlash from those who desperately want to preserve the old ways。 Mom—and—pop liquor stores in New York fought to keep the blue laws to have more time with their families。 Car dealers in Kansas City, Mo。, pushed for a laws to make them close on Sundays so they could have a day off without losing out to competition。 Chick—Fil—A, a chain of more than 1,100 restaurants in 37 states, closes on Sundays because its founder, Truett Cathy, promised employees time to “worship, spend time with family and friends or just plain rest from the work week,” says the chain’s website 。 “Made sense then, still makes sense now。” Pope John Paul II even wrote an apostolic letter in defense of Sunday: “When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a ‘weekend,’” he wrote, “people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see ‘the heavens。’”
In an age with no free time, we buy it through hard choices。 Do we skip church so we can sleep in or skip soccer so we can go to church or find a family ritual—cook together, read together, a Parcheesi challenge—that we treat as sacred? That way, at least some part of Sunday faces in a different direction, whether toward heaven or heaven or toward one another。
-
【必備】改變人生的語錄彙編100條
臣服的好處就是,當你接納了當下,不徒然浪費力氣去抗爭的時候,事情往往會有意想不到的轉機出現,你才發現原來的掙扎真的是這樣。凡是你抗拒的,都會持白費力氣。以下是小編收集整理的改變人生的語錄100條,歡迎大家前來欣賞。1、恭喜你找到長征的伴侶,從此一生有人相依;...
-
2023年簡短的感悟生活的句子錦集85條
愛一個人不一定就能擁有,可我就是抹不去你在我心中留下的點點滴滴。下面是小編為大家整理的感悟生活的句子85條,歡迎參考。1、對自己沒有正確的認識,不相信自己有力量,就更不可能贏得別人的信任與尊重。在自鞭自抑之中,自我完完全全地迷失,這幾乎成了必然的結局。唯...
-
【熱門】2023年受傷愛情句子35句
我以為遺忘可以讓自己歡樂起來,可是,我感覺到的卻是更多的寂寞,其實我也渴望有一個人能懂我;我也渴望有一個人能走進我的心。以下是小編為大家提供的受傷愛情句子35句,希望對大家有所幫助。1、斷翅的蝴蝶,飛不出寒崖。迷路的春天,綻放不出神話。正如牛郎織女,永遠只能...
-
糾結心語70句精選
千愁萬緒糾結難鬆綁,一種受困的慌。下面是小編精心整理的糾結心語,趕緊來看看吧。1、和喜歡的人發信息不自覺臉上掛着笑。2、歸根結底,是我想多了。而下次,或許我還是會多想,因為我是有血有肉的人,我還是會期待,期待落空的時候,只不過是不再大哭了,而是能淡淡地説一句,哦...
相關文章
- The Best Thing That Could Ever Happen少兒雙語閲讀
- A Letter to the University President為題目的作文
- The relationship between theory and practice大學英語作文
- 《The Prevalence of Western Holidays》英語四級作文
- What Do Students Need English For大學英語作文
- 英語滿分作文:Reading-TheBestMeanstoAcquireknowledge
- 以《The Surprise on Valentines Day》為題的英語作文
- 國中英語作文My Strengths and Weaknesses
- 國小英語的閲讀:The Monkey and the Fishermen
- Equal Rights between Men and Women高中英語作文