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　　Passage Five (Killing in the Name of God Ugandan Deaths Spotlight Rise of Cults)

How could faith beget such evil? After hundreds of members of a Ugandan cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, died in what first appeared to be a suicidal fire in the village of Kanungu two weeks age, police found 153 bodies buried in a compound used by the cult in Buhunga, 25 miles away. When investigators searched the house of a cult leader in yet another village, they discovered 155 bodies, many buried under the concrete floor of the house. Then scores more were dug up at a cult member’s home. Some had been poisoned; others, often-young children, strangled. By week’s end, Ugandan police had counted 924 victims – including at least 530 who burned to death inside the sealed church – exceeding the 1978 Jonestown mass suicide and killings by followers of American cult leader Jim Jones that claimed 913 lives.

Authorities believe two of the cult’s leaders, Joseph Kibwetere, a 68-year-old former Roman Catholic catechism teacher who started the cult in 1987, and his “prophetess, ” Credonia Mwerinde, by some accounts a former prostitute who claimed to speak for the Virgin Mary, may still be alive and on the run. The pair had predicted the world would end on Dec. 31, 1999. When that didn’t happen, followers who demanded the return of their possessions, which they had to surrender on joining the cult, may have been systematically killed.

The Ugandan carnage focuses attention on the proliferation of religious cults in East Africa’s impoverished rural areas and city slums. According to the institute for the study of American religion, which researches cults and sects, there are now more than 5,000 indigenous churches in Africa, some with apocalyptic or revolutionary leanings. One such group is the Jerusalem Church of Christ in Nairobi’s Kawangwara slums, led by Mary Snaida-Akatsa, or “mommy” as she is known to her thousands of followers. She prophesies about the end of the world and accuses some members of being witches. One day the brought a “special visitor” to church, an Indian Sikh man she claimed was Jesus, and told her followers to “repent or pay the consequences.”

Most experts say Africa’s hardships push people to seek hope in religious cults. “These groups thrive because of poverty,” says Charles Onyango Obbo, editor of the Monitor, an independent newspaper in Uganda, and a close observer of cults. “People have no support, and they’re susceptible to anyone who is able to tap into their insecurity.” Additionally, they say, AIDS, which has ravaged East Africa, may also breed a fatalism that helps apocalyptic notions take root.

Some Africans turn to cults after rejecting mainstream Christian churches as “Western” or “non-African.” Agnes Masitsa, 30, who used to attend a Catholic church before she joined the Jerusalem Church of Christ, says of Catholicism: “It’s dull.”

Catholic icons. Yet, the Ugandan doomsday cult, like many of the sects, drew on features of Roman Catholicism, a strong force in the region. Catholic icons were prominent in its buildings, and some of its leaders were defrocked priests, such as Dominic Kataribabo, 32, who reportedly studied theology in the Los Angeles area in the mid-1980s. He had told neighbors he was digging a pit in his house to install a refrigerator; police have now recovered 81 bodies from under the floor and 74 from a field nearby. Police are unsure whether Kataribabo died in the church fire.

Still, there is the question: How could so many killings have been carried out without drawing attention? Villagers were aware of Kibwetere’s sect, whose followers communicated mainly through sign language and apparently were apprehensive about violating any of the cult’s commandments. There were suspicions. Ugandan president Yoweri Mseveni told the BBC that intelligence reports about the dangerous nature of the group had been suppressed by some government officials. On Thursday, police arrested an assistant district commissioner, the Rev. Amooti Mutazindwa, for allegedly holding back a report suggesting the cult posed a security threat.

Now, there are calls for African governments to monitor cults more closely. Says Gilbert Ogutu, a professor of religious studies at the University of Nairobi: “When cult leaders lose support, they become dangerous.”

Why did so may Ugandans die in faith?

[A] Many of them were killed for asking for the return of their possessions.

[B] They found the cult’s leaders had cheated them.

[C] They lost faith in cults.

[D] They are willing to die.

The main reason of people’s joining the cults is ___________

[A] poverty.

[B] insecurity.

[C] AIDS.

[D] fatalism.

What does Mary Snaide Akatsa prophesy?

[A] She prophesies the world will be flooded.

[B] She prophesies the world will be in fire.

[C] She prophesies about the end of the world.

[D] She prophesies he followers should die in faith.

Why do some Africans reject Christian Churches?

[A] They feel Christianity is dull.

[B] They reject Christian Churches as Western or non-African.

[C] They are susceptible.

[D] They are dangerous persons.

How could so many killing have been carried out without drawing attention?

[A] The cult acted secretly.

[B] The government officials did not see through its dangerous nature.

[C] There were no preventive measures.

[D] People were frightened.

　　Vocabulary

beget 產生，引起，招致

cult 祭禮，狂烈的崇拜(者)，迷信，邪教

compound 院子，場地

strangle 扼死，悶死

carnage 殘殺，大屠殺，成堆的屍體

catechism 教理問答

prophet 預言者，先知

on the run 在逃

proliferation 擴散，繁殖

indigenous 本土的，土生土張的

apocalypse (基督教)啟事(錄)《聖經新約》

be susceptible 易受人影響

ravage 蹂躪，劫掠

fatalism 宿命論

apocalyptic 預警的

icon (東正教)聖像

doomsday 世界末日

Jerusalem 耶路撒冷，喻：天堂

Kenya 肯尼亞

Nairobi 內羅畢，肯尼亞首都

mommy 嬤嬤=mother

repent 懺悔

Sikh 錫克教(信徒)

defrock 免去…聖職的。這裏指：免去聖職的牧師

sect 宗教小組

pose 提問

　　難句譯註

…the Movement for the restoration of the Ten Commandments of God…

【結構簡析】Ten commandments 十戒，是聖經中上帝再西奈山上給予摩西(猶太人的古代領袖)十大行為的神聖準則：

have no other god.

Do not make or warship idols.

Do not take the word of the lord in vain.

Keep the Sabbath holy.

Honor one’s father and mother.

Do not kill.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not give false evidence.

Do not covet another’s property or wife.

這十戒為猶太教、基督教的教條。

【參考譯文】這是烏干達回覆上帝十戒運動頭目以上帝的名義在2000年屠殺了924名信徒。

the 1978 Jonestown mass suicide and killings by followers of American cult leader Jim Jones that claimed 913 lives.

這是指美國的一個邪教組織――人民聖殿教。1978年11月19日教徒在教主Jim Jones的矇騙或脅迫下在圭亞那集體自殺或扼殺(或強制和下Kool-Aid)或遭襲擊而死。人數高達913。此後Jones一詞意為殘忍的人。殺人的地點就成為Jonestown。

they are susceptible to any one who is able to tap into their insecurity.

【參考譯文】他們易受任何人的影響，這些人能利用他們不安的情緒。

drew on features of Roman Catholicism.

【參考譯文】利用羅馬天主教義等特點。

　　寫作方法與文章大意

文章以因果寫作方法，先提出各種邪教殘害的人數，然後一一點出邪教興起的原因：人民貧窮、艾滋病之猖獗，為宿命論提供了温牀。加上邪教頭目種種欺騙手段：如世界末日來臨利用一些正教教義或以基督、聖母瑪利亞的身份出現控制、麻木信徒，一旦欺騙手段暴露信徒就慘遭殺害。

A。許多人由於要歸還他們的財產而遭到殺害。答案見第二段倒數第二句，這一對邪教領袖曾預言世界將於1999年12月31日借宿――世界末日來臨。結果並沒有發生，追隨者就要求歸還他們在入教時獻上的一切，而遭到有計劃有步驟地殺害。

B. 他們發現邪教頭目欺騙他們。這只是起因之一，如果發現後不吭聲也許不會遭劫。C.他們對邪教失去了信任。D. 他們願意去死。

A。貧窮。主要原因就是窮。答案見第四段。許多專家認為非洲之艱苦生活促使人民在邪教中尋找希望。這些邪教羣體之興起就是因為貧窮。人民沒有支柱、保障，很容易受影響。任何人都可利用他們不安的情緒。其次艾滋病在東非之猖獗，培育出宿命論觀點，從而幫助預示可怕事情即將來臨的思想紮根於心靈。

B.不安全。C.艾滋病。D.宿命論。

C。她預言世界末日。

A.她預言世界將遭水淹。B.她預言世界將燒光。D.她預言她的追隨者將死於信仰。

B。他們把基督教會視為西方的'或非非洲的而拒之門外。見第五段：有些非洲人在把基督教會視作西方的或非非洲的而拒之門外後皈依邪教。

A.認為基督教非常沉悶單調。C.他們易受影響。D.他們是一夥危險人物。

A。邪教行動神祕。例：第一段中描述的好幾百烏干達邪教組織成員死於初看好像是自殺性的火焰之中(自焚)，在一個場院誘發現了153具屍體，在搜查邪教頭目的房子中又發現了156具屍體，許多埋於房子的混凝土地板下面，還有好幾十具從邪教成員家中挖出，其中有些人被毒死。其他，特別是孩子都是扼殺(窒息而死)。共計924人，至少有530人燒死在封閉的教堂裏。倒數第三段，烏干達世界末日邪教一個頭目――免去聖職的牧師，據説80年代中他研究神學，他告訴鄰居他在家挖一個地窖放冰箱。現在警察發現地板下81具屍體，附近一場地74具屍體。上述兩例都是神祕殺害，至於要歸還財產之人更遭神祕殺害了。

B.政府官員沒有看出邪教的危險性(原因之一)。C.沒有防範措施。D.人民害怕。