《中英對照讀新聞》Jesus may have walked on ice? 耶穌或許行在冰上？

◎ 魏國金

The New Testament says that Jesus walked on water, but a Florida university professor believes there could be a less miraculous explanation -- he walked on a floating piece of ice.

新約聖經說耶穌行在水面上，但一位佛羅里達州大學教授相信或許有一個比較不神奇的解釋︰他走在一塊浮冰上。

Nof, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, said that his study found an unusual combination of water and atmospheric conditions in what is now northern Israel could have led to ice formation on the Sea of Galilee.

佛羅里達州立大學海洋學教授諾夫說，他的研究發現，在現今以色列北部，水文與大氣狀況的異常結合，可能在當時導致加利利海結冰。

Nof used records of the Mediterranean Sea's surface temperatures and statistical models to examine the dynamics of the Sea of Galilee. The study found that a period of cooler temperatures in the area between 1,500 and 2,600 years a go could have included the decades in which Jesus lived.

諾夫利用地中海表面的溫度紀錄與統計模型來檢查加利利海的動態。研究發現，在1,500與2,600年前，有一段時期該區氣溫較低，或許包括耶穌活著的那幾十年。

A drop in temperature below freezing could have caused ice thick enough to support a human to form on the surface of the freshwater lake near the western shore, Nof said. It might have been nearly impossible for distant observers to see a piece of floating ice surrounded by water.

諾夫說，氣溫降到低於冰點以下，可能使接近加利利海西岸的淡水湖面結成厚度足以支撐一個人的冰。對遠距觀察者而言，幾乎不太可能看到一塊被水環繞浮冰。

Nof said he offered his study -- published in the April edition of the Journal of Paleolimnology -- as a "possible explanation" for Jesus' walk on water. "If you ask me if I believe someone walked on water, no, I don't," Nof said. "Maybe somebody walked on the ice, I don't know. I believe that something natural was there that explains it."

諾夫說，他提供他刊行於「古沼澤地質學期刊」四月號的研究，作為耶穌行在水面的一個「可能解釋」。他說︰「如果你問我是否相信某人走在水上，不，我不信，也許某人是走在冰上，這我不知道。不過，我相信有自然之物可以來解釋。」

新聞辭典

Testament：大寫為聖約書，Old Testament 舊約。小寫則有證據、遺囑之意，make one's testament 立遺囑。

ice formation：結冰。

surface：表面、外表。come to surface：指浮出水面，或問題、秘密浮上檯面。surface mail：普通郵件。