OWNED BY PARROT01

If a butterfly flutters its wings, so chaos theory goes, it can cause the path of a tornado to change, and so the reverberations can be felt across the world.

混沌学理论提到，如果一只蝴蝶煽动翅膀，卷风的路线会因其改变，全世界都将感觉到随之而来的影响。

In retrospect, it looks as if what was happening to the cost of food in the Middle East a few years ago had just that impact.

回顾往昔，若干年前中东粮食价格的波动和此如出一辙。

The frustrations of Tunisian fruitsellers and the seething anger of Egyptians over the price of basic foodstuffs were ignored by the rest of the world then

当时其它国家并没有重视中东态势，基本食品价格令突尼斯水果商心情沮丧，令埃及人愤懑不已，

but analysts have since traced them as the roots of the Arab Spring upheavals.

然而，分析家们认定，这一情形就是动荡不安的“阿拉伯之春”的根源。

Food shortages and high prices have had consequences throughout the ages as the history of revolutions reminds us.

几年来，粮食短缺和高昂的物价带来的后果和以往革命带来的后果一样。

No wonder that politicians and the United Nations are becoming increasingly concerned about rising prices leading to a global food crisis.

难怪政客和联合国都越来越担心上涨的物价会导致全球粮食危机。

Drought, the diversion of corn crops into the production of biofuels, the corruption and chaotic distribution of food in some developing nations,

旱灾、利用玉米生产生物燃料、某些发展中国家食品分配过程中存在的贪污现象，

all these are shaping a complex global food economy. Add in certain speculators and food conglomerates aiming for higher profits,

这些正使全球食品经济变得复杂。谋求暴利的投机商和食品大公司的参与，

and many aid charities warn that this is a recipe for disaster for the poorest in the developing world.

让许多慈善援助机构都发出警告，这将为发展中国家的贫苦人民带去深重的灾难。

But what’s it got to do with the ordinary individual? Isn’t something as complex as a food crisis just for the politicians and the UN to sort out?

普通人应该怎么做？和食品危机同等复杂的问题是否只有靠政客和联合国去解决？

Morality is surely personal, as is a relationship with God,

道德和上帝相关，是绝对私人的。

and one’s religious beliefs stretch as far as dealing with those immediately around us.

一个人的宗教信仰能改变他与周围人相处的方式。

Once in a while the face of a starving child on the news might persuade us to make a donation to a charity

新闻里孩子挨饿的面孔可能一时间让我们捐款给慈善机构，

but the individual’s involvement goes no further. The usual reading of Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan, for example,

但个人的行为并不会产生深远的影响。有关撒玛利亚人的基督教寓言故事

is that it is a call to respond to an individual in need,

旨在号召人们对需要帮助的人施以援手，

albeit that Christianity is a call to help the stranger as well as family and friends.

尽管基督精神就是让人们像对待家人和朋友那样对待陌生人。

But growing Christian thinking is that if we hunger and thirst for what is right

然而，越来越多的基督教徒认为如果我们渴求正义，

then we cannot turn away when something has gone deeply wrong with how the world functions, causing the most vulnerable to suffer.

但当世界局势混乱，最脆弱的人民受苦受难时，不能视而不见。

Putting a few coins in a collecting tin is not enough. Instead the Christian has to combat what is called structural or social sin,

往募捐罐里丢几枚硬币是远远不够的。相反，基督教徒们必须与恶行斗争，

the injustices of the world caused by its systems and institutions which lead people to live without dignity

与各制度、各组织产生的不公正现象斗争，它使人们失去了

and the resources that they need. But structures of course don’t have wills, and we do,

应有的尊严与智慧。当然，具有意愿的不是社会机构，而是我们。

and the challenge today is to ask do we have the will to speak up, get involved and change what is unjust?

面临当今的挑战，我们是大声疾呼，踊跃参与，改变不公正的现象，

Or will we pass by on the other side of the road?”

还是熟视无睹地从旁边走过？