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Good morning.

Two weeks ago at this very time, just four miles from this studio, three young schoolgirls were on their way to Bethnal Green Academy. This morning they are thought to be en route to Syria.

Our sympathy and prayers must go out to the family and friends of these three young teenagers. The schoolgirls, for whatever misguided reason, have left families who have nurtured them, educated them and protected them from birth, to heed a call from a stranger to join a radical group. Estimates suggest over 500 British citizens are already in the ranks of IS and society is inevitably asking questions about what all this means.

But it is not the first time that radical groups have lured away impressionable youth. One just has to think of some of the radical cults (many of them inspired by mutations of religion), which sprung up in the 60s and 70s across the world.

Commentators are naturally focusing now on what more might have been done to prevent the girls from leaving. But perhaps it is unrealistic to expect communities, educators, airlines and the police to deal with a symptom, when society has to yet to find a way to deal with the cause.

For some, the cause is a lack of cohesion in British society. The sense of ‘we’ has become diluted and vague. The remedy they suggest is finding an agreed set of ‘British Values’. But I believe that talk of British values risks confusing laws and values, and the intricate link between the two. States should be inspired by values, but not be the primary source of them.

While it is true to speak of laws in the context of a state, for me as a Christian, values are much broader, richer, deeper and older than a state or national narrative. From the sermons and letters of Saints Peter and Paul writing to the early Christians, we have advice on how to live in a pluralist world. All just societies are founded on some sort of religious or ethical basis – values don’t stem from a neutral foundation.

And yet in the aftermath of World War II, the Human Rights Commission did come up with a set of binding standards which embraced a global diversity of perspectives, but not by creating new neutral values, but by building on existing traditions. The various secular, pluralist and religious traditions in the Commission had very different reasons for why the UN Declaration of Human Rights was necessary and valid, but they were unanimous in how it would be taken forward.

Perhaps in Britain we need to get consensus once more on the How rather than struggle with the Why. Perhaps each generation has to explore and explain afresh how its values guide the society, while all the time recognising the distinct traditions which feed into those values.

詞匯解析

liberal

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

adj.慷慨的；大方的；開明的；自由主義的

n.自由主義者；開明的人

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

They are liberal in their help.

他們慷慨相助。

用作名詞 (n.)

He is an open-minded liberal.

他是一個(gè)開明的自由主義者。

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reader

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.讀者；讀物；讀本

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

He writes with the reader in mind.

他寫作時(shí)把讀者放在心上。

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credit

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.信用；榮譽(yù)；學(xué)分；贊揚(yáng)；貸款；賒欠；貸方；存款

(復(fù))credits: 演職員名單.

v.歸功于；相信；記入貸方

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Credit counseling helped us get out from under.

信用咨詢使我們免除了憂慮

用作動(dòng)詞 (v.)

At the time, we used to credit everything to one person.

那時(shí)大家把什么都?xì)w功于一個(gè)人。

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mercury

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.水銀；水星；精神

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Mercury is a fluid substance.

水銀是流體狀之。

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potential

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

adj.潛在的；可能的

n.潛力；潛能

n.電位；電勢(shì)

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

These potential effects must be studied carefully.

這些潛在的影響必須仔細(xì)地加以研究。

用作名詞 (n.)

We can only measure the difference between the potentials of two half cells when they are linked to form an electrochemical cell.

當(dāng)兩個(gè)半電池連接形成一個(gè)化學(xué)電池時(shí),我們僅能測(cè)定兩個(gè)半電池之間電位的差值。

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approval

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.同意；批準(zhǔn)；認(rèn)可；贊同

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

The proposal was accepted with unanimous approval.

全體一致通過(guò)了那項(xiàng)建議。

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extensive

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

adj.廣泛的；廣闊的；廣大的；大量的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

The teacher had both extensive knowledge and profound scholarship.

先生的學(xué)問(wèn)博大精深。

It is impossible to vanquish so strong an enemy without making an extensive and long-term effort.

現(xiàn)在要戰(zhàn)勝這樣一個(gè)強(qiáng)敵，非有長(zhǎng)期的廣大的努力是不可能的。

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