Inside the Salle des Etats, Langdon stared in astonishment1 at the six words glowing on thePlexiglas. The text seemed to hover2 in space, casting a jagged shadow across Mona Lisa'smysterious smile.
"The Priory," Langdon whispered. "This proves your grandfather was a member!"Sophie looked at him in confusion. "You understand this?""It's flawless," Langdon said, nodding as his thoughts churned. "It's a proclamation of one of thePriory's most fundamental philosophies!"Sophie looked baffled in the glow of the message scrawled4 across the Mona Lisa's face.
SO DARK THE CON3 OF MAN"Sophie," Langdon said, "the Priory's tradition of perpetuating5 goddess worship is based on a beliefthat powerful men in the early Christian6 church 'conned7' the world by propagating lies thatdevalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine."Sophie remained silent, staring at the words.
"The Priory believes that Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the worldfrom matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda thatdemonized the sacred feminine, obliterating8 the goddess from modern religion forever."Sophie's expression remained uncertain. "My grandfather sent me to this spot to find this. He mustbe trying to tell me more than that."Langdon understood her meaning. She thinks this is another code. Whether a hidden meaningexisted here or not, Langdon could not immediately say. His mind was still grappling with the boldclarity of Saunière's outward message.
So dark the con of man, he thought. So dark indeed.
Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today's troubled world, and yetthe Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal9 crusade to "reeducate" the pagan andfeminine-worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired as theywere horrific.
The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soakedpublication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum—or The Witches' Hammer—indoctrinated theworld to "the dangers of freethinking women" and instructed the clergy10 how to locate, torture, anddestroy them. Those deemed "witches" by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses,gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any women "suspiciously attuned11 to the naturalworld." Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to easethe pain of childbirth—a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God's rightful punishment forEve's partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin. Duringthree hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding12 five millionwomen.
The propaganda and bloodshed had worked.
Today's world was living proof.
Women, once celebrated13 as an essential half of spiritual enlightenment, had been banished14 from thetemples of the world. There were no female Orthodox rabbis, Catholic priests, nor Islamic clerics.
The once hallowed act of Hieros Gamos—the natural sexual union between man and womanthrough which each became spiritually whole—had been recast as a shameful15 act. Holy men whohad once required sexual union with their female counterparts to commune with God now fearedtheir natural sexual urges as the work of the devil, collaborating16 with his favorite accomplice17...
woman.
Not even the feminine association with the left-hand side could escape the Church's defamation18. InFrance and Italy, the words for "left"—gauche and sinistra—came to have deeply negativeovertones, while their right-hand counterparts rang of righteousness, dexterity19, and correctness. Tothis day, radical20 thought was considered left wing, irrational21 thought was left brain, and anythingevil, sinister22.
The days of the goddess were over. The pendulum23 had swung. Mother Earth had become a man'sworld, and the gods of destruction and war were taking their toll24. The male ego25 had spent twomillennia running unchecked by its female counterpart. The Priory of Sion believed that it was thisobliteration of the sacred feminine in modern life that had caused what the Hopi Native Americanscalled koyanisquatsi—"life out of balance"—an unstable26 situation marked by testosterone-fueledwars, a plethora27 of misogynistic28 societies, and a growing disrespect for Mother Earth.
"Robert!" Sophie said, her whisper yanking him back. "Someone's coming!"He heard the approaching footsteps out in the hallway.
"Over here!" Sophie extinguished the black light and seemed to evaporate before Langdon's eyes.
For an instant he felt totally blind. Over where! As his vision cleared he saw Sophie's silhouetteracing toward the center of the room and ducking out of sight behind the octagonal viewing bench.
He was about to dash after her when a booming voice stopped him cold.
"Arrêtez!" a man commanded from the doorway29.
The Louvre security agent advanced through the entrance to the Salle des Etats, his pistoloutstretched, taking deadly aim at Langdon's chest.
Langdon felt his arms raise instinctively30 for the ceiling.
"Couchez-vous!" the guard commanded. "Lie down!"Langdon was face first on the floor in a matter of seconds. The guard hurried over and kicked hislegs apart, spreading Langdon out.
"Mauvaise idée, Monsieur Langdon," he said, pressing the gun hard into Langdon's back.
"Mauvaise idée."Face down on the parquet31 floor with his arms and legs spread wide, Langdon found little humor inthe irony32 of his position. The Vitruvian Man, he thought. Face down.
国家展厅里，兰登惊讶地望着防护玻璃上那闪着紫光的六个单词。这文字像是飘荡在天际，在蒙娜丽莎那神秘的微笑上投下了依稀可见的阴影。
"隐修会。"兰登低声说。"这证明你的祖父是隐修会成员。"
索菲大惑不解地望着他。"你看得懂？"
"一点都不差。"兰登点头说着，思绪万千。"这宣扬了隐修会的最基本理念。"
索菲困惑地看着蒙娜丽莎脸上那潦草写就的信息。
男人的欺骗是多么黑暗。
兰登解释说："索菲，隐修会违规崇拜女神是基于这样一个信念：早期基督教中的强权男性散布贬低女性的谣言惑众，唆使大众偏爱男性。"索菲看着那几个单词，保持沉默。
"隐修会认为，君士坦丁大帝和他的男性继位者们通过将女性神灵邪恶化的宣传活动，成功地将基督教转变为男性统治的宗教，将女神的地位从现代宗教中抹去了。"索菲还是将信将疑。"祖父让我到这里来发现这些文字，他一定不仅仅想告诉我这些。"
兰登明白她的意思，她认为这又是一个密码。兰登无法立即判断出这里面是否还有其他什么意义，他的注意力还在那清晰明了的字面意义上。
男人的欺骗是多么黑暗，他想，的确是很黑暗。
不可否认，现代的基督教为当今麻烦重重的世界做了许多有益的事，但它却有一段充满欺骗和暴力的历史。他们对异教和女性崇拜宗教组织的残忍圣战延续了三个世纪，采用的手段既鼓动人心，同时又是耸人听闻的。
由天主教裁判所发行的《巫婆之锤》无疑堪称人类历史上最血腥的出版物。它向人们灌输"自由思考的女人们给世界带来威胁"的思想，并教导神职人员如何去识别、折磨并消灭她们。教会所指认的"女巫"包括所有的女学者、女神职人员、吉普赛女人、女巫师、自然爱好者、草本采集者以及任何"涉嫌与自然世界协调一致的女性"。助产士们也被杀害，因为她们用医学知识来缓解分娩的疼痛被视为异教徒的做法--教会声称，生育的痛苦是上帝为夏娃偷食禁果而给予她的正当惩罚，这样生育和原罪的思想就紧密地联系在一起了。在追捕女巫的三百年中，被教会绑在柱子上烧死的女性多达五百万。
今天的世界就是活生生的例证。
女性曾被认为对文明开化作出了不容忽视的贡献，发挥了与男性同等的作用，但世界各地的神庙却将她们抹去了。犹太教、天主教和伊斯兰教中都没有女性神职人员。就连每年产生春季生殖力的神圣婚礼--巴比伦生殖神塔模斯教派的宗教礼仪，即男女通过肉体上的结合实现心灵的融合--也被视为是羞耻之举。曾经把与女性进行性融合视为遵从上帝旨意的男性们，现在则担心这是性冲动魔鬼在作祟，而这些魔鬼的最好帮凶就是……女人。
甚至就连与女性有关联的方位"左"也难逃教会的诽谤。法语和意大利语中表示"左"的单词--gauche 和sinistra--都包含着贬义，而表示"右"的单词则包含着褒义，暗示着"正直"、"机敏"、"正确"。直到今天，激进的思想被称为左翼，大凡邪恶、阴险、不理智的东西都与"左"有关联。
女神的时代结束了。随着时间的推移，大地母亲已经变成了男人的世界，毁灭之神和战争正在夺去无数人的生命。男性时代已经延续了两千多年，而没有受到女性的阻挠。郇山隐修会认为，正是由于女性的神圣地位在现代生活中的被剥夺才造成了"生活的不平衡"--即霍皮族印第安人所说的"koyanisquatsi"。这种"不平衡"状态的显著表现是由睾丸激素诱发的战争不时打响，各种神秘组织团体泛滥，人们对于大地母亲愈发不敬。
"罗伯特！"索菲的低语将兰登从沉思中唤醒。"有人来了！"
兰登听到走廊里的脚步声在向这里逼近。
"到这儿来！"索菲熄灭了紫外线灯，消失在兰登的视线中。
好几秒钟，兰登两眼一片漆黑。到哪儿？兰登适应了黑暗后，他看见索菲的影子朝展厅中央跑去，躲到了八边形长沙发的后面。他正想跟着跑过去，有人冷冷地喝住了他。
"站住！"那个人站在门口，叫道。
卢浮宫的保卫人员举枪进入国家展厅，用枪口直指兰登的胸口。
兰登本能地将双手高举过头。
"趴下！"保卫人员命令。
兰登立即脸冲地板趴在地上。保卫人员匆忙走过来，将他的双腿踢分开，让兰登四肢伸展。
"老实点儿，兰登先生。"他用枪顶着兰登的背。"老实点儿。
兰登脸冲地板，四肢伸展着趴在那里，觉得这样的姿势颇具幽默感。《维特鲁威人》，他想道，不过是脸冲下的。
收听单词发音 |
1
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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hover
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| vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫 | |
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con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perpetuating
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| perpetuate的现在进行式 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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conned
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| adj.被骗了v.指挥操舵( conn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obliterating
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| v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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attuned
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| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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collaborating
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| 合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国 | |
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accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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defamation
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| n.诽谤；中伤 | |
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dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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pendulum
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| n.摆，钟摆 | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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plethora
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| n.过量，过剩 | |
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misogynistic
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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parquet
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| n.镶木地板 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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