SAT写作经典例子之“圣雄甘地”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Gandhi's campaign of nonviolent civil resistance to British rule of India led to India’s independence in 1947. A member of the merchant caste, Mohandas K. Gandhi, later called Mahatma (Sanskrit for “great soul”), studied law in London. As a lawyer, and later as a political activist, he effectively fought discrimination with his principles of truth, nonviolence, and courage.
Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and meditation. His union with his wife became, as he himself stated, that of brother and sister. Refusing earthly possessions, he wore the loincloth and shawl of the lowliest Indian and subsisted on vegetables, fruit juices, and goat's milk.
Indians revered him as a saint and began to call him Mahatma (Sanskrit, “great soul”), a title reserved for the greatest sages. Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolence, known as ahimsa (Sanskrit, “noninjury”), was the expression of a way of life implicit in the Hindu religion. By the Indian practice of nonviolence, Gandhi held, Britain too would eventually consider violence useless and would leave India.
Gandhi's death was regarded as an international catastrophe. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set aside in the United Nations General Assembly, and condolences to India were expressed by all countries.
Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan, and the teachings of Gandhi came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in the U.S. under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
甘地
甘地(1869-1948)，印度现代民族解放运动的著名领袖，现代民族资产阶级政治学说——甘地主义的创始人。他从小就熟读印度教经典，把“逢恶报以善，用德报以怨”作为自己的处世格言。1887 年，他进入萨马达尔斯学院，同年到伦敦大学攻读法学，四年后学成归国，先后在孟买、拉杰科特担任律师。
1893 年4月，甘地为处理一起债务纠纷来到南非，在那里参加了当地反对种族歧视、争取平等权利的斗争。在南非的21 年中，他把印度教毗湿奴派的仁爱、素食、不杀生主张同《圣经》、《古兰经》中的仁爱思想结合起来，并受梭伦、托尔斯泰、鲁斯金著作的影响，最终形成了一整套非暴力主义的理论。在这一思想指导下，他领导在南非的印度侨民展开反对禁止印度向南非移民的“黑色法案”和《亚洲人登记条例》的斗争，其间，他曾三次被捕入狱，但最终迫使官方作出了让步，非暴力运动取得了初步胜利。
甘地的伟大人格几乎是举世公认。他具有赤诚的爱国热诚，崇高的牺牲精神，追求真理的执著信念;坚强的意志，坚韧的耐心，随机应变的本领;他待人谦恭、诚实、光明磊落，不分贵贱善恶一视同仁，没有种族歧视和宗教偏见;他注重实际，反对空谈;他关心下层人民疾苦，善于体察民情并始终与人民群众打成一片;他生活清苦，安贫乐道;他尊重女性，提倡人的精神完善和社会和谐;他的道德修养堪称楷模。正因为如此，甘地这位身材矮小、其貌不扬的东方人博得了不同民族、信仰和阶级的人的景仰和爱戴。