http://www.christianheadlines.com/news/a-flood-of-guests-expected-as-noah-s-ark-theme-park-opens-in-kentucky.html

翻译：Ruth Wei

编辑：Weiyan Cai

Ken Ham sees a parallel between the time of Noah in the biblical book of Genesis and today’s growing secularization of American culture.
肯·汉姆看到了《圣经》的创世纪中记载的挪亚时代和现在日益增长的美国文化的世俗化的相似处。

So perhaps it makes sense that Ham’s Christian apologetics ministry, Answers in Genesis, has built an ark 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high, based on the cubit measurements God gave Noah in the biblical flood account.

所以这个也许就是汉姆的基督教护教事工“创世记的答案” 根据《圣经》洪水事件中神给挪亚的指示，建造长510英尺，宽85英尺和高51英尺的方舟的原因。

But while only eight people in Noah’s family climbed aboard the biblical ark, when the rain began to fall, on Tuesday (July 5) as if on cue, more than 8,000 people got a first look inside the full-scale replica at the Ark Encounter.
但是《圣经》中只有挪亚一家八口在雨季来临的时候登上了方舟，而在周二（2016年7月5号）有超过8000人进入方舟一睹了“遇见方舟”的全景。

The ark and 800-acre theme park officially opens to the public Thursday in northern Kentucky, 45 minutes from Answers in Genesis’ Creation Museum.

在周四这个占地800英亩的挪亚方舟主题公园在北肯塔基州向公众开放，此地离创世纪博物馆只有45分钟距离。

Ham called the Ark Encounter’s opening “a historic event in Christendom” at the ribbon-cutting and preview Tuesday and predicted it would become “one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era of history.”

在周二的剪彩开幕式上，汉姆说遇见方舟是基督徒的一个历史事件，也将会成为一个伟大的里程碑。

The park’s centerpiece features three decks of exhibits explaining Answers in Genesis’ views of the biblical flood account and life-size figures depicting what life on the ark might have been like for Noah and his family — an extravaganza Ham described as “beyond Hollywood.”

主题公园用三层甲板特色展示了创世记的答案眼中的洪水事件，以实际尺寸具体呈现了挪亚一家当时在方舟中的生活--汉姆称此为“超越好莱坞”的汇演。

The park also features a two-story restaurant, aerial zipline cables and the Ararat Ridge Zoo with goats, ponies, emus and more animals. The next phase of park construction likely will include a walled city “that takes you back to Noah’s day” with shops, restaurants and street performers that visitors will walk through as they approach the ark, said Michael Zovath, chief action officer for Answers in Genesis and project director for the Ark Encounter.

该公园还有两层餐厅，高空飞索和有山羊，小马，鸸鹋及其他动物的亚拉腊岭动物园。创世记的答案首席行动官兼方舟建造项目的经理佐瓦斯介绍，公园下一阶段将建造一个模拟城市“带你回到挪亚的时代”，该城市里有商店，餐厅还有街头卖艺的等。游客会经过这些街道，进入方舟。

But the Ark Encounter is “not just for entertainment,” said Ham, president and CEO of Answers in Genesis.

创世记的答案主席兼首席执行官汉姆说，遇见方舟并“不是仅仅为了娱乐”。

It’s to “proclaim God’s word and the gospel,” he said. It’s meant to show — in keeping with Answers in Genesis’ ministry, focused on issues such as creation, evolution, science and the age of the Earth — that the biblical flood account is historic and the Bible is true in regard to history and science.

他说：“为了传讲神的话和福音，也就是说为了展示《圣经》中的洪水事件是真实的历史，从科学和历史来讲《圣经》都是真实的，这些都是创世记的答案一直以来所坚持的，就是专注在创造，进化，科学和地球的年龄。”

“When people say, ‘What are you really doing here? What statement are you making?,’ well, you know, in a world that we see becoming very secularized before our eyes, it’s really time for Christians to do something of this size, of this quality, that competes with the Disneys and the Universals to get a message to the world,” he said.

“当人们问：‘你到底在做什么，你想要说明什么？’确实，你知道的，面对一个越来越世俗化的世界，基督徒确实应该建造如此规模，如此品质并且能够和迪士尼及环球相较的主题公园，以此来向世界传递信息。”

That’s a mission and an interpretation of Scripture that the park’s first visitors celebrated at the preview event Tuesday, but it’s also a retelling critics call inaccurate at best and potentially harmful at worst.

对于第一批参与到周二的预览活动中的游客，给他们分享了福音，讲解了《圣经》，但是最好的是收到一些差评，最坏可能是一些潜在的危害。

“We share with the people at the Ark Encounter a belief in the Bible, but Answers in Genesis and Ken Ham do not speak for all Christians,” said Deborah Haarsma, president of BioLogos, a Christian ministry promoting an evolutionary understanding of creation.

生物道是一个致力于神导进化论的基督徒团体，其主席Deborah Haarsma说： “我们在遇见方舟里分享了《圣经》里的信仰，但是创世记的答案和汉姆并不是为所有的基督徒代言。”

Rough waters

波涛汹涌

The park’s opening day — 7/7 — was chosen because Genesis 7:7 reads, “And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.”

公园的开放日之所以选在7月7号是因为创世记的7章7节写道：“挪亚就同他的妻和儿子、儿妇，都进入方舟，躲避洪水。”

Employees have been working six days a week since April to finish by that date, Zovath said. There still is lighting and animal sculptures (eventually, the ark will hold 200) to finish, and the animal sounds and music that boom through the wooden structure have not yet been finalized, according to Patrick Marsh, vice president of attractions for the Ark Encounter.

佐瓦斯说所有的工作人员从四月份直到工程竣工都是每周工作六天。遇见方舟的景点副总裁Patrick Marsh介绍说，灯光和动物雕塑（最终方舟会呈放200）都还没有完成，木质构造中回响的动物音效也还没有完成。

That timeline isn’t the only challenge the park has faced: In 2014, the theme park was awarded, then denied Kentucky tax incentives, worth an estimated $18 million over 10 years, because Answers in Genesis requires its employees to sign a statement of belief. In January, it won a lawsuit to have those incentives restored.

主题公园面临的挑战不仅仅是时间期限，在2014年主题公园得到奖励，但是又被取消了肯塔基州税收奖励资金，价值1800万美元的超越10年的税务优惠，因为创世记的答案让其雇工签订信仰声明。一月份，胜利通过了诉讼使其继续得到税收奖励。

The first phase of construction on the park cost $100 million (total costs will reach more than $150 million), funded through bonds and $33 million in private donations, according to Ham. Critics have balked at its use of taxpayer funds, but the Answers in Genesis president is adamant none were used for construction; rather, he said, those incentives will come as rebates on sales tax generated by the park now that it’s opened.

汉姆说主题公园的初步建设耗资1亿美元，总费用预计超过1.5亿美元，资金来源是国债资金，其中3300万是来自个人的捐赠。抗议者在这个税金的应用问题上犹豫不决，而创世记的答案的主席坚决表示这些资金没有用来建设公园，反倒是，那些税收奖励将会成为公园的销售退税因为公园已经开放了。

During a press conference ringed by cheering supporters, Ham said he believed the park was being singled out because of prejudice against Christians.

在面对支持者的新闻发布会上，汉姆说他相信主题公园之所以被单挑出来是因为对基督徒的一些偏见。

Tri-State Freethinkers, an area group advocating the separation of church and state, plans to picket the park’s opening for its “anti-science”
mission and “discriminatory hiring practices,” as well as what the group calls the immorality of the biblical flood account, according to its website.

无神论团体Tri-State Freethinkers提倡分离教会和美国，打算在公园的开幕当天以“反科学”和“雇佣歧视”为题进行挑衅，从他们的网站上还可看到他们否认《圣经》中的洪水事件。

Biblical worldviews

《圣经》中的世界观

And not all share the ministry’s beliefs — sometimes referred to as “young Earth creationism” — that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, that humans once lived alongside dinosaurs and that the six-day creation and flood accounts found in the first 10 chapters of Genesis are literally, historically true.

并不是所有的人都支持创世记的答案的信仰--有时称之为“年轻地球创造论”--地球大概有6000年历史，《圣经》中创世记前十章所记载的人类曾与恐龙并存，神用六天创造万物和洪水事件都是历史上真实存在的。

That reading of Genesis is important because, Ham said, “When you take away the foundation of the absolute authority of the word of God, then anything goes. … In other words, who draws the line?”

汉姆说阅读创世记非常重要，“如果离开神话语绝对主权的基础的话，那么所有的事情就都……换句话说，谁策划了历史的轴线呢？”

A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of Americans believe humans have evolved over time. That number jumps to 98 percent among members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, it said.

皮尤研究中心在2015年的调查中发现百分之六十五的美国人相信人类随着时间是进化了的。而这个数字在美国科学协会的研究中则变成了百分之九十八。

Those scientists say that the Earth is over 4 billion years old, that there never was a flood covering the whole Earth and that the variety of species today could not have descended from the animals on the ark. (Ham maintains that up to 1,400 “kinds” of animals were brought aboard the ark, with changes within those kinds over time leading to the diversity of animals we see today.)

科学家称地球超过了40亿年，在历史上从来没有一次洪水淹没整个地球，现存的动物物种也不会比方舟中的少。（汉姆坚持超过1400种的动物被带入方舟，而随着时间现存的物种也有变化）

On the ark’s third deck, a sign in an exhibit about the ice age points out that creationists and evolutionists look at the same evidence and draw different conclusions. The sign explains the difference between “the evolutionary worldview” and “the biblical worldview.”

在方舟的第三层甲板上，有个冰河世纪的展示指出创造论者和进化论者对于相同的证据却得出不同的结论。那个展示解释了“进化论的世界观”和“圣经的世界观”的不同。

But there’s more than one “biblical” worldview, say Susan L. Trollinger and William Vance Trollinger Jr., professors at the University of Dayton and co-authors of the book “Righting America at the Creation Museum.”

但是身为道顿大学的教授及《在创世博物馆中扶正美国人》的共同作者Susan L. Trollinger 和 William Vance Trollinger Jr.指出“圣经世界观”不止一种。

“Young Earth creationism holds sway in fundamentalism and in a good part of evangelicalism,” said William Vance Trollinger Jr. But it was popularized among Christians in 1961 with the publication of “The Genesis Flood” by the late Henry Morris and by John Whitcomb, who attended Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting.

William Vance Trollinger Jr. 说“年轻地球创造主义在原教旨主义中处于主导地位，也是福音的一个部分。”但是这个概念从1961年随着《创世记洪水》的出版在基督徒中流行开来，而该书的作者Henry Morris和John Whitcomb也出席了周二的剪彩开幕式。