托福口語素材：The Salt of the Earth

　　鹽是飲食中不可缺少的調味品，人體若缺鹽，健康就會受到影響，出現(xiàn)種種疾病。鹽還有殺菌、解毒、消炎、除污等多種功用，它既是“百藥之王”，又是工業(yè)之母，確是值得珍視的東西。在許多民族的習俗匯總，鹽被當作敬客的高貴禮品.

　　The Salt of the Earth一詞出自《圣經》，據《新約。馬太福音》(Matthew)第5長記載：耶穌對他的門徒說:"Ye are the salt of the earth:but if the salt have lost his savor,wherewith shall it be salted? " 在這里，salt用于轉義，表示flavor;of the earth即of the world。這是耶穌登山垂訓論"福"，所講福音結尾的話，他把門徒比做“世上的鹽”，這是極高的稱贊。這句話在后世不斷引用變成了一個典故性成語，轉義為the most valuable members of sociey;the finest type of humanity;a person or a group of people having the best character 之意.

　　eg: He does a lot of good jobs and is considered to be the salt of the world.