AMERICA's churches are nothing if not nimble. You might think that they would be up in arms about “The Da Vinci Code”. Dan Brown's novel has sold well over 40m copies in 44 languages; the film version of the novel, which is being released around the world on May 19th, will reach millions more; and yet Mr Brown's message is about as heretical as you can get. “The Da Vinci Code” holds that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter; that the Bible was put together by a fourth-century Roman emperor with a thing against women; that the Catholic Church is a criminal conspiracy.

　　美国的教堂脑筋极为灵活。（"nothing if not”一般用于强调某人或某物的品质“尤其……”，“极为……”）也许你以为他们将与《达·芬奇密码》干戈相向了。丹·布朗这部小说十分畅销，已经被翻译成44种语言，印数超过4000万册；根据小说改编的电影5月19日将在全球首映，必定引得更多人瞩目。然而，从布朗的小说中你所能看到的不外乎是一种异教论。《达·芬奇密码》认为，耶稣娶玛丽·玛德琳娜为妻，生了一个女儿；《圣经》是四世纪一位罗马皇帝（即君士坦丁）怀着对女性敌视的思想捏造出来的；天主教堂隐藏着一个犯罪阴谋。