Israel says its three-week assault on the Gaza Strip was an act of legitimate self-defense in response to years of Palestinian rocket attacks.

VOA: standard.2009.10.16

I think it's worth thinking about, at least for a moment, of the oddity of this terrible act of self-mutilation.

我认为这值得思考，至少值得思考一会，有关自毁形象的怪异之处。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

It's the violence of this horrible act of self-sacrifice, this tragic act of self-sacrifice -- an act of self-sacrifice - intended obviously to preserve the state of virginity -- that grabs our attention and presumably grabbed Milton's.

正是这种可怖的自我牺牲行为的暴力，这种悲剧的自我牺牲--这种明显是,要保护童贞的自我牺牲的行为-,吸引了我们的注意力，大概也吸引了弥尔顿的注意力。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选