Teens wear a ring to symbolize their purity Nearly 25,000 American teens have taken the vow of chastity with the group, Silver Ring Thing. The ring is worn like a wedding ring to symbolize their vow of chastity.
Silver Ring Thing is part of an abstinence organisation, who hopes to persuade hundreds of their peers to swear a pledge to purity, put a ring on their finger to prove it, and ask God to help them remain chaste until marriage.
"I"ve been wearing the ring for about 7 years now," said D.J. Shooter, a sophomore at Yale University, who first slipped it on his finger at age 12. The football player said he and his girlfriend of four years agree sex is something to hold for marriage.
He also admits it"s not always the easiest decision to uphold. "There"s a lot of times where you can kind of get caught up in the moment, a lot times I"ll just kind of rub it or see it and it will remind me of the commitment that I made with my girlfriend," said Shooter.
美国的大约2万5千名青少年为贞节立下誓约，组成了团体，银戒指。这就象戴着的结婚戒指一样，象征着她们对于纯洁的誓言。
银戒指是一个节欲组织的一个部分，他们希望劝说数以百计的同龄人为纯洁立下誓约，把戒指戴在手指上来做出证明，让上帝帮助他们保持贞洁，直到结婚。
“现在我大约已经戴了7年戒指了，”耶鲁大学的一名二年级学生，D.J. Shooter说，他是在12岁时把戒指戴上手指上的。这个足球运动员说和他交往四年的女朋友都认为性是来支撑婚姻的。
他也承认，维持它不是很容易的决定。“有许多次，你能在那个时刻碰到它，很多次我能摸到看到它，提醒着我和女朋友的承诺。”Shooter说。
When the teens take the pledge they"re not making it alone. They can go to a rock concert event sponsored by Silver Ring Thing, with loud music, flashy lights and the chance to buy T-shirts and other memorabilia to generate enthusiasm for their pledge.
Do their pledges stick? A Columbia University study of 12,000 teens found 88 percent of those who took an abstinence pledge had sex before marriage. And those who did were 20 percent less likely to use a condom.
But The Silver Ring Thing"s director, Denny Pattyn, is convinced his message of faith, purity and chastity will hit home.
"When you"re in a tempting or compromising situation, it"s one thing to have made a pledge, it"s a second thing to have put on the ring, but there"s a third thing that comes from inside," says Pattyn.
"And we believe the faith component is the final strength you have when you"re in the most compromising situation."
当这些人在立誓约时，他们不是孤独的。青少年们参加银戒指发起的摇滚音乐会，那里有高声的音乐，闪烁的灯光和有机会买到与名人或重大事件有关的T恤衫和其他纪念品，能够使他们产生立下誓约的积极性。
他们的誓言能坚持吗?哥伦比亚大学对于12000名青少年的一项研究发现，立下誓约88%的青少年在结婚前是有性行为的，20%的使用过不止一个避孕套。
但银戒指的组织者，Denny Pattyn确信，他对于诺言，纯洁和贞节的信念会深深的记在心中。
“当你处在一个被诱惑或容易妥协的情形时，已经做过保证是应第一个想到的，第二想到的是，已经戴上了戒指，但是你心中深处的想法是第三个来到的。”Pattyn说。
“而且我们相信，当你在最容易妥协的时候，信念的成分是你最后的力量。”