世界小史 第149期:富贵还是贫穷

 　　Now they were carefully collected and valued twice as highly¹ as before.

　　现在人们将它们收集起来并加倍珍惜它们。

　　And to become a government official, you had to know them all.

　　想成为一名中国政府官员，你必须熟读这些古书。

　　China is, in fact, the only country in the world to be ruled for hundreds of years, not by the nobility, nor by soldiers, nor even by the priesthood, but by scholars.

　　实际上中国是世界上唯一的一个在几百年里不是贵族，不是士兵，也不是宗教界人士，而是有学问的人掌权的国家。

　　No matter where you came from, or whether you were rich or poor, as long as you gained high marks in your exams you could become an official.

　　你从哪里来，你是富贵还是贫穷并不重要，只要你考试成绩好，你就可以当官。

　　The highest post went to the person with the highest marks.

　　谁考得分数最高，谁就得到最高的官位。

　　But the exams were far from easy.

　　但是这些考试并不简单。

　　You had to be able to write thousands of characters, and you can imagine how hard that is.

　　你必须能写好几千字的文章，你可以想象它多么困难。

　　What is more, you had to know an enormous² number of ancient books and all the rules and teachings³ of Confucius and the other ancient sages⁴ off by heart.

　　而且你必须熟读大量的古书和规则，熟练背诵孔子的学说和其他古代圣人的学说。

　　So Shih Huang-ti's burning of the books was all in vain, and if you thought he was right, you were mistaken.

　　所以秦始皇的焚书不管用，如果你认为他是正确的，你就错了。

　　It's a bad idea to try to prevent people from knowing their own history.

　　阻止人们了解他们自己的历史是槽糕的想法。

　　If you want to do anything new you must first make sure you know what people have tried before.

　　如果你想有所创新，首先你必须确保你了解人们过去尝试了什么。

1 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。

2 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

3 teachings   

n.教学( teaching的名词复数 )；教学工作；教诲；学说

参考例句：

• We must never be unworthy of our teachers' untiring and sincere teachings. 我们决不要辜负老师的谆谆教导。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Party's teachings were ringing in her ears. 党的教导在她耳边回响。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 sages   

n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料）

参考例句：

• Homage was paid to the great sages buried in the city. 向安葬在此城市的圣哲们表示敬意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Confucius is considered the greatest of the ancient Chinese sages. 孔子被认为是古代中国最伟大的圣人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》