如果历史一直让你感到无聊的话，那么你将感到这章很有意思。

　　At about the same time as Hannibal was in Italy, that is, shortly after 220 BC, an emperor was ruling over China who hated history so much that, in 213 BC,

　　大约汉尼拔在意大利的时候，也就是说，公元前220年以后，中国有一位皇帝，他非常不喜欢历史，所以在公元前213年,

　　he ordered all history books and all old reports and records to be burnt,

　　他下令焚烧全部历史书籍和全部古代文献与资料，

　　along with all collections of songs and poems and the writings of Confucius and Lao-tzu – in fact everything he considered to be useless rubbish.

　　也焚烧了全部诗歌集以及全部孔子和老子的著作——事实上一切他认为不实用的东西都被焚烧了。

　　The only books he permitted were ones on agriculture and other useful subjects.

　　只有关于农耕和其他有用的书他才允许存在。

　　Anybody found in possession of any other sort of book was to be put to death.

　　谁拥有一本别的书，谁就会被处死。

　　This emperor was Shih Huang-ti, the first emperor of all China and one of the greatest warriors there has ever been.

　　这位皇帝叫秦始皇，他是中国的第一位皇帝，是前所未有的伟大的勇士之一。

　　He was not born into an imperial family but was the son of one of the princes I told you about, who ruled the many Chinese provinces.

　　他不是出生在皇室家庭，而是一个诸侯的儿子，关于那些统治中国许多省份的诸侯的情况我已讲述过。