INTRODUCTION 导言
In common with all children of my age,I was brought up on American History and given no other history but American,year in and year out,year after year for eight or more years.
小的时候，我与所有同龄的孩子一样，学的都是美国历史，并且只学美国历史，一年接一年地学了八年多的时间。
So far as I knew 1492 was the beginning of the world. Any events or characters before that time,reference to which I encountered by any chance,were put down in my mind in the same category with fairy-tales.Christ and His times,of which I heard only in Sunday-school,were to me mere fiction without reality.They were not mentioned in any history that I knew and therefore,so I thought,must belong not to a realm in time and space,but to a spiritual realm.
To give an American child only American History is as provincial as to teach a Texas child only Texas History. Patriotism is usually given as the reason for such history teaching.It only promotes a narrow-mindedness and an absurd conceit,based on utter ignorance of any other peoples and any other times—an intolerant egotism without foundation in fact.Since World War I it has become increasingly more and more important that American children should have a knowledge of other countries and other peoples in order that their attitude may be intelligent and unprejudiced.
在我看来，整个世界是在1492年诞生的。那一年之前的任何事件或者人物，凡是在偶然当中碰到的，我都会在心里将它们归入“神话故事”一类中去。基督和他生活的那个时代，我只在教会学校里听说过；它们对我而言，不过都是一些虚构出来的故事罢了，一点儿也不真实。在我所知的历史中，根本就没有提到过这些事情；因此，我觉得它们一定不是属于真实世界中的，而是属于一种精神领域里的东西。
让美国孩子只了解美国历史的这种做法，与只让得克萨斯州的孩子学习该州的历史一样，都狭隘得很。人们常常将爱国主义当成是实行这种历史教学法的理由。但这种做法，只会让孩子们在完全无视其他民族、无视其他时代的基础上，形成一种狭隘的荒唐观念，即一种没有事实依据的、褊狭的唯我主义。从第一次世界大战以来，下面这一点已经变得越来越重要了：美国的儿童，应当去了解其他国家、其他民族的情况，从而形成一种更加明智、更加公允的态度。
As young as nine years of age,a child is eagerly inquisitive as to what has taken place in the ages past and readily grasps a concept of World History. Therefore,for many years Calvert School nine-year-old pupils have been taught World History in spite of academic and parental skepticism and antagonism.But I have watched the gradual drift toward adoption of this plan of history teaching,and with it an ever-increasing demand for a text-book of general history for young children.I have found,however,that all existing text-books have to be largely abridged and also supplemented by a running explanation and comment,to make them intelligible to the young child.
The recent momentous studies into the native intelligence of children show us what the average child at different ages can understand and what he cannot understand—what dates,figures of speech,vocabulary,generalities,and abstractions he can comprehend and what he cannot comprehend—and in the future all text-books will have to be written with constant regard for these intelligence norms. Otherwise,such texts are very likely to be“over the child's head.”They will be trying to teach him some things at least that,in the nature of the case,are beyond him.
In spite of the fact that the writer has been in constant contact with the child mind for a great many years,he has found that whatever was written in his study had to be revised and rewritten each time after the lesson had been tried out in the class-room.Even though the first writing was in what he considered the simplest language,he has found that each and every word and expression has had to be subjected again and again to this class-
一个孩子，虽然只有九岁，但他也会对过去历朝历代发生的事情产生极大的好奇心，并且很容易领会这个世界的历史概念。因此，尽管学术界和家长们都持有疑虑和反对意见，但多年以来，卡尔弗特学校一直都在给九岁的学生讲授世界历史。不过我也注意到，学术界和家长们都已经逐渐开始接受了此种历史教学计划；且随之而来的，便是人们对一般性幼儿用的历史教材的需求也增加了。然而我却发现，目前的所有教材都必须进行大幅的删减才行，同时还需要补充必要的解释和说明，才能让幼儿理解并接受。
近来针对美国儿童智力而进行的一些重大研究，向我们说明了不同年龄段的孩子能够理解些什么，又不能理解些什么，比如他能够理解哪些年代、修辞手法、词汇、概括表述和抽象概念，又不能理解哪些年代、哪些修辞手法、词汇、哪些概括表述和抽象概念；因此，将来的所有教材，在编写时都必须始终考虑到这些标准。否则的话，编写出来的教材就会是“超出儿童智力范围”的教材。它们试图教授给孩子的，必然会是孩子难以理解的一些东西。
尽管本书作者多年来一直与孩子们打交道，但他已经发现，自己关起门来写下的任何东西，在每次上完课、进行了课堂检验之后，都必须进行修改、重新写过才行。就算是认为初稿所用的语言已经极为简单，但之后他也发现，每个词语都必须一次又一次地进行推敲，才能适应此种课堂的检验，才能确定它们所传达的意思。哪怕是最小的反向修辞和可能出现的歧义，也经常会引起孩子们的误解，或者让孩子们觉得困惑。比方说，“罗马在台伯河上”这句话，孩子们通常都会理解为，它
room test to determine what meaning is conveyed. The slightest inverted phraseology or possibility of double meaning has oftentimes been misconstrued or found confusing.For instance,the statement that“Rome was on the Tiber River”has quite commonly been taken to mean that the city was literally built on top of the river,and the child has had some sort of fantastic vision of houses built on piles in the river.A child of nine is still very young—he may still believe in Santa Claus—younger in ideas,in vocabulary and in understanding than most adults appreciate—even though they be parents or teachers—and new information can hardly be put too simply.
So the topics selected have not always been the most important—but the most important that can be understood and appreciated by a child. Most political,sociological,economic,or religious generalities are beyond a child's comprehension,no matter how simply told.After all,this History is only a preliminary story.
Excellent biographies and stories from general history have been written. But biographies from history do not give an historic outline.They do not give any outline at all for future filling in；and,indeed,unless they themselves are fitted into such a general historical scheme,they are nothing more than so many disconnected tales floating about in the child's mind with no associations of time or space.
The treatment of the subject in this book is,therefore,chronological—telling the story of what has happened century by century and epoch by epoch,not by nations.The story of one nation is interrupted to take up that of another as different plots in a novel are brought forward simultaneously.This is in line with the purpose,which is to give the pupil
指的是罗马这个城市全然建造在台伯河的正上方；因此，孩子们就会产生一种怪异的想法，认为房子都是建造在立于河中的柱子上面的。一个九岁的孩子，年纪还很小，可能仍然相信世界上有圣诞老人，并且在思想、词汇和理解能力上，都要比绝大多数成年人所认为的更为幼稚，哪怕这些成年人是孩子的父母或者老师；所以，向孩子们传授新的知识也不是一件非常容易的事。
因此，对历史主题的选择一向都不是最重要的；而最重要的，则是选择孩子能够了解和理解的主题。政治学、社会学、经济学或者宗教方面的绝大部分概义，无论用多么简单的方式进行讲授，孩子都是理解不了的。毕竟，此种历史课程不过是一种初步的背景知识教学罢了。
人们已经根据通史，写出了许多优秀的传记作品和小说。不过，根据历史写就的传记作品，并不能让我们把握历史的轮廓。它们根本没有给孩子提供在未来的学习过程中能够加以填充的任何历史框架；而事实上，除非这些传记本身融入了此种普通历史的结构中去，否则的话，它们就只是在孩子的脑海中游离不定、互不相关并且与时空毫无联系的诸多故事和传说罢了。
因此，本书的办法便是以年代为主线，即逐个世纪、逐个年代地讲述历史上发生的事件，而不是按照国别来进行讲述。我们会中断对某个国家历史的叙述，从而开始叙述另一个国家的历史，就像是一部小说中同时展开不同的情节那样。这种方法与本书的目的是一致的，因为本书旨在让学生能够连贯把握整个世界历史，或者
a continuous view or panorama of the ages,rather than Greek History from start to finish,then,retracing the steps of time,Roman History,and so on. The object is to sketch the whole picture in outline,leaving the details to be gradually filled in by later study,as the artist sketches the general scheme of his picture before filling in the details.Such a scheme is as necessary to orderly classification of historical knowledge as is a filing system in any office that can function properly or even at all.
The Staircase of Time is to give a visual idea of the extent of time and the progressive steps in the History of the World. Each“flight”represents a thousand years,and each“step”a hundred—a century.If you have a spare wall,either in the play-room,attic,or barn such a Staircase of Time on a large scale may be drawn upon it from floor to reaching height and made a feature if elaborated with pictures or drawings of people and events.If the wall faces the child's bed so much the better,for when lying awake in the morning or at any other time,instead of imagining fantastic designs on the wallpaper,he may picture the crowded events on the Staircase of Time.At any rate,the child should constantly refer either to such a Staircase of Time or to the Time Table as each event is studied,until he has a mental image of the Ages past.
At first a child does not appreciate time values represented by numbers or the relative position of dates on a time line and will wildly say twenty-five hundred B.C.or twenty-five thousand B.C.or twenty-five million B.C.indiscriminately.Only by constantly referring dates to position on the Staircase of Time or the Time Table can a child come to visualize dates.You may be amused,but do not be amazed,if a child gives 776 thousand
说能够一窥历史全貌，而不是从头到尾地学完希腊历史，然后再重新按照时间顺序去学习罗马历史，并依此类推。本书的目标，就是给学生描绘出一个整体轮廓，进而让他们在日后的学习中去逐渐填补其中的细节，就像一位画家先是打好草图，然后再去填充细节一样。这种方法，不但是有条有理地去整理历史知识所必需的，也是任何一个办公室里的文件归档系统要想正常而平稳地运作所必需的。
本书中的“时间阶梯图”，旨在让学生对时间以及世界历史的各个发展阶段有个视觉概念。阶梯上的每一“段”，都代表了一千年的时间；而其中的每一“级”，则代表着一百年，即一个世纪。假如您的家里有一面空墙，无论这面空墙是在儿童游戏室里、阁楼上还是谷仓里，您都可以在这面墙上绘制出一张大大的“时间阶梯图”来，从地板一直画到屋顶；并且，倘若再仔细地加上人物与事件的图片，就很有特色了。如果这堵墙壁正对着孩子的卧床，那就更好；因为这样一来，孩子早上醒来或者其他时间躺在床上的时候，可能就不会去想象墙纸上有着各种稀奇古怪的图案，而是去想象“时间阶梯图”上那些诸多的事件了。不管怎么说，学习了每一桩历史事件之后，孩子都应当经常性地去参考参考这样一张“时间阶梯图”或者“时间表”，直到脑子里形成一幅历史时代图才是。
一开始的时候，孩子并不会理解数字或者时间轴线上某个相对位置所代表的时间值，因此会不加区别，公元前2500年、公元前25000年或者公元前2500万年地乱说一通。只有经常性地将日期与“时间阶梯图”或者“时间表”上的位置对应起
years A. D.as the date for the First Olympiad,or says that Italy is located in Athens,or that Abraham was a hero of the Trojan War.
If you have ever been introduced to a roomful of strangers at one time,you know how futile it is to attempt even to remember their names to say nothing of connecting names and faces. It is necessary to hear something interesting about each one before you can begin to recall names and faces.Likewise an introduction to World History,the characters and places in which are utterly unknown strangers to the child,must be something more than a mere name introduction,and there must be very few introductions given at a time or both names and faces will be instantly forgotten.It is also necessary to repeat new names constantly in order that the pupil may gradually become familiarized with them,for so many strange people and places are bewildering.
In order to serve the purpose of a basal out-line,which in the future is to be filled in,it is necessary that the Time Table be made a permanent possession of the pupil.This Time Table,therefore,should be studied like the multiplication tables until it is known one hundred per cent and for“keeps”，and until the topic connected with each date can be elaborated as much as desired.The aim should be to have the pupil able to start with Primitive Man and give a summary of World History to the present time,with dates and chief events without prompting,questioning,hesitation,or mistake.Does this seem too much to expect?It is not as difficult as it may sound,if suggestions given in the text for connecting the various events into a sequence and for passing names and events in a
来，孩子才能开始将日期具体化。倘若一个孩子说第一届奥运会是在公元776000年举行的，或者说意大利位于雅典境内，或者说亚伯拉罕是特洛伊战争中的一位英雄，您可以觉得有趣，但可不要吃惊。
如果您曾经有过被介绍给一屋子陌生人的经历，那么您就会明白，要想记住这些陌生人的名字是多么的困难，更别说将名字与每个人的长相一一联系起来了。您必须听到每个陌生人某种有意思的事情，才能开始回忆起他们的名字和长相来。同样，在一本世界历史的入门教材中，有许多的人物和地点，它们对于孩子来说都不亚于完全没有见过面的陌生人，因此学习这一教材的难度，必定不只是像介绍名字那样简单，而且一次也不能介绍太多，否则的话，名字和长相马上就会被孩子忘掉。经常性地反复提及新的名称，以便让学生逐渐熟悉它们也很有必要，因为那么多陌生的人物和地点，也确实会让人眼花缭乱。
为了实现让学生掌握基本轮廓、以便日后填充细节的目的，学生必须始终都拥有这样一份“时间表”才行。因此，这份“时间表”应当像“九九乘法表”那样去学习，直到学生百分之百地熟悉和“完全掌握”，并且能够做到对每个日期相关联的主题尽可能详细地进行阐述为止。而教学目标，则应当是让学生能够从原始人开始，概述出迄今为止的世界历史，并且不用启发、不用提问、毫不支吾、毫无差错地用日期和主要事件来加以说明。这一目标，看起来是不是期望值太高呢？不过，倘若遵循本教材中给出的建议，将各种不同的事件连成一串，对过去的人物和事件进行扼要回顾，那么这一目标实现起来就不会有听起来那么困难了。在卡尔弗特学
condensed review are followed. Hundreds of Calvert children each year are successfully required to do this very thing.
The attitude,however,usually assumed by teachers,that“even if the pupil forgets it all,there will be left a valuable impression，”is too often an apology for superficial teaching and superficial learning. History may be made just as much a“mental discipline”as some other studies,but only if difficulties of dates and other abstractions are squarely met and overcome by hard study and learned to be remembered,not merely to be forgotten after the recitation.The story part the child will easily remember,but it is the“who and when and where and why”that are important,and this part is the serious study.Instead of，“A man,once upon a time，”he should say，“King John in 1215 at Runnymede because—”
This book,therefore,is not a supplementary reader but a basal history study. Just enough narrative is told to give the skeleton flesh and blood and make it living.The idea is not how much but how little can be told；to cut down one thousand pages to less than half of that number without leaving only dry bones.
No matter how the subject is presented it is necessary that the child do his part and put his own brain to work；and for this purpose he should be required to retell each story after he has read it and should be repeatedly questioned on names and dates as well as stories,to make sure he is retaining and assimilating what he hears.
I recall how once upon a time a young chap,just out of college,taught his first class in history.With all the enthusiasm of a full-back who has just kicked a goal from field，
校，我们每年都是要求成百上千的孩子这样去做的，而他们做得也都很成功。
然而，老师们通常都会持有这样一种态度，那就是：即便学生全都忘光，也会留下一种可贵的印象。并且，这种态度也经常被老师们当成肤浅教学和学生们不求甚解的学习做法的借口。我们虽然也可以把历史当成一种与其他学习一样的“智力训练”，但只有在学生通过努力学习，完全掌握和攻克了日期与其他抽象概念的问题，并且学会记住这些日期和抽象概念，而不只是背过就忘的情况下，才能这样。孩子很容易记住其中的故事部分，但真正重要的，却是“谁、何时、何地与为何”等方面，因为这一部分才是真正严肃的学习。学生不能说：“从前，有个人……”而应当这样说：“1215年，英王约翰于兰尼米德，因为……”
因此，本书并不是一个辅助读本，而是一种学习历史基础知识的教材。其中的故事，恰好足以让历史这具“骨架”中有了血肉，使之变得栩栩如生起来。本书的主旨，并不在于其中讲述的内容可以有多庞大，而在于其中讲述的内容可以有多微小，在于将一千页的内容缩减至一半以下，同时不至于让整个历史只剩下一具干巴巴的骨架。
无论这门课程是如何讲授的，孩子们都必须尽自己的力量，开动脑筋、努力学习才行；为此，阅读完每一个故事之后，都应当要求孩子进行复述，并且反复就人
he talked,he sang；he drew maps on the blackboard,on the floor,on the field；he drew pictures,he vaulted desks,and even stood on his head to illustrate points. His pupils attended spellbound,with their eyes wide open,their ears wide open,and their mouths wide open.They missed nothing.They drank in his flow of words with thirst unquenched；but,like Baron Munchausen,he had failed to look at the other end of the drinking horse that had been cut in half.At the end of a month his kindly principal suggested a test,and he gave it with perfect confidence.
There were only three questions：
（1）Tell all you can about Columbus.
（2）“““““Jamestown.
（3）“““““Plymouth.
And here are the three answers of one of the most interested pupils：
（1）He was a grate man.
（2）“““““
（3）“““““to.
名、日期以及故事内容向孩子提问，以确保孩子记住并吸收所学的知识。
我还记得，有一位年轻人大学刚刚毕业后去教第一堂历史课时的情形。他带着激情，犹如一名刚刚在球场上踢进了球的后卫，滔滔不绝地讲啊、唱啊，在黑板、地板、操场上画地图啊，还跳上课桌，甚至倒立起来，想方设法地去说明要点。他的那些学生有如被施了魔法一般，一个个都瞪大眼睛、竖着耳朵、张着嘴巴地听着。他们可以说毫厘不漏。他们如饥似渴，聆听着他的话语；可是，就像孟豪森男爵
那样，他却没有去看一看那匹饮水的马儿被劈成两半之后另一半的情况。一个月之后，那位和蔼可亲的校长提出测试一下其教学效果；于是，这位老师便自信满满地对学生进行了测试。
试卷上，总共只有三个问题：
（1）请尽量介绍一下哥伦布。
（2）请尽量介绍一下詹姆斯敦。
（3）请尽量介绍一下普利茅斯。
而对这门课程最感兴趣的一名学生，给出的三个答案竟然如下：
（1）他是个了不起的人。
（2）他是个了不起的人。
（3）他也是个了不起的人。
STAIRCASE OF TIME 时间阶梯图
It starts far,far,below the bottom of the pages and rises up,Up,UP to where we are NOW—each step a hundred years,each flight of steps a thousand. It will keep on up until it reaches high heaven.From where we are NOW let us look down the flights below us and listen to the Story of what has happened in the long years gone by.
这条阶梯，从页面最底下慢慢往上、往上、往上，直到现在；其中，每一“级”代表着一百年，而每一“段”则代表了一千年。这条阶梯还会继续往上，一直升到高高的空中去呢。让我们从所处的现在开始，向脚下的楼梯看一看，来听一听那已经远去的漫长岁月中发生的事情吧。
