《历史的教训》

两位当代最伟大思想家的著名论文集，汇集了 5000 多年的历史

作者：威尔-杜兰特和阿里尔-杜兰特

The Lessons of History

The celebrated collection of essays compiling over 5,000 years of history by two of the greatest thinkers of our time

By Will Durant and Ariel Durant

内容简介

历史的教训》（1968 年）概述了人类五千多年的历史。它涵盖了道德、宗教以及社会主义和资本主义等政府制度的变化，并追溯了战争的历史趋势。同时，它还就历史对当下的意义提供了各种启示。

Synopsis

The Lessons of History (1968) gives an overview of more than 5,000 years of human history. It covers changes in morality, religion and governmental systems like socialism and capitalism, and traces the historical trends of war. Along the way, it offers a variety of lessons on what history means for the present.

适合人群

* 历史和政治爱好者

* 对人类进步感兴趣的人

Who is it for?

* History and politics enthusiasts

* Anyone interested in human progress

作者简介

威尔-杜兰特是作家、历史学家和哲学家。阿里尔-杜兰特是一名研究员和作家。这对夫妇最著名的作品是《文明的故事》（The Story of Civilization），这本书共十一卷，概述了所有西方历史。他们的作品曾获得普利策一般非小说奖和总统自由奖章。

About the author

Will Durant was a writer, historian and philosopher. Ariel Durant was a researcher and writer. The couple is best known for The Story of Civilization, an eleven-volume overview of all Western history. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their work.

1, What’s in it for me? Discover what history can teach us about ourselves.

[ 我从下面文章能学到什么？找到那些可以帮助我们理解自己的历史。]

为什么自由会导致更加的不公？

为什么工业革命加剧了个人主义？

这些问题是我们今天要讨论的主要部分，它们本身也是政治、道德和经济上的大问题。

但如果我们有参考答案来回答这些问题呢？

Why would freedom lead to greater inequality? Why did the Industrial Revolution increase individualism? These are big questions that play a big part in the political, moral and economic discussions we have today. But what if there was a cheat sheet we could use to answer them?

参考答案就是：历史。

历史不仅仅是到目前为止人类所发生的事情的记录；

还是一个理解历史为什么和如何发生的好方法，一个让我们知道并理解一件事如何导致了另一件事。

通过回顾过去的五千年，历史的经验告诉我们是什么在推动历史，让我们推断出那些可能存在的事物，还有下一步会走向何方。

It turns out there is: history. History isn't just a record of what has happened to humanity thus far; it's a great way to understand why and how it happened, a way for us to learn and understand how one thing led to another. By reviewing the preceding five millennia, The Lessons of History shows what has worked, what seems to be present in all our history and which new paths we could go down.

在这篇文章，你会知道：

- 图尔（Battle of Tours）战役是如何改变了欧洲的未来 

- 为什么过去河流和航道会是一个文明的基础

- 为什么农业导致了父权的建立

In these blinks, you’ll discover

* how the Battle of Tours completely changed Europe’s future;

* why rivers and waterways used to be the foundations of civilization; and

* why agriculture created a need for parental authority.

注：Tours图尔市，法国城市

2, Geography has a big influence on a civilization, but its influence declines as technology advances.

[ 发达的农业对文明的影响巨大，但它同样会阻碍科技进步 ]

想想你的家乡, 它是不是靠近一条河，靠海或者靠湖？

是不是有发达的铁路网？

这些简单的问题会让你注意到位置的重要性。

Think about your hometown. Is it near a river, the sea or a lake? Does it have good railway connections? Answering such simple questions can teach you a lot about a place.

因为在城市的发展中，地理条件是非常重要的一个因素。在整个人类历史中都是这样的；海洋，绿洲、河流和湖泊吸引着人们定居，不止因为提供了水和食物，还因为提供了方便的运输和贸易。

That’s because a city’s geographical conditions play a big role in its development. This has been true throughout all of human history; settlers have always been attracted to rivers, lakes, oases and oceans, not only because of the water and food they provide but because of transportation and trade, too.

比如美索不达米亚（Mesopotamia），公认的人类文明的摇篮。它就是在幼发拉底河和底格里斯河两条河之间有定居者建立的。这些河流之间的空间诞生了了苏美尔和巴比伦帝国闪耀的文明。

Consider Mesopotamia. Generally accepted as the cradle of human civilization, it was founded on settlements established between two great rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. The space between these rivers allowed cultures like the Sumerians and Babylonians to flourish and build their empires.

很多其他帝国都建立在河流旁边：古埃及就被叫做尼罗河的礼物，还有古罗马的发展也是由于台伯河，亚诺河。

Many other empires have been built beside rivers: ancient Egypt has been called the gift of the Nile and ancient Rome grew because of the Tiber, Arno and Po.

不过，地理条件可以改变很多。极度恶劣的气候使得无数文明迁徙，或使得一些文明受到打击。当洪水来袭，文明会直接垮掉，比如亚洲中部。当雨量过多，就像在美洲中部部分地区，丛林就会大量生长而侵占城市。

Geographical conditions can change, however. Extreme climates have forced countless civilizations to move and caused others to decline. Civilizations can fall if rain becomes scarce, as happened in parts of Central Asia. When rain becomes too heavy, as it did in parts of Central America, jungles can overgrow and smother cities.

可是科技改变了我们对地理环境的依赖。当货物运输技术随着文明的进步而提高，地理化境的影响就会变小。

But technology has changed our relationship to geography. As a civilization’s technology for transporting goods improves, it becomes less influenced by geographical factors.

汽车、火车，特别是飞机，使得货物的运输更加便利。当飞机可以在天上随便飞的时候，贸易路线就不再受限于河流和海洋。

Cars, trains and especially planes have made it much easier to transport goods. Trade routes aren’t bound to rivers or seas when planes can move goods directly overhead.

这就解释了为什么之前有商业优势的国家比如英国和法国在汽车、火车和飞机发明以后，开始下滑，因为它们不再因为它们的海岸线而有独特优势。而像一些国家比如巴西、中国、俄罗斯就不再因为它们广阔的大陆块而使发展受阻。

This is why the commercial advantage of countries like England and France began declining as cars, trains and planes were developed. England and France no longer have a great advantage because of their coastlines, while countries like Russia, China and Brazil aren’t impeded by their huge land mass.

3, Life is a competition and humans are born unequal.

[ 生命是一场竞赛，而人生来不平等 ]

在孩童时代，你是否经历过体育课上选边的事？身体条件好的会被最先选走。在人类历史上，和上体育课时类似，也是出生时就开始竞争，而且在每个人的等争对手都不是公平匹配的。

Did you ever get to pick teams in gym class as a kid? The most athletic children are always chosen first. History, like gym class, is competitive by nature, and not everyone is equally matched.

我们继承了祖先的竞争天性。对他们来说，活下去就是一件充满杀戮和战斗的事。然后他们把这些暴力倾向遗传给了我们。

We inherited our competitive nature from our ancestors. For them, survival was a matter of fighting and killing, and they passed this proclivity for violence down to us.

人是能够互相合作的，但这些社会合作仍然存在也是因为这样形成一个团体竞争的边界。我们以团体的形式下工作，比如家庭、社团或者民族，因为这使我们可以有能力与其他团体竞争。

Humans can also cooperate with each other, but social cooperation still only exists because it gives the group a competitive edge. We work in groups such as families, communities or nations because it enables us to compete with other groups.

国家也是简单的团体，组建的目的是为了保护免受其他国家的侵害。国家之间的战争只有他们一起加入了某个更大的保护性的团体后，才会结束。

States are simply groups of people that organized so they could protect themselves against other people who organized into states. And states only stop fighting if they join together to become members of an even larger protective group.

我们的竞争性天性带来了一些事情。首先，我们必须承认不平等是天生的，而只能通过自由为代价才能减少差距。

Our competitive nature entails a few things. First, we must recognize that inequality is natural – and reducing it can only come at the cost of freedom.

遗传因素给不同的人带来了不同的身体和精神上的加强或弱化。我们是可以通过训练提高自己，但我们的基因是无法改变的。这就意味着每个人从刚出生就是不平等的。

Genetics imbue different people with different physical and mental strengths – and weaknesses. We can improve ourselves through training, but our genes can never change. That means everyone is unequal right from the moment of birth.

现代社会正变得越来越复杂，加剧了这种天生的不平等性。越复杂的社会，对特殊能力的人才的需求就更大。所以唯一保持更公正的方法就是限制自由。让我们来分析一下为什么是这样。

As society becomes more complex, our inherent inequalities become even greater. Complex societies have a greater demand for people with specialized abilities, so the only way to create more equality is to restrict freedom. Let’s consider why that is.

如果放松管制，某些人就可以获取不公平的经济能力，从而使得人们变得更加的不平等。比如在19世纪，美国和英国对经济发展采取不干涉主义，政府尽量少的参与到经济中来。结果在这段时间内，不平等疯狂的增长。

The freer people are, the more unequal they become, because freedom allows certain people to gain unfair economic power. In the nineteenth century, for example, England and the United States adopted a laissez-faire policy of economics whereby the government intervened in the economy as little as possible. During this period, inequality increased dramatically.

4, The advancement of a civilization has nothing to do with race.

[ 文明的进步和种族完全无关 ]

欧洲先进的科技文明社会是如何出现的？纵观历史，许多白人认为是他们的种族天生更加智能。但文明不是种族的产物。文明是地理的产物。

What is it about Europe that enabled such technologically advanced societies to flourish? Throughout history, many white people have assumed that their race made them congenitally more intelligent. But civilization isn’t a product of race. It’s a product of geography.

约瑟夫-亚瑟，戈比诺伯爵，一位法国贵族，小说家，他被认为是近代种族思想之父，他认为不同的种族天生具有不同的身体和精神能力。他认为雅利安种族比所有其他的种族都要先进，文明的创造就要靠他们了。

Joseph Arthur, Comte de Gobineau, the French aristocrat and novelist widely regarded as the father of modern racial thinking, believed that people of different races had inherently different physical and mental abilities. He believed that the Aryan race was superior to all others and responsible for creating civilization.

戈比诺辩称单独的环境优势不能解释文明的崛起，因为北美洲的土著和古埃及拥有同样的有利自然条件。他同样著作表示只靠政治机构也不能创建文明，比如古希腊的民主制和埃及的君主制。

Gobineau argued that environmental advantages alone couldn’t explain the rise of civilization because the Native Americans in North America had the same favorable conditions as the ancient Egyptians. He also wrote that political institutions alone didn’t create civilization, as ancient Greece had democratic systems and Egypt was monarchical.

这样，根据戈比诺的学说，文明仅仅取决于种族，只能是白人创建文明。他还认为白种人和其他人中结合后，白白种人的文明就会退化：美国的白色人种是优秀的，因为他们没有和当地土著混合，而不像欧洲的殖民者在拉丁美洲那样。

Thus, according to Gobineau, civilization was only determined by race, and only the white race could create it. He also believed that white civilization degenerates when white people mix with other races: white people in the United States were superior because they hadn’t mixed with the native population, unlike those European settlers in Latin America who had.

戈比诺的论据很容易被反驳。先进的文化在全球各个地方都存在。中国早在埃及和罗马之前就有了高度发达的文明，还有很多记录下的文明，包括印加文明、玛雅文明和在美国中部和南部的印第安文明。

Gobineau’s arguments are easy to disprove. Advanced cultures have existed in all parts of the globe. China had a highly developed civilization long before Egypt or Rome, and the great civilizations of the Incas, Mayans and Indians in Central and South America are well documented.

实际上，大部分的古希腊和古罗马文明根源于远东地区。在公元前2千年时，古希腊受到了很多小亚细亚（现在的土耳其）的影响。依次的，这些文化也被传到了罗马。

In fact, much of Ancient Greek and Roman civilization had roots further east. In the second millennium BC, Ancient Greece drew a lot of influence from Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). In turn, this culture was passed on to the Romans.

5, Our personalities, morals and social customs are a product of the time and culture we’re raised in.

[ 我们的性格、品德和社会习惯是时代和我们所生存的文化所导致 ]

现在人们会很难认同生古代文化中的人，他们看起来完全不同。但整个历史看下来，人类的自然本性变化并不大。这些差异是由我们生长所处的文化的产物。

It’s hard to imagine identifying with the people who lived in ancient cultures; they just seem fundamentally different. Throughout history, however, human nature hasn’t changed that much. It’s always been a product of the culture we grew up in.

进化论告诉我们，我们居住繁衍在地球上的数千年中，人性可能已经发生变化了，但这一些基本的人的本能，吃、睡和繁衍，这些都还保持一样。仅仅是我们的科学技术发生了翻天覆地的变化。

Evolution tells us that human nature has probably changed over the thousands of years that we’ve populated the planet, but our basic instincts to eat, sleep and reproduce have stayed the same. It’s only our technology that’s radically different.

如果某个古希腊的人时间旅行穿越到现在社会，他的身体结构和我们是很相似的，但文化差异上会非常显著。人类的进化是社会上的，而不是生物学上的。

If someone from Ancient Greece traveled in time to our modern world, they’d be quite similar to us physically, but dramatically different culturally. Human evolution has been social, not biological.

纵观历史，我们人类这个种族，在政治上、经济上、智力上和道德上都经历了很多变化。但请记住：文化环境决定了社会行为。所以如果一个古希腊的婴儿被收养在现代的法国，长大后就会和现代法国居民一样。

Throughout history, our species has undergone a great deal of economic, political, intellectual and moral change. But remember: cultural environment determines social behavior. So if a baby could be adopted from Ancient Greece into present-day France, they’d grow up to behave like a modern-day citizen of France.

那文化革新是如何发生的？是尝试和纠错的结果。一些富有创新精神的的个体，给社会带来新的思想，如果社会主体喜欢这些新东西，就会接收。如果不喜欢，这些新思想就会被抛弃。

So how does cultural innovation occur? As a result of trial and error. Innovative individuals put new ideas into society, and if the majority of people like them, they’ll follow them. If not, the ideas are discarded.

先知默罕默德为众多民众指点迷津，他创建的宗教发展成了世界上最大的。拿破仑、马克思和列宁也是一些特殊个体的例子，改变了生者社会历史进程。一些思想，如穆罕默德的思想，与社会紧密相连，而另一些思想，如拿破仑的思想，最终被抛在了后面。

The prophet Mohammed inspired people so much that the religion he founded grew to become the biggest in the world. Napoleon, Marx and Lenin are some other examples of individuals who changed the course of societal history. Some ideas, like Mohammed’s, stuck with society, while others, like Napoleon's, were eventually left behind.

6, Ethical values are a product of historical conditions and they change over time.

[ 道德价值观是历史背景的产物，随着时间的推移而变化 ]

一个中世纪的人肯定不会有今天这样的道德价值观。例如，他们可能会说，用巫术烧死某人是完全可以接受的。为什么会这样？

A person from the Middle Ages certainly wouldn’t have the same moral values as we have today. For instance, they might say it’s perfectly acceptable to burn someone for witchcraft. Why is this?

道德标准随着时间的推移而演变；他们不是一成不变的。人类道德随着历史和环境条件的变化而变化。

Moral standards evolve over time; they aren’t set in stone. Human morality changes according to historical and environmental conditions.

在人类历史的三个主要经济阶段：狩猎、农业和工业，我们的道德准则经历了巨大的变化。

Our moral code underwent big changes during the three major economic phases of human history: hunting, agriculture and industry.

在狩猎时代，男性有狩猎的责任，因此男性的死亡率较高。这意味着男性数量减少，因此一个男性应该和几个女性一起生育。在那个时期，贪婪、残忍和性侵犯是男人生活中有利生存的品性。

In the hunting phase, males had the responsibility to hunt, so the death rate among males was higher. That meant there were fewer men, so a man was expected to reproduce with several women. In that period, greed, brutality and sexual aggressiveness were advantageous survival traits in a man’s life.

然而，新的美德在农业时代变得很重要。男性必须勤劳、合作、和平，而不是勇敢、好斗和暴力。儿童是家庭的经济资产，因此重婚和任何防止怀孕或流产的企图都是不倡导的。家庭是农场的生产单位，父母的权威至关重要：孩子们服从父母，与父母一起工作。

New virtues became important in the era of agriculture, however. Males had to be industrious, cooperative and peaceful rather than brave, aggressive and violent. Children were an economic asset to a family, so bigamy and any attempts to prevent or abort pregnancies were discouraged. The family was the unit of production on a farm and parental authority was vital: children obeyed their parents and worked with them.

工业革命再次改变了道德。在工业时代，孩子们长大后离开家，作为个体去找工作。团结并不重要——个性才是。生育更多的孩子也不再是一种经济优势，所以婚姻变得不那么重要了。城市不鼓励为了结婚而结婚，而是开始鼓励自由恋爱。

The Industrial Revolution changed morality again. During the industrial period, children grew up to leave their homes and go find work as individuals. Unity wasn’t as important – individuality was. It was also no longer an economic advantage to have more children, so marriage became less important. Cities discouraged marriage and began encouraging free love instead.

我们的现代道德标准仍在不断变化，一如以往。100年后，人们可能会对什么是对什么是错有完全不同的看法。

Our modern moral standards are still subject to change, like they’ve always been. It’s possible that in 100 years people will have completely different opinions on what’s right and wrong.

7, The Catholic Church has lost its moral authority, but it survives because it provides hope for the desperate.

[ 天主教会已经失去了它的道德权威，但它仍然存在，因为它为绝望的人提供了希望 ]

天主教会在现代世界中可能看起来是一个过时的机构，但它仍然有成千上万的信徒，并且仍然很强大。这其中有几个原因。

The Catholic Church might seem like an outdated institution in the modern world, but it still has thousands of believers and remains strong. There are a few reasons for this.

尽管教会最初努力促进道德和慈善，但它在中世纪变得腐败了。在中世纪早期，教会反对奴隶制、家族争斗以及其他民族冲突和暴力形式，但是，他们逐渐扭转了对此类问题的立场。

Though the Church originally strove to promote morality and charity, it became corrupt in the Middle Ages. In the early Middle Ages, the Church fought against slavery, family feuding and other national conflicts and forms of violence, but, gradually, they reversed their stance on such issues.

天主教会很快就与那些可以利用它作为政治工具来获得更多权力的腐败领导人结盟。最终，教会变得专注于通过宗教裁判所促进正统和宗教教义，而不是专注于培养道德和善意。

The Catholic Church soon became aligned with corrupt leaders who could use it as a political tool to gain more power. Eventually, the Church became focused on promoting orthodoxy and religious doctrine through the Inquisition, rather than focusing on fostering morality and goodwill.

这就是为什么教会未能在现代世界最重要的道德问题之一：废除奴隶制中发挥作用。其他团体和机构--通常由哲学家带头--反而在这方面起了带头作用。

This is why the Church failed to play a role in one of the most important moral issues of the modern world: the abolition of slavery. Other groups and institutions – often spearheaded by philosophers – took the lead on that instead.

尽管天主教会不像以前那样强大，但它今天仍然强大，因为它给人们带来了希望。在我们的现代世界，人们比以往任何时候都更加世俗化，教会在他们的日常生活中几乎没有影响。法律不再来自于上帝；而是由政治家制定的。经过学术培训的教师已经取代了牧师的位置，教会每天都在失去更多的追随者。

Even though the Catholic Church isn’t as powerful as it used to be, it remains strong today because of the hope it affords people. In our modern world, people are more secularized than ever and the Church has little influence in their daily lives. Laws no longer come from God; they’re created by politicians instead. Academically trained teachers have taken the place of priests, and the Church loses more followers every day.

尽管如此，教会为人们提供了安慰，给他们带来了对未来的希望。人们总能从中找到慰藉，即使他们的社会经历了巨大的变化。天主教会不太可能很快就会消失。

Despite this, the Church provides people with comfort and gives them hope for the future. People will always find solace in that, even if their society undergoes vast changes. It is unlikely that the Catholic Church will disappear anytime soon.

8, Concentration of wealth is natural and can only be prevented through compulsory redistribution.

[ 财富的集中是自然的，只有通过强制性的再分配才能防止 ]

众所周知，税收的存在是为了让一个社会能够重新分配其财富。让我们看看历史在这方面能教给我们什么。

Taxes, as everyone knows, exist so a society can redistribute its wealth. Let’s look at what history can teach us about this.

在社会中，财富在不同程度上集中在需要人们施展必要技能和能力的地方。生活是一场竞争，你拥有的技能和能力越多，你的竞争力就越强。这自然会导致少数人掌握大部分的财富。

In society, wealth concentrates, to varying degrees, wherever people bring the requisite skills and abilities to bear. Life is a competition, and the more skills and abilities you have, the better you’ll compete. This naturally results in a minority of people commanding the majority of the wealth.

然而，一个社会的财富分配是由其道德价值观和经济自由决定的。而民主是允许最高程度自由的政府形式，它也加速了最多财富落入少数人手中。

However, a society’s wealth distribution is determined by its moral values and economic freedom. And as democracy is the form of government that allows for the highest degree of freedom, it also hastens the most wealth into the hands of the minority.

这就是为什么在1968年的美国，存在着只有在帝国罗马的精英城市才有可能超越的贫富差距。

That’s why, in the United States in 1968, there existed a gap between rich and poor that had only ever been surpassed in the elitist city of imperial Rome.

然而，当一个社会的财富集中达到一个临界点时，必须进行再分配。历史告诉我们，当穷人的人数优势使他们能够与富人的力量相抗衡时，无论这种再分配是通过法律改革还是通过武力实现的，都会发生再分配。

However, when a society’s concentration of wealth hits a critical point, redistribution must occur. History tells us that redistribution occurs when the poor’s strength in numbers allows them to rival the power of the wealthy, whether that redistribution comes about by legal reformation or by force.

在这个关键时刻，统治集团的领导人有时会自己实施改革以重新分配财富。这种情况发生在公元前594年的雅典，当时下层阶级开始考虑造反。富人准备用武力自卫，但雅典的贵族政治家索伦随后被选为改革制度的代表。他使货币贬值，减少债务，使经济上更容易生存，从而避免了一场革命。

At this critical point, leaders of the ruling group sometimes implement reform to redistribute wealth themselves. That happened in Athens in 594 BC, when the lower classes began considering a revolt. The wealthy prepared to defend themselves with force, but Solon, an Athenian noble statesman, was then elected to reform the system. He devalued the currency, reduced debt and made it easier to survive economically, thus averting a revolution.

然而，当富人拒绝分享他们的财富时，事情就不一样了。当罗马元老院在类似的关键时刻拒绝重新分配财富时，导致罗马被一场阶级内战蹂躏，这场战争从公元前133年一直持续到公元前30年。

When the rich refuse to share their wealth, however, things go differently. When the Roman Senate refused to redistribute wealth at a similarly critical point, it resulted in Rome being ravaged by a class civil war that ground on from 133 BC until 30 BC.

9, Socialist experiments have failed throughout history, but they may work if paired with capitalism.

[ 社会主义实验在历史上已经失败，但如果与资本主义搭配，它们可能会奏效 ]

许多社会都尝试过通过社会主义对财富进行再分配。但它总是失败。社会主义本身并不奏效，但如果与其他概念搭配，它可以奏效。为什么呢？

The redistribution of wealth through socialism has been attempted by many societies. But it has always failed. Socialism doesn’t work on its own, but it can work when paired with other concepts. Why?

纵观历史，所有的社会主义实验都失败了。我们今天知道的社会主义是现代的，但类似的制度在过去也存在过，而且没有一个是成功的。

Throughout history, all socialist experiments have failed. The socialism we know today is modern, but similar systems have existed in the past, and none have been successful.

例如，南美洲的印加人建立了他们的社会，相信他们的君主是太阳神的代表。为了换取安全和食物，所有印加人都认为自己是国家的雇员，国家控制并跟踪所有的农业、劳动和贸易。

The Incas in South America, for example, founded their society on the belief that their sovereign was the delegate of the Sun God. In exchange for security and food, all Incas considered themselves employees of the state, which controlled and tracked all agriculture, labor and trade.

这种社会主义和君主制的搭配一直持续到1533年皮萨罗征服秘鲁。

This pairing of socialism and monarchy lasted until Pizarro’s conquest of Peru in 1533.

1917年的俄国革命是最经典的社会主义实验，但它的成功只是因为国家被围困了，而且在当时，国家安全比个人自由更重要。革命之所以能够持续，是因为人们对战争的持续恐惧。一代人的和平侵蚀了政府，1989年，苏联解体。

The Russian Revolution of 1917 is the most classic socialist experiment, but it only succeeded because the country was under siege and because, at that time, national security was more important than individual freedom. The revolution lasted because of people’s continued fear of war. A generation of peace eroded the government and, in 1989, the USSR fell.

然而，如果社会主义思想能够与资本主义一起运作，它们可能有机会。合并这两个概念可能会创造一个更可持续的社会体系。

Socialist ideas may have a chance if they can be made to work alongside capitalism, however. Merging the two concepts might create a more sustainable social system.

现代社会主义允许人们有更多的身体和智力自由，这刺激了生产。另一方面，资本主义社会限制了他们的一些绝对经济自由，并鼓励通过社会福利重新分配财富。

Modern socialism allows people more physical and intellectual freedom, which stimulates production. Capitalist societies, on the other hand, have limited some of their absolute economic freedom and encouraged the redistribution of wealth through the welfare state.

资本主义的威胁鼓励社会主义思想家扩大自由，而社会主义的威胁则鼓励资本主义思想家增加平等。在未来，我们可能会看到这两种制度的合并。

The threat of capitalism has encouraged socialist thinkers to broaden freedom and the threat of socialism has encouraged capitalist thinkers to increase equality. In the future, we may see a merging of the two systems.

10, Democracy is the best form of government. But it is fragile and requires an educated population.

[ 民主是最好的政府形式。但它是脆弱的，需要有受过教育的人口 ]

今天，大多数西方国家都是以民主方式治理的。然而，民主在人类历史上是一个比较新的概念。让我们研究一下人类以前经历的一些政府系统。

Today, most of the West is democratically governed. Democracy, however, is a relatively new concept in human history. Let’s examine some of the previous governmental systems humans have developed.

纵观历史，政府大多由少数精英组成，如寡头政治和君主制。这些人的权力与生俱来（贵族制和君主制是这样的），其他人的权力来自于宗教机构，如神权制。

Throughout history, governments have mostly comprised people in elite minorities, as in oligarchies and monarchies. Such people derived their power from birth (aristocracies and monarchies work this way) and others were granted power from religious institutions, as in theocracies.

历史上的大多数 "民主国家 "都不是真正的民主，因为普选权直到二十世纪才确立。在民主起源的古希腊阿提卡地区，315,000名公民中只有43,000人被允许投票。妇女、奴隶和几乎所有的劳动人口都被排除在外。

Most “democracies” in history were not truly democratic, as universal suffrage wasn’t established until the twentieth century. In Attica, the region of Ancient Greece where democracy originated, only 43,000 of the 315,000 citizens were allowed to vote. Women, slaves and almost all of the working population were excluded.

然而，民主总是被证明是更有益的，即使是在大多数人口被剥夺了投票权的民主国家。民主允许科学和企业蓬勃发展，因为它为科学和学术研究提供了必要的自由。

However, democracy has always proven to be more beneficial, even in democracies where most of the population was denied the right to vote. Democracy allows science and enterprise to flourish, because it provides the freedom necessary for scientific and academic research.

民主还使人们更容易在社会等级制度中晋升，使更多聪明人有机会发展和分享他们的想法。

Democracy also makes it easier for people to move up in the social hierarchy, affording more intelligent people the chance to develop and share their ideas.

民主是重要的，但它也是脆弱的。它很容易破裂，需要得到维护。即使是稳定的民主社会也总是面临着被独裁者推翻的威胁。

Democracy is important, but it’s also fragile. It can break apart easily and needs to be maintained. Even stable democratic societies are always under the threat of being overthrown by a dictator.

如果一个国家受到战争或经济危机的威胁，那么个人就会更容易利用它，在民主社会中上位。教育是一个民主社会对此的唯一防御。人们抵制这种腐败的领导人的方法只有接受教育去理解正在发生的事情。

If a country is threatened by war or an economic crisis, it’s easier for an individual to take advantage of it and rise to power in a democracy. Education is a democratic society’s only defense against this. People can only resist such corrupt leaders if they have the education to understand what’s going on.

11, War has been constant throughout history and peace is unnatural.

[ 战争在历史上一直存在，和平是反常的 ]

在所有有记载的人类历史中，人类在地球上只有10%的时间没有战争。战争似乎是人类的一种自然状态。但为什么呢？

Throughout all of recorded human history, only 10 percent of humanity’s time on earth has been free of war. War seems like a natural condition for humans. But why?

国家的行为就像个人，但没有更大的社会强加给他们的相同约束。个人为了食物、土地和住所等资源而相互竞争，但今天没有那么多暴力的需要，因为国家为大多数人提供了基本的保护。作为交换，个人接受其社会的行为准则，如道德和法律。

States behave like individuals, but without the same restraints imposed on them by a larger society. Individuals compete with each other for resources like food, land and shelter, but there’s not as much need for violence today because the state provides most people with basic protection. In exchange, individuals accept their society’s behavioral codes, such as morals and laws.

国家也有同样的生存需求，却没有基本的保护。没有超级国家、国际法或道德准则可以保护国家，阻止它们相互争斗。而由于国家没有任何国际限制，战争是它们追求利益的自然方式。

States have the same survival needs and none of the basic protection. There’s no superstate, international law or moral code that can protect states and stop them from fighting with each other. And because states don’t have any international restrictions, war is the natural way for them to pursue their interests.

然而，战争并不只是为了确保国家的资源。有些冲突过于复杂，无法通过谈判解决，因此国家就会诉诸战争。

War isn’t just about securing resources for the state, however. Some conflicts are too complex to be resolved through negotiation, and so states resort to war.

例如，公元732年，查理-马特尔在图尔战役中击败了倭马亚军队，从而制止了伊斯兰教对法国和西欧的入侵。如果他没有诉诸于使用战争，我们今天所知的欧洲可能会非常不同。

In 732 AD, for example, Charles Martel defeated the Umayyad army in the Battle of Tours, thus halting the Islamic invasion of France and Western Europe. If he hadn’t resorted to using war, Europe as we know it today would probably be very different.

战争是我们世界的一个基本组成部分--和平才是反常的。各国只有在面临共同的威胁时才会团结起来，彼此和平相处。事实上，如果所有国家都以某种方式和平地组合在一起，竞争将逐渐消失，全球联盟迟早会从内部被颠覆。

War is a fundamental part of our world – it’s peace that’s unnatural. States only unite and behave peacefully with each other when they’re facing a common threat. In fact, if all states were to somehow group together peacefully, competition would gradually disappear and, sooner or later, the global alliance would be subverted from within.

总而言之，世界和平是一个崇高的目标，但除非所有国家都被迫联合起来对抗外部危险，否则它可能永远不会实现。

All in all, world peace is a noble goal, but unless all countries are compelled to unite against an external danger, it will probably never be achieved.

12, Civilizations fall but their achievements live on and provide the foundation for new civilizations.

[ 文明会陨落，但其成就会保留，并作为新文明的根基 ]

想象一下，如果我们每隔100年就要重新发明车轮或印刷术。如果我们这样做，民主和社会也会每次都回到零。幸运的是，情况并非如此：历史和知识都可以被记录下来并在此基础上发展。

Imagine if we had to reinvent the wheel or the printing press every 100 years. If we did, democracy and society would also go back to zero each time. Fortunately, this isn’t the case: both history and knowledge can be recorded and built upon.

即使文明陨落，他们的一些成就也会继续存在。没有一个伟大的古代文明仍然存在，但他们的许多发明在我们的社会中继续存在。我们仍然使用火、车轮和书写系统。农业、道德和慈善都不是现代概念--它们来自古代世界。我们今天拥有的知识基础是几千年来人类创新的产物。

Even if civilizations fall, some of their achievements live on. None of the great ancient civilizations still exist but many of their inventions live on in our society. We still use fire, the wheel and writing systems. Agriculture, morality and charity aren’t modern concepts – they come from the ancient world. The knowledge base we have today is the product of thousands of years of human innovation.

因此，虽然人类在生物学上没有什么变化，但今天出生的人类受益于过去的所有成就。这些成就包括人权和平等，透明的司法系统，以及宗教和知识自由。

So even though they haven’t changed much biologically, humans born today benefit from all the achievements of the past. These achievements include human rights and equality, transparent judicial systems, and religious and intellectual freedom.

而且这些成就中有许多已经得到了改进。

And many of these achievements have been improved upon.

例如，现代英国的民主比古希腊的民主要先进得多。而且，当今欧洲的人们通常可以自由地表达他们的政治观点，而不必担心自己的生命安全--这对黑暗时代的人们来说是一种奢侈。

Modern British democracy is much more advanced than the democracy of Ancient Greece, for example. And people in present-day 

Europe are generally free to express their political views without fearing for their life – a luxury foreign to people in the Dark Ages.

教育曾经是为富人和权贵保留的，但现在它向公众开放。今天，平均知识水平比人类历史上的任何时候都要高。

Education used to be reserved for the rich and powerful, but it’s now open to the public. Today, the average level of knowledge is higher than at any other point in human history.

在本书出版的时候，许多国家的教育是强制性的。为大众提供免费教育的目标仍然是一个比较新的追求。如果进展顺利，未来每个人可能都能轻松获得教育。

At the time of this book’s publication, education was compulsory in many countries. The goal of free education for the masses is still a relatively new pursuit. If it goes well, everyone might have easy access to education in the future.

与过去出生的人相比，我们并不具有任何固有的优势，但我们出生时拥有更丰富的遗产。这种遗产代表了文明的进步。而随着每一代新人的到来，我们的遗产会变得更加丰富。

We aren’t born with any inherent advantages over anyone born in the past, but we are born with a richer heritage. That heritage represents the progress of civilization. And with every new generation, our heritage becomes richer.

13, Final summary [  最后总结 ]

本文中的关键信息：

历史会重演，但只是指一般方式。文明周而复始，但我们能够把我们的知识传给新生代的每个人，随着时间的推移，丰富了人类的知识和技术。每一代人都面临着新的挑战，并在之前所有人类的遗产的基础上发展。随着教育向大众普及，未来几代人将更加受益。

The key message in this book:

History repeats itself, but only in a very general way. Civilizations may come and go, but we’re able to pass our knowledge on to each new generation, enriching human knowledge and technology over time. Each generation faces new challenges and builds upon the heritage of all humans who came before. As education becomes available to the masses, future generations will benefit all the more.

Suggested further reading: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

A Brief History of Time takes a look at both the history of scientific theory and the ideas that form our understanding of the universe today. From big bangs and black holes to the smallest particles in the universe, Hawking offers a clear overview of both the history of the universe and the complex science behind it, all presented in a way that even readers who are being introduced to these ideas for the first time will understand.

个人总结：人、社会和文明