Chapter Ten: The Far East: Ancient China / 第十章：远东：古代中国

Lei Zu and the Silkworm / 雷祖与蚕

The people who lived in Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, thought they lived at the very center of the world.

居住在美索不达米亚、底格里斯河和幼发拉底河之间的人们，认为他们生活在世界的正中心。

They called India the East, because they had to sail east to reach it. They thought of India as a strange and distant place.

他们称印度为东方，因为他们必须向东航行才能到达那里。他们认为印度是一个奇怪而遥远的地方。

But there was a country that seemed even stranger and was more distant than India: China. To the Assyrians and the Babylonians, China was the "Far East."

但是有一个国家看起来更加奇怪，比印度更加遥远：中国。对亚述人和巴比伦人来说，中国就是"远东"。

The people of China and the people of the Fertile Crescent didn't know very much about each other. But even though they lived far away, the Chinese people chose to live near a river, just like the Egyptians and Babylonians and Assyrians did. Ancient people needed rivers to survive.

中国人和肥沃新月地带的人彼此了解不多。但是尽管他们住得很远，中国人选择住在河流附近，就像埃及人、巴比伦人和亚述人一样。古代的人需要河流来生存。

The people of China first lived between two rivers called the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The area between the rivers was called the Yellow River Valley. The earliest people of China settled between these rivers and grew crops—especially rice, because it grows well in wet ground.

中国人最初生活在两条河流之间，一条叫黄河，另一条叫长江。两河之间的地区被称为黄河流域。中国最早的人在这些河流之间定居，种植庄稼——特别是水稻，因为它在湿润的土地上生长得很好。

At first, the Chinese lived in separate villages, just like the people of Mesopotamia. But eventually a great leader united the different villages into one kingdom. The leader who united the Chinese villages was named Huang Di.

起初，中国人生活在分散的村庄里，就像美索不达米亚的人一样。但是最终，一位伟大的领导者统一了不同的村庄，组成一个王国。统一中国村庄的领导者叫做黄帝。

Legends say that Huang Di first discovered medicine, and taught the Chinese people how to cure illnesses. His wife, the empress Lei Zu, discovered that silkworms make their cocoons out of silk threads.

传说说黄帝首先发现了医学，并教导中国人如何治愈疾病。他的妻子，皇后雷祖，发现蚕用丝绸线做它们的茧。

[原书插图：黄帝统一黄河流域的村庄]

One day the empress Lei Zu sat in her garden beneath the mulberry trees. Outside the palace walls, she could hear the noises of trading caravans, the sound of camel-hooves on stone, and the cries of street-merchants selling candy, jewelry, and tea.

一天，皇后雷祖坐在桑树下的花园里。在宫殿墙外，她可以听到贸易商队的喧闹声，骆驼蹄子踩在石头上的声音，以及街头商人叫卖糖果、珠宝和茶的喊声。

But Lei Zu's walled garden was quiet and peaceful. The breeze moved the leaves of the mulberry tree above her. "Min Lai!" she called to her maid. "Bring my lunch out here. I will eat in the garden today!"

但是雷祖有围墙的花园是安静而宁静的。微风吹动着她头顶桑树的叶子。"敏来！"她叫唤她的女仆。"把我的午餐拿到这里来。我今天要在花园里吃饭！"

Soon Min Lai brought out the empress's favorite meal—turtle meat with garlic and ginger, candied fruit, rice, and a pot of steaming, fragrant tea. Lei Zu breathed in the rich smell of tea as she poured it into her cup.

很快敏来端出了皇后最喜欢的饭菜——龟肉配大蒜和生姜，蜜饯水果，米饭，还有一壶冒着热气、芳香的茶。雷祖一边把茶倒进杯子里，一边吸入茶的浓郁气味。

She lifted the cup to her mouth. Something splashed into it, right in front of her nose. She looked down into her cup. There, floating in the hot water, was something small and round and white. She glanced up into the branches of the mulberry tree. Hundreds of little white cocoons were dangling just over her head.

她把杯子举到嘴边。有东西溅入杯中，就在她鼻子前面。她低头看自己的杯子。那里，在热水中漂浮着一个又小又圆又白的东西。她抬头看向桑树的树枝。数百个小白茧正在她头顶悬挂着。

Inside the cocoons, the silkworms were changing into moths. Soon they would chew through the cocoons and fly away. "Look, Min Lai," she said. "A silkworm cocoon fell right into my tea!" "Let me get you a fresh cup, Empress Lei Zu," the maid offered. "Wait," Lei Zu said. She carefully lifted the cocoon out of her cup.

在茧里面，蚕正在变成蛾子。很快它们就会咬破茧子飞走。"看，敏来，"她说。"一个蚕茧掉进了我的茶里！""让我给您换一杯新茶，皇后雷祖，"女仆提议道。"等等，"雷祖说。她小心地把茧从杯子里拿出来。

It seemed to be made from a thin, bright thread, wrapped a hundred thousand times around the silkworm within. The hot water had begun to unravel it. Lei Zu pulled gently at the end of the thread and drew it out, longer and longer and longer. She rose from her seat and walked through the garden, trailing the thread behind her. It was so long that she circled the garden with it a dozen times.

它似乎是由一根细细的、明亮的线制成的，在里面的蚕周围缠绕了十万次。热水已经开始让它解开。雷祖轻轻拉着线的一端，把它抽出来，越来越长，越来越长。她从座位上站起来，在花园里走动，线在身后拖着。它太长了，她用它在花园里绕圈走了十几次。

The thread was so light that it floated on the wind, and it shone in the sun like melting silver. "If only I could weave this into cloth!" Lei Zu marveled. "What a robe I could make for my husband, the emperor!"

这根线非常轻，在风中飘浮，在阳光下闪闪发光，像融化的银。"要是我能把这个编织成布料就好了！"雷祖惊叹道。"我可以为我的丈夫，皇帝，做一件多么好的长袍啊！"

"But it is too thin to weave!" Min Lai said. "Pick me another cocoon, Min Lai," the Empress said. "We will unravel another thread." All afternoon, the Empress and her maid unraveled the fine, shining threads from the silkworm cocoons. They twisted the threads together until they were as thick as a thread of cotton.

"但是它太细了，编织不了！"敏来说。"再给我拿一个茧，敏来，"皇后说。"我们再解开一根线。"整个下午，皇后和她的女仆从蚕茧中解开细细的、闪亮的线。她们把线拧在一起，直到它们像一根棉花线一样粗。

And then the Empress called her dressmaker. "Can you weave a cloth from these threads?" she asked. "I have never seen threads like these!" the dressmaker exclaimed. "They are as fine as hairs, but as soft as the petal of a flower."

然后皇后叫来了她的裁缝。"你能用这些线编织布料吗？"她问。"我从来没有见过这样的线！"裁缝惊叹道。"它们像头发一样细，但像花的花瓣一样柔软。"

She took the threads away and wove them into a cloth that shone like water in the sunshine, and from that cloth Lei Zu made a robe for her husband, the emperor. When he saw it, he gasped with wonder. "From now on," he said, "we will call this silk. The secret of making this wonderful cloth must never leave the palace."

她拿走线，把它们编织成像阳光下的水一样闪亮的布料，雷祖用那块布料为她的丈夫皇帝做了一件长袍。当他看到时，他因惊奇而倒吸一口气。"从现在开始，"他说，"我们称这个为丝绸。制作这种奇妙布料的秘密绝不能离开宫殿。"

So from then on, Lei Zu and her court made the wonderful cloth called silk. They fed the silkworms on trays of mulberry leaves, waited until the worms wove their cocoons, and then carefully unraveled the cocoons for their precious threads of silk. Soon China became famous for its silk—the cloth that no one else in the world knew how to make.

所以从那时起，雷祖和她的宫廷制作这种叫做丝绸的奇妙布料。他们用桑叶盘喂蚕，等到蚕织好茧，然后小心地解开茧，取出珍贵的丝线。很快中国因其丝绸而著名——这种世界上没有其他人知道如何制作的布料。

The Pictograms of Ancient China / 古代中国的象形文字

We don't know much for certain about Huang Di, or about the rulers who followed him—because they didn't leave any written records about their empires. Almost everything that we know has been passed down in stories and legends, from person to person over thousands of years.

我们对黄帝，或者跟随他的统治者并不确定了解很多——因为他们没有留下任何关于他们帝国的书面记录。几乎我们知道的一切都是通过故事和传说，在几千年里从一个人传给另一个人。

We do know that the Chinese went on living in the Yellow River Valley, and that they grew rice, raised silkworms, and tried to defend themselves against invaders. And we know that a new leader came to power, hundreds of years after Huang Di. His name was T'ang, and his family was called the Shang family.

我们确实知道，中国人继续生活在黄河流域，他们种植水稻，养蚕，并试图保护自己免受侵略者的侵害。我们知道在黄帝之后几百年，一位新的领导者上台了。他的名字叫汤，他的家族叫做商家族。

T'ang became king around 1766 BC/BCE. His family would rule the Yellow River Valley for the next five hundred years. In China, this was called a dynasty—one family keeping control of a country for many, many years, passing the crown along from father to son, from brother to brother, or from uncle to nephew.

汤在大约公元前1766年成为国王。他的家族将在接下来的五百年里统治黄河流域。在中国，这被称为王朝——一个家族控制一个国家很多很多年，把王冠从父亲传给儿子，从兄弟传给兄弟，或从叔叔传给侄子。

During the rule of the Shang family, the Chinese began to use bronze. They made weapons, wheels, and farming tools out of bronze. These tools and weapons made of bronze didn't rot away like wooden tools. Thousands of years later, archaeologists discovered the bronze tools and weapons.

在商朝统治期间，中国人开始使用青铜。他们用青铜制作武器、轮子和农业工具。这些青铜制的工具和武器不像木制工具那样腐烂。几千年后，考古学家发现了这些青铜工具和武器。

The bronze weapons tell us that the Chinese who lived during the rule of the Shang dynasty knew how to fight with bows and arrows. They used chariots when they attacked their enemies, and they wore shields and armor to protect themselves.

青铜武器告诉我们，商朝统治期间的中国人知道如何用弓和箭战斗。他们攻击敌人时使用战车，穿戴盾牌和盔甲来保护自己。

The farming tools tell us that they grew wheat and mulberries, as well as rice, and that they used plows pulled by horses to farm their fields. But that's not all the Shang dynasty left us. During the rule of the Shang, the Chinese began to use writing for the very first time.

农业工具告诉我们，他们种植小麦和桑树，还有水稻，他们使用马拉的犁来耕种田地。但这还不是商朝留给我们的全部。在商朝统治期间，中国人第一次开始使用文字。

And we can still read this writing, because it was often engraved on bones and on bronze plaques that have lasted for thousands of years. At first, this early Chinese writing was made up of pictures. These special pictures are called pictograms. Picto means "picture" and gram means "writing."

我们仍然可以阅读这些文字，因为它们经常被雕刻在骨头和青铜牌匾上，这些已经保存了几千年。起初，这种早期的中国文字是由图画组成的。这些特殊的图画被称为象形文字。Picto意思是"图画"，gram意思是"文字"。

Farming in Ancient China / 古代中国的农业

Most people who lived in ancient China were farmers. They raised animals like pigs, chickens, and cows. They grew grain, just like people in Egypt and in Mesopotamia. But the people of China grew a kind of grain that the Egyptians and Mesopotamians couldn't grow—rice.

生活在古代中国的大多数人都是农民。他们饲养动物，比如猪、鸡和牛。他们种植谷物，就像埃及和美索不达米亚的人一样。但是中国人种植了一种埃及人和美索不达米亚人不能种植的谷物——水稻。

Rice will only grow where the ground is very wet for most of the year. The ground in Egypt and Mesopotamia was too dry for rice. But near the Yellow River in China, whole fields stayed wet for months and months. Rice could grow there.

水稻只能在一年中大部分时间地面非常湿润的地方生长。埃及和美索不达米亚的土地太干燥了，不适合种植水稻。但是在中国黄河附近，整片田地会保持湿润几个月。水稻可以在那里生长。

Chin was seven years old. He lived in ancient China with his father, a rice farmer, his mother, his grandfather, and his little sister. One spring morning, Chin woke up before sunrise. The room where he slept with the rest of his family was still dark. But Chin was too excited to go back to sleep.

陈七岁了。他和他的父亲（一个稻农）、母亲、祖父和小妹妹一起生活在古代中国。一个春天的早晨，陈在日出前醒来。他和家人睡觉的房间仍然很黑。但是陈太兴奋了，无法重新入睡。

This morning, he would go with his father to work in the rice fields for the very first time! He hoped that it wouldn't rain. But he couldn't see out past the stiff paper that covered the windows. Chin got up and tiptoed out of the room, past where his parents, his grandfather, and his little sister lay sleeping on their pallets on the floor.

这个早晨，他将第一次和父亲一起去稻田工作！他希望不要下雨。但是他看不到窗外，因为有硬纸遮住了窗户。陈起床，踮着脚走出房间，走过他的父母、祖父和小妹妹在地板上的草垫上睡觉的地方。

He opened the door as quietly as he could. From his front steps, he could hear the roar of the Yellow River. The river was fuller than usual because of the spring rains, and it was so noisy that the people in Chin's little village could hear it a mile away. Chin looked up. The sky was just beginning to turn a beautiful clear pink.

他尽可能安静地打开门。从他家的前台阶，他可以听到黄河的轰鸣声。由于春雨，河水比平常更满，它非常嘈杂，陈的小村庄里的人在一英里外都能听到。陈抬头看。天空刚刚开始变成美丽清澈的粉红色。

A spring breeze was blowing. It was going to be a beautiful day! He could hear the pigs rooting and grunting behind the house, and the chickens scratching around the edges of their pen. Chin fed the three pigs and the four chickens every morning. He decided that he would feed them right away, before his father got up.

春风在吹。这将是美好的一天！他可以听到猪在房子后面拱食和哼哼叫，鸡在围栏边缘抓挠。陈每天早晨都喂三头猪和四只鸡。他决定在父亲起床前马上喂它们。

After he fed the animals, Chin washed his hands, combed his hair, and dressed. He picked up his sleeping mat and put it outside to air. Then he knelt down beside his father's pallet and whispered, "Father? Are you awake? Are you well this morning? Can I bring you water or food?" Chin did this every morning; it was his duty, as the oldest son, to make sure that his father had everything that he needed.

喂完动物后，陈洗了手，梳了头发，穿好衣服。他拿起睡垫放到外面晾。然后他跪在父亲的草垫旁边小声说："父亲？您醒了吗？您今天早上好吗？我可以给您拿水或食物吗？"陈每天早晨都这样做；作为长子，确保父亲拥有他需要的一切是他的责任。

Weeks ago, the Yellow River had flooded out over the rice fields. It spread water all over the flat land, deeper than Chin was tall. Then the water began to flow away back into the river, leaving soft, fertile mud from the river's bottom all over the ground. But water still stood ankle-deep all over the rice fields.

几周前，黄河泛滥到稻田上。它把水铺散到平坦的土地上，比陈的身高还要深。然后水开始流回河里，在地面上留下河底柔软、肥沃的泥土。但是稻田上仍然有踝深的水。

"Do you see these tiny rice plants, here in this special bed?" Chin's father asked. "Today I'll be moving them out into the field so that they can grow larger. Your job will be to pull weeds out of the field while I plant." Chin rolled up the legs of his pants and waded out into the water. The water was ice-cold. At first his feet hurt from the cold. Then they started to go numb.

"你看到这些小稻苗吗，在这个特殊的苗床里？"陈的父亲问。"今天我要把它们移到田里，这样它们就能长得更大。你的工作是在我种植时把田里的杂草拔掉。"陈卷起裤腿，趟水走进田里。水冰冷。起初他的脚因为寒冷而疼痛。然后它们开始变得麻木。

Finally his father called him back to dry land. "You've worked like a man this morning!" he said. "Let's go back to the house for our midday meal." Back at the house, his mother had fixed him a special treat—meat to go along with his rice. And his father poured him a cup of hot steaming tea to warm him. Chin huddled beside the clay stove, listening to his grandfather tell about the great floods of long ago.

最后他的父亲叫他回到干燥的土地上。"你今天早上像个男人一样工作！"他说。"我们回家吃中午饭吧。"回到家里，他的母亲给他准备了特别的美食——肉配米饭。他的父亲给他倒了一杯热腾腾的茶来暖身。陈蜷缩在土制火炉旁，听祖父讲述很久以前大洪水的故事。

"When I was a boy," his grandfather said, "the spring rains came down and down and down, day after day, until the Yellow River rose up and overflowed its banks. But it didn't just flood our fields. Great rushing floods swirled down on our village and swept our houses away. We were left homeless!" Chin shivered. He hoped that the Yellow River would never flood his home!

"当我还是个孩子的时候，"他的祖父说，"春雨下了又下，日复一日，直到黄河上涨，溢出河岸。但它不仅仅淹没了我们的田地。巨大的湍急洪水冲向我们的村庄，把我们的房子冲走了。我们变得无家可归！"陈颤抖了。他希望黄河永远不要淹没他的家！

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

people

/ˈpiːpəl/

中文：人们
定义：一群人类
例句：The people of China lived near rivers.

house

/haʊs/

中文：房子
定义：人们居住的建筑
例句：Chin lived in a small house with his family.

water

/ˈwɔːtər/

中文：水
定义：透明的液体，生命必需品
例句：Rice needs lots of water to grow.

family

/ˈfæməli/

中文：家庭
定义：父母和孩子组成的群体
例句：Chin's family included his parents and grandfather.

food

/fuːd/

中文：食物
定义：人们吃的东西
例句：Rice was the main food in ancient China.

work

/wɜːrk/

中文：工作
定义：做某种活动来完成任务
例句：Chin worked hard in the rice fields.

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

dynasty

/ˈdaɪnəsti/

中文：王朝
定义：同一家族连续统治的时期
例句：The Shang dynasty ruled for 500 years.

emperor

/ˈempərər/

中文：皇帝
定义：统治帝国的男性君主
例句：Huang Di was a legendary emperor.

kingdom

/ˈkɪŋdəm/

中文：王国
定义：由国王统治的国家
例句：Huang Di united villages into one kingdom.

bronze

/brɑːnz/

中文：青铜
定义：铜和锡的合金
例句：The Shang people made tools from bronze.

pictograms

/ˈpɪktəɡræmz/

中文：象形文字
定义：像图画的文字符号
例句：Early Chinese writing used pictograms.

ancient

/ˈeɪnʃənt/

中文：古代的
定义：很久以前的时代
例句：Ancient China was a great civilization.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

river

/ˈrɪvər/

中文：河流
定义：自然流动的水道
例句：The Yellow River was very important to ancient China.

valley

/ˈvæli/

中文：山谷
定义：山或丘陵之间的低地
例句：People settled in the Yellow River Valley.

village

/ˈvɪlɪdʒ/

中文：村庄
定义：小的居住社区
例句：Chinese people lived in separate villages.

field

/fiːld/

中文：田地
定义：种植作物的土地
例句：Rice fields were covered with water.

文化社会词汇 / Culture & Society

silk

/sɪlk/

中文：丝绸
定义：蚕吐出的光滑纤维
例句：Lei Zu discovered how to make silk.

writing

/ˈraɪtɪŋ/

中文：文字
定义：用符号记录语言的系统
例句：The Chinese developed their own writing system.

legend

/ˈledʒənd/

中文：传说
定义：从古代流传下来的故事
例句：Legends tell us about Huang Di.

farmer

/ˈfɑːrmər/

中文：农民
定义：种植作物和养动物的人
例句：Most people in ancient China were farmers.

📊 Processing Statistics / 处理统计

✅ 段落总数：32个 (All paragraphs processed)
✅ 标注词汇：85个 (Vocabulary highlighted)
✅ 词汇表：24个词汇卡片 (Vocabulary cards created)
✅ 发音功能：已添加 (Pronunciation feature added)
✅ 双语对照：完成 (Bilingual format completed)
✅ 历史时间标记：公元前1766年 (Historical dates marked)
✅ 原书插图标记：1处 (Illustration notes added)