Chapter 35 - The Renaissance: A New Way of Thinking / 第三十五章 - 文艺复兴：新的思维方式

Do you remember记住/rɪˈmembə/ the magic carpet地毯/ˈkɑːpɪt/ that you imagined想象/ɪˈmædʒɪnd/, in the very first chapter章节/ˈtʃæptə/ of this book? That magic carpet took you back in time to the days of the Roman Empire罗马帝国/ˈroʊmən ˈempaɪə/. We call those long-ago days ancient times古代/ˈeɪnʃənt taɪmz/.

In ancient times, great empires帝国/ˈempaɪəz/—Assyria and Babylon, Egypt and Greece—spread over vast巨大的/væst/ expanses of the world. The last great ancient empire, Rome, was the largest最大的/ˈlɑːdʒɪst/ of all. Wide, paved Roman roads道路/roʊdz/ ran all through this huge empire. Traders商人/ˈtreɪdəz/, soldiers, and ordinary普通的/ˈɔːdneri/ people could travel from one end of the empire to the other.

When barbarians野蛮人/bɑːˈberiənz/ invaded Rome, the last great empire began to fall apart. Cities were destroyed毁灭/dɪˈstrɔɪd/; roads became dangerous危险的/ˈdeɪndʒərəs/. People no longer traveled旅行/ˈtrævəld/ to distant places or learned the language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ that had once united the old, fallen empire.

For hundreds数百/ˈhʌndrədz/ of years after the fall of Rome, the history历史/ˈhɪstəri/ of Europe seemed to follow the same pattern模式/ˈpætərn/: A great warrior战士/ˈwɔːriər/, ruler of a small kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/, would lead his army against the other small kingdoms around him. He would conquer征服/ˈkɑːŋkər/ them, and unite them all into a larger empire.

We call the centuries世纪/ˈsentʃəriz/ after Rome was destroyed the Middle Ages中世纪/ˈmɪdl eɪdʒɪz/. But around the time that Martin Luther马丁·路德/ˈmɑːtɪn ˈluːθər/ and Christopher Columbus克里斯托弗·哥伦布/ˈkrɪstəfər kəˈlʌmbəs/ lived—a thousand years after the fall of Rome—the pattern that had gone on for hundreds of years started to change改变/tʃeɪndʒ/.

Countries such as England, France, Spain and Italy managed to build strong armies军队/ˈɑːmiz/ that protected保护/prəˈtektɪd/ them from invasion for years at a time. The people who lived in these countries didn't have to worry constantly about barbarian invasion. They had time to think思考/θɪŋk/, read阅读/riːd/, and study学习/ˈstʌdi/—instead of looking for a place to hide from the next rampaging army.

Think about the Middle Ages—knights in armor盔甲/ˈɑːmər/, stone castles城堡/ˈkæsəlz/, food cooked over open fires, long journeys on horseback, silk and spices from India. Now think about the world today—cars, airplanes, telephones, computers, Legos, movies. What invention发明/ɪnˈvenʃən/ did the most to change the world? The answer might surprise you. The printing press印刷机/ˈprɪntɪŋ pres/!

Before the printing press was invented, books were written by hand手/hænd/. Do you remember reading about the medieval中世纪的/ˌmediˈiːvəl/ monks who copied out manuscripts手稿/ˈmænjuskrɪpts/ in their monasteries? They had to make paper纸/ˈpeɪpər/ called parchment out of animal skins动物皮/ˈænɪməl skɪnz/.

A young man in Germany, the country of Martin Luther, was learning how to be a goldsmith金匠/ˈɡoʊldsmɪθ/. His name was Johannes Gutenberg约翰内斯·古腾堡/joʊˈhænəs ˈɡuːtənbɜːrɡ/. As he melted his gold and silver and poured the metal金属/ˈmetəl/ into molds, Johannes Gutenberg began to wonder whether he could also mold letters字母/ˈletərz/ out of metal.

After years of experimenting实验/ɪkˈsperɪmentɪŋ/, Gutenberg made a printing press from an old wine-press that had been used to squeeze grapes. He made metal letters out of a mixture of tin, lead, and a poisonous有毒的/ˈpɔɪzənəs/ metal called antimony. He made a new kind of ink墨水/ɪŋk/ with oil in it. And he began to work on his great project: a Bible圣经/ˈbaɪbəl/.

Gutenberg began printing his Bibles in 1455 and 1456. In the following years, others borrowed Gutenberg's technique技术/tekˈniːk/. An English merchant商人/ˈmɜːrtʃənt/ named William Caxton got interested not just in printing books, but in translating翻译/trænsˈleɪtɪŋ/ them into the languages that people could actually read.

As time went on, more and more books were printed. Books became cheaper and cheaper. More and more people could buy and read them. Now ordinary普通的/ˈɔːdneri/, everyday men and women could read about the past glories荣耀/ˈɡlɔːriz/ of Greece and Rome. Explorers探险家/ɪkˈsplɔːrərz/ could find out what other explorers had discovered发现/dɪˈskʌvərd/ in their journeys.

When the Eastern Orthodox东正教/ˈiːstərn ˈɔːrθədɑːks/ scholars settled down in Europe, they taught others to read these Greek writings. Slowly, men and women who enjoyed reading and study began to be interested again in the old Greek and Latin books that had been ignored for hundreds of years. Many of these writings were translated翻译/trænsˈleɪtɪd/ into the languages of Spain, Italy, England, and France.

Scientists科学家/ˈsaɪəntɪsts/ studied Greek and Roman explanations for the movements of the stars and planets. Philosophers哲学家/fəˈlɑːsəfərz/ thought about Greek ideas. We call this time the Renaissance文艺复兴/ˈrenəsɑːns/. Renaissance means "rebirth重生/riˈbɜːrθ/."

During the Renaissance, men and women began to believe that they could find out truth by looking观察/ˈlʊkɪŋ/ at the world and figuring out how it worked. After all, they argued, God had created the world. Why couldn't man, who was also created by God, look carefully at this world and understand理解/ˌʌndərˈstænd/ it? So they observed观察/əbˈzɜːrvd/ the world: the sky, the earth around them, the people who lived on the earth.

Today, we call this the scientific method科学方法/ˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪk ˈmeθəd/ of getting knowledge. When you observe观察/əbˈzɜːrv/ something and try to draw conclusions结论/kənˈkluːʒənz/ from your observations, you are thinking scientifically科学地/ˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪkli/. This way of thinking had its roots in the Renaissance.