Civilization: Past & Present （6）

Part I  The Ancient World 

Meanwhile，a new power--Rome—had been developing on the Italian peninsula. After five centuries of modest growth, this city-state embarked on a career of unprecedented expansion. The splendor of Roman arms was matched by skill in administration, wisdom in law, and ingenuity in the practical arts of engineering and communication. These talents and abilities enabled the Romans to erect a Mediterranean empire, which survived until  the fifth C.E. Probably the greatest achievement of the Roman Empire was the skillful governing of a diversity of cultures within a political unity. To Romans we owe a debt for preserving and disseminating classical culture, for the legacy of Greco-Roman culture is the foundation of Western civilization.

古今文明 （6）

第一部分  古代世界

同时，一个新势力──罗马，一直在意大利半岛上发展着。经过五个世纪的温和的成长，这个城市国家开始了史无前例的扩张事业。罗马军力强大，还拥有同样杰出的管理艺术、法律智慧、工程和交通方面实践性艺术的独创性。这些天份和能力使罗马人得以建立起地中海帝国，它一直延续到公元5世纪。或许，罗马帝国最伟大的成就是能够熟练地统治政治统一中千差万别的文化。我们受惠于罗马人对古典文化的保持与传播，因为希腊-罗马文化遗产是西方文明的基础。

Despite often cataclysmic disasters during its formative period, China pursued ambitious innovations in all aspects of its society, from philosophy to economics. Throughout China the state established a theoretical focus toward the amelioration of social evils and the relief of distress. This was the ever-changing product of two of the main ingredients in the Chinese tradition—Confucianism, with its concern for a humane society, and Legalism, with its stress on the power of the state, always modified by the underlying unified civilization. And by means of this civilization China was able to erect a fundamental frame of identity in which all other activities took place.

尽管在形成时期，巨大灾难频仍，从哲学到经济学，中国在其社会的各个方面从事着的雄心勃勃的发明。在全中国上下，国家为减轻社会罪恶和缓解痛苦建立起一个理论上的焦点。这是中国传统儒家学说中两个主要成分不断变化的产物：关心人道社会的儒学思想，强调国家权力的法家思想，总是在统一文明的支撑下不断得到修改。通过文明的手段，中国得以建立起一个基本的认同框架，所有的其他行为都是在这个框架内发生的。

During India’s formative age, three  major religions were evolving on the subcontinent.  Hinduism became the dominant social and religious force in India. Jainism fostered the notion of ahimsa (nonviolence), which would play a powerful role in the twentieth-century Indian Independence movement. Buddhism challenged the Brahmin order and spread beyond the frontiers of India, ultimately to become a world religion. India today is the heir of one of the longest-living civilizations in the world, one that has produced a set of religious, philosophical, and literary traditions that endures up to the present day.

在印度的形成时期，三个主要宗教在这块次大陆上发展进化着。印度教成为印度占统治地位的社会和宗教力量。耆那教孕育出 “阿希母萨”（非暴力）的概念，它在20世纪印度独立运动中将发挥强有力的作用。佛教向婆罗门等级发起挑战，并且传播到印度以外，最终成为世界性宗教。今天，印度是世界上几个最悠久活文明之一的继承者，是一个已经创造出一套仍然延续至今的宗教、哲学和文学传统的文明。