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【摘文1】1. HOW THINGS STARTED
ONCE upon a time there was a boy－
Just like me.
He had to stay in bed in the morning until seven o’clock until his family was ready to get up.
So did I.
As he was always awake long before this time, he used to lie there and think about all sorts of curious things.
So did I.
One thing he used to wonder was this:
What would the world be like if there were－
No fathers and mothers,
No uncles and aunts,
No cousins or other children to play with,
No people at all, except himself in the whole world!
Perhaps you have wondered the same thing.
So did I.
At last he used to get so lonely, just from thinking how dreadful such a world would be, that he could stand it no longer and would run to his parents’ room and jump into bed by their side just to get this terrible thought out of his mind.
So did I－for I was the boy.
Well, there was a time long, long, long ago when there were no men or women or children, NO PEOPLE of any kind, in the whole world. Of course there were no houses, for there was no one to build them or to live in them, no towns or cities－nothing that people make. There were just animals－mastodons and dinosaurs, birds and butterflies, frogs and snakes, turtles and fish. Can you think of such a world as that?
Then,
long, long, long,
before that, there was a time when there were NO PEOPLE, and NO ANIMALS of any sort in the whole world; there were just growing plants. Can you think of such a world as that?
Then,
long, long, long,
long, long, long,
before that, there was a time when there were NO PEOPLE, NO ANIMALS, NO PLANTS, in the whole world; there was just bare rock and water everywhere. Can you think of such a world as that?
Then,
long, long, long,
long, long, long－you might
keep on saying－
“long, long, long,” all day, and
tomorrow, and all
next week, and next
month, and next
year, and it would
not be long enough－
before this, there was a time when there was NO WORLD AT ALL!
No world at all! Only the stars, and God, who made the stars.
Now, real stars are not things with points like those in the corner of a flag or the gold ones you put on a Christmas tree. The real stars in the sky have no points. They are huge burning balls of fire－balls of fire. Each star, however, is so huge that there is nothing in the world now anywhere nearly as big. One little bit, one little scrap of a star is bigger than our whole world－than our whole world.
One of these stars is our sun－yes, our sun. The other stars would look the same as the sun if we could get as close to them. But at that time, so long, long ago, our sun was not just a big, round, white, hot ball as we see it in the sky today. It was then more like the fireworks you may have seen on the Fourth of July. It was whirling and sputtering and throwing off sparks.
One of these sparks, which the sun threw far off, got cool just as a spark from a crackling log in a fireplace gets cool, and this cooled off spark was－
What do you suppose?
See if you can guess－
It was our world!－yes, the world
on which we now live.
At first, however, our world, or Earth, was nothing but a ball of rock. This ball of rock was wrapped around with steam, like a heavy fog.
Then the steam turned to rain, and it rained on the world,
a a a
n n n
d d d
i i i
t t t
r r r
a a a
i i i
n n n
e e e
d d d
until it had filled up the hollows and made enormously big puddles. These puddles were the oceans. The dry places were bare rock.
Then, after this, came the first living things－tiny plants that you could only have seen under a microscope. At first they grew only in the water, then along the water’s edge, then out on the rock.
Then dirt, or soil, as people call it, formed all over the rock and made the rock into land, and the plants grew larger and spread farther over the land.
Then, after this, came the first tiny animals in the water. They were wee specks too small, like the first plants, to be seen without the help of a microscope.
The, after this, in the water came larger animals like Jellyfish and clams and horseshoe crabs.
Then, after this, came Insects, some that live in the water, some on the water, some on the land, like cockroaches, and some in the air.
Then, after this, came Fish that live only in the water.
Then, after this, came animals like frogs called Amphibians that live in the water and also on the land.
Then, after this, came Reptiles, like snakes, turtles, lizards, and huge dinosaurs.
Then, after this, came Birds that lay eggs, and Mammals, like foxes and monkeys and cows, that nurse their babies when they are born.
Then, last of all, came－what do you suppose? Yes－People－men, women, and children. Here are the steps; see if you can take them:
STARS,
SUN,
SPARK,
WORLD,
STEAM,
RAIN,
OCEANS,
PLANTS,
ANIMALS,
JELLYFISH,
INSECTS,
FISH,
AMPHIBIANS,
REPTILES,
BIRDS,
MAMMALS,
PEOPLE,
And here we are!
What do you suppose will be next?
【摘文1】1. HOW THINGS STARTED
ONCE upon a time there was a boy－
Just like me.
He had to stay in bed in the morning until seven o’clock until his family was ready to get up.
So did I.
As he was always awake long before this time, he used to lie there and think about all sorts of curious things.
So did I.
One thing he used to wonder was this:
What would the world be like if there were－
No fathers and mothers,
No uncles and aunts,
No cousins or other children to...
目錄
1 How Things Started
2 People Who Lived in Caves
3 Fire! Fire! Fire!
4 From an Airplane
5 Real History Begins
6 The Puzzle Writers in Egypt
7 The Tomb Builders
8 A Rich Land Where There Was No Money
9 The Jews Search for a Home
10 Fairy-Tale Gods
11 A Fairy-Tale War
12 The Kings of the Jews
13 The People Who Made Our A B C’s
14 Hard as Nails
15 The Crown of Leaves
16 A Bad Beginning
17 Kings with Corkscrew Curls
18 A City of Wonders and Wickedness
19 A Surprise Party
20 The Other Side of the World: India
21 All the Way Around the World in China
22 Rich Man, Poor Man
23 Rome Kicks Out Her Kings
24 Greece vs. Persia
25 Fighting Mad
26 One Against a Thousand
27 The Golden Age
28 When Greek Meets Greek
29 Wise Men and Otherwise
30 A Boy King
31 Picking a Fight
32 The Boot Kicks and Stamps
33 The New Champion of the World
34 The Noblest Roman of Them All
35 An Emperor Who Was Made a God
36 “Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory”
37 Blood and Thunder
38 A Good Emperor and a Bad Son
39 I_H_ _S_ _ _ _V_ _ _ _ _
40 Barbarian Invaders
41 Barbarians Meet the Champions of the World
42 New Places－New Heroes
43 Being Good
44 A Christian Kingdom in Africa
45 Muhammad and the Early Years of Islam
46 Arabian Days
47 Two Empires, Two Emperors
48 Getting a Start
49 The End of the World
50 Real Castles
51 Knights and Days of Chivalry
52 A Pirate’s Great Grandson
53 A Great Adventure
54 Tick-Tack-Toe; Three Kings in a Row
55 Three Kingdoms in West Africa
56 Bibles Made of Stone and Glass
57 John, Whom Nobody Loved
58 A Great Story Teller
59 “Thing-a-ma-jigger” and “What-cher-may-call-it” or a Magic Needle and a Magic Powder
60 Thelon Gest Wart Hate Verwas
61 Print and Powder or Off with the Old, On with the New
62 A Sailor Who Found a New World
63 Fortune Hunters
64 The Land of Enchantment or the Search for Gold and Adventure
65 Along the Coast of East Africa
66 Rebirth
67 Christians Quarrel
68 Queen Elizabeth
69 The Age of Elizabeth
70 James the Servant or What’s in a Name
71 A King Who Lost His Head
72 Red Cap and Red Heels
73 A Self-Made Man
74 A Prince Who Ran Away
75 America Gets Rid of Her King
76 Upside Down
77 A Little Giant
78 Latin America and the Caribbean Islands
79 From Pan and His Pipes to the Phonograph
80 The Daily Papers of 1854－1865
81 Three New Postage Stamps
82 The Age of Miracles
83 A Different Kind of Revolution
84 A World at War
85 A Short Twenty Years
86 Modern Barbarians
87 Fighting the Dictators
88 A New Spirit in the World
89 A New BIG POWER in the World
90 Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
1 How Things Started
2 People Who Lived in Caves
3 Fire! Fire! Fire!
4 From an Airplane
5 Real History Begins
6 The Puzzle Writers in Egypt
7 The Tomb Builders
8 A Rich Land Where There Was No Money
9 The Jews Search for a Home
10 Fairy-Tale Gods
11 A Fairy-Tale War
12 The Kings of the Jews
13 The People Who Made Our A B C’s
14 Hard as Nails
15 The Crown of Leaves
16 A Bad Beginning
17 Kings with Corkscrew Curls
18 A City of Wonders and Wickedness
19 A Surprise Party
20 The O...
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