酷兔英语

章节正文

  在本栏目我们回顾历史上本周发生的历史事件——中国最早的印刷书卷,听听下面的短文,做做下面的练习,学习一些相关的英语表达形式。

  本周是5月14日至5月20日历史上发生的事件。
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On the 11th May 868 the first printed book was published in China. A copy of the Diamond Sutra, found sealed in a cave in China in the early 20th century, is the oldest known printed book, with a date of 868. There is a wood block printed copy in the British Library which is the earliest example that bears an actual date. The copy is a scroll, about 16 feet long, found in 1907 by the archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein in the walled-up Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, in northwest China. The caves are known as the "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas." The end of the scroll reads: made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong which is the same as 11th May, CE 868. This is about 587 years before the Gutenberg Bible heralded the start of the age of the printed book.
For your information: CE stands for "Common Era." It is a relatively new term that is expected to eventuallyreplace AD. AD is an abbreviation for "Anno Domini" in Latin or "the year of the Lord" in English. It refers to the approximate birth year of Jesus Christ. CE and AD have the same value.
BCE stands for "Before the common era." It is expected to eventuallyreplace BC, which means "Before Christ." BC and BCE are also identical in value.

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章节正文