Autobiography 0f Edward Gibbon (extracts).ppt

Autobiography 0f Edward Gibbon (extracts) 爱德华·吉本自传 （节选） About the Author Edward Gibbon (1737~1794) was an English historian. He was born in Putney (普特尼), near London, of a prosperous family. He had little formal education but read enormously and omnivorously (无所不及的；什么都读的). In 1752, he was sent to Magdalen College, Oxford (牛津大学莫德林学院), but withdrawn from it in 1753 owing to his conversion to Roman Catholicism (罗马天主教). Sent to Lausanne (瑞士的洛桑) by his father, he was formally reconverted to Protestantism (新教) in 1754. Back in England, Gibbon held a commission in the Hampshire (汉普郡) militia from 1759 to 1762, then traveled abroad extensively and engaged in literary pursuits at home. Gibbon’s outstanding work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 《罗马帝国衰亡史》 (6 vols., 1776~1788), presents a continuous narrative from the 2nd century A. D. to the fall of Constantinople (君士坦丁堡) in 1453. It is widely regarded as one of the great works of historical writing. About the Text Our pieces are extracted from Edward Gibbon’s Autobiography《自传》, Memoirs of His Life and Writings《回忆录》, published posthumously（死后地，死后出版地） by one of his friends. They described Gibbon’s conceiving of his idea of writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire《罗马帝国衰亡史》, his resolution, his writing, and his pleasure. Histories make men wise ; poems witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave ; logic and rhetoric able to contend. --------Francis Bacon , British philosopher 历史使人明智；诗词使人灵秀；数学使人周密；自然哲学使人深刻；伦理使人庄重；逻辑修辞学使人善辨。 -----英国哲学家弗朗西斯.培根 Every person has two education, one which he receives from others, and one , more important, which he gives himself. -----Edward Gibbon, British historian 每个人都受两种教育，一种来自别人， 另一种更重要的是来自自己。 ----英国历史学家 爱德华·吉本 The Ruins of the Pantheon in Rome (罗马万神殿遗址)