（外文电子版资料）Robert Jordan - The Shaping of a World.pdf

The Shaping of a World The World of the Wheel of Time By Robert Jordan Imagine that time is a vast wheel, with ages that come and go, only to come again as the wheel turns endlessly. Look far enough into the future along the wheel and you can see the past. Look far enough into the past and you can see the future. The world of The Wheel of Time -- the Age of The Wheel of Time -- exists in that distant past that is also the distant future. We are the source of many of that Age’s myths and legends, and they are the source of many of ours. But our legends do not record the actual facts of that Age. What really happened has been altered over time. Events have become twisted by the years. What one person did has been split among many. What many people did has been compressed and given to one. Almost everything that could be changed has been changed. But a core remains. You are about to delve into that core and beyond -- to the truth. You are about to experience the world that gave birth to Arthur and Thor and Coyote and a hundred more. Imagine that you were born in that world. You do not know that you live in the breeding ground of legends. Very likely, you do not know how your world came to be as it is, and, if you know a little of it, almost certainly what you know is untrue -- a fable spun by the years. The truth...? Yes, the truth. Well. Three thousand years ago and more, civilization covered the Earth. Technology and science based on tapping into the power that drove the universe and turned the Wheel of Time, the One Power, had conquered disease and poverty. Ordinary people could expect to live as much as three hundred years. They traveled in vehicles driven by the One Power and sailed the seas and perhaps even to other planets in vessels driven by the Power. Men and women who could tap directly into the Power and use it -- channel it -- by