中世纪没有所谓的童年【经济学人精讲】第194期
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第194期精讲
本文选自经济学人2019年1月5日文章。由于死亡率高、家庭孩子众多等诸多原因，在西方世界的大部分时间，对童年的概念是忽视甚至是不存在的。许多孩子活不过1岁，即使顺利活过一岁，他们也会很快被迫参与生产劳动，直到19世纪末，西方国家才开始真正开始保护并教育孩子，认为孩子是“经济上无用，但情感上无价的”。
由于篇幅较长，本文节选原文标题和前两段进行精讲，帮助大家提高英语阅读和写作能力。
1 英文原文
History
In the Middle Ages there was no such thing as childhood
How perceptions of children have changed through history
Jan 5th 2019
FOR MOST of Western history, childhood was nasty, brutish and short, or even non-existent. Before modern medicine and public-health standards, many infants did not live to see their first birthday—and if they did, they were expected to grow up at the double. In the two millennia from antiquity to the 17th century, children were mostly seen as imperfect adults. Medieval works of art typically depict them as miniature grown-ups. In 1960 one of the first historians of childhood, Philippe Ariès, declared that in medieval Europe the idea of childhood did not exist. Most people were not even sure of their own age.
For much of that time newborns were considered intrinsically evil, burdened with original sin from which they had to be redeemed through instruction and education. That changed in the 17th century, when children instead began to be seen as innocents who must be protected from harm and corruption by the adult world. Childhood came to be regarded as a separate stage of life. John Locke, a 17th-century English thinker, saw the mind of a newborn child as a blank sheet, to be filled in by its elders and betters. A few decades later Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher, argued that children had their own way of seeing, thinking, feeling and reasoning and should be left to develop as nature intended. In the late 18th and early 19th century the Romantics went one better, crediting children with deeper wisdom than adults.
2 选文精讲
History 历史
In the Middle Ages there was no such thing as childhood 中世纪没有所谓的童年
How perceptions of children have changed through history 随着时代的变迁，人们对儿童的看法发生了怎样的变化
perception: 认知，理解（the act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition;understanding.）；此外，perception还有直觉、感知的意思（ immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aestheticqualities; insight; intuition; discernment: an artist of rare perception.）
FOR MOST of Western history, childhood was nasty, brutish and short, or even non-existent. Before modern medicine and public-health standards, many infants did not live to see their first birthday—and if they did, they were expected to grow up at the double. In the two millennia from antiquity to the 17th century, children were mostly seen as imperfect adults. Medieval works of art typically depict them as miniature grown-ups. In 1960 one of the first historians of childhood, Philippe Ariès, declared that in medieval Europe the idea of childhood did not exist. Most people were not even sure of their own age.
nasty: 肮脏的，下流的（physically filthy; disgustingly unclean: a nasty pigsty of a room.）；此外，nasty还有恶毒的意思（vicious, spiteful, or ugly: a nasty dog; a nasty rumor.）；坏的，难以对付的（bad or hard to deal with, encounter, undergo, etc.; dangerous; serious: a nasty cut; a nasty accident.）
brutish: 残忍的，粗鲁的，野蛮的
at the double: 快速的
antiquity: 古代，古物
miniature: adj. 微型的，n. 缩图
在西方历史的大部分时间里，童年是肮脏、粗野、短暂的，甚至根本不存在。在现代医学和公共卫生标准出现之前，许多婴儿都活不过一年——如果他们能活过第一个生日，他们也被希望能快速长大。从远古时代到17世纪的2000年间，孩子们大多被视为半个成年人。中世纪的艺术品通常把他们描绘成微型成年人。1960年，最早研究童年的历史学家之一菲利普·阿里斯称，在中世纪的欧洲，童年的概念并不存在。大多数人甚至不知道自己的年龄。
For much of that time newborns were considered intrinsically evil, burdened with original sin from which they had to be redeemed through instruction and education. That changed in the 17th century, when children instead began to be seen as innocents who must be protected from harm and corruption by the adult world. Childhood came to be regarded as a separate stage of life. John Locke, a 17th-century English thinker, saw the mind of a newborn child as a blank sheet, to be filled in by its elders and betters. A few decades later Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher, argued that children had their own way of seeing, thinking, feeling and reasoning and should be left to develop as nature intended. In the late 18th and early 19th century the Romantics went one better, crediting children with deeper wisdom than adults.
intrinsical: 本质的、固有的、内在的（belonging to a thing by its very nature: the intrinsic value of a gold ring.）
burden: 背负、负担(to load heavily.)；此外，burden还有名词负担的意思
[经济学人例句]：Optimism that the government could fight on two fronts—taming its heavy debt burden at the same time as taking on America—has also cracked. （from "China scrambles to sustain its trade truce with America"）乐观的想法，即政府可以双线战斗——在与美国较量的同时，缓解其沉重的债务负担——也已经破灭。
original sin: 原罪
redeem: 赎回，抵消（to make up for; make amends for; offset (some fault, shortcoming, etc.): His bravery redeemed his youthful idleness.）
[经济学人例句]：When Mr Li tried to redeem his investment on its platform, he was offered just a few cents on the dollar upfront or the consignment of fine sweaters, which Jicai claimed were worth hundreds of dollars each. （from "Hard-up firms in China use cashmere and pork to repay loans"）（upfront: 预付款；consignment: 代销，委托，运送物）当李先生试图赎回在其平台上的投资时，他只得到了极少的预付款，或者是代销的精美毛衣，集采声称每件毛衣价值数百美元。
be protected from: 被保护免受...的迫害[写作推荐]
blank sheet: 白纸；
go one better: 更胜一筹 eg. Whatever you do, he'll always try to go one better.
credit: 相信（to believe; put confidence in; trust; have faith in.）此外，credit还有名词信用、信誉、贷款、学分、声望的意思
在那期间的大部分时间里，新生儿被认为本质上是邪恶的，背负着原罪，他们必须通过教导和教育来赎罪。这种情况在17世纪发生了改变，孩子们开始被视为天真无邪的，必须受到保护，以免受成人世界伤害和腐蚀。童年被认为是人生的一个独立阶段。17世纪的英国思想家约翰·洛克认为，新生儿的大脑就像一张白纸，由父母长辈来填充。几十年后，瑞士哲学家让-雅克·卢梭提出，儿童有自己的视觉、思维、情感和推理方式，应该让他们按照自然的意愿发展。在18世纪末和19世纪初，浪漫主义者更胜一筹，他们认为孩子比成年人更有智慧。