文明与奢侈

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《中国人的教养》一书，着眼于国人的精神气质和品格教养，精选著名中外学者对此进行思考与探寻的名著名篇，汇编成册。本文选自《中国人的教养》中的“品德教育十讲”。

Let us examine the history of human evolution： People in ancient times lived in caves and in the wild， whereas modern people have well-equipped dwellings Ancient people ate raw meat and drank blood， consumed the flesh of birds and beasts，and slept on their hides，while modern people have mastered cooking and tailoring techniques.Ancient people bound firewood into torches and used pottery lamps， whereas modern peopleuse gas and electricity. Ancient people traveled in primitive cartswith wheels lacking spokes or rode in dugout canoes made of hollowed giant trees， which could only serve as short-distance transportation. In contrast， modern people have cars and ships that can reach places no matter how far. Similarly， most other daily-use items were crude in ancient times but exquisite today， simple then but complex now. Therefore， in terms of the value of objects， the present surpasses the ancient times by a hundredfold，a thousandfold， or even ten thousand or a hundred millionfold. This is akin to saying people in ancient times were frugal while modern people are extravagant， with the degree of extravagance increasing alongside the progress of civilization. Consequently， those who hate extravagance， such as France's Rousseau and Russia's Tolstoy， reject all material civilization along with it.

我们来认识一下人类进化的历史：古时候的人在洞穴居住，在野外生活，现在的人则有设施齐全的住宅；古时候的人茹毛饮血，吃鸟兽的肉，睡鸟兽的皮，现在的人则掌握了烹饪技术、裁缝技术；古时候的人把柴草捆起来做成火炬，用陶土制成灯盏，而现在的人则利用煤气和电力；古时候的人坐车轮没有辐条的原始车子，乘用剖空的巨大树木做成的独木舟，这些只能作为短距离的交通工具，而现在的人则有汽车和轮船作为交通工具，无论多远的地方都能到达；其他一切日常使用的东西，古时候的粗糙而现在的精细，古时候的简单而现在的复杂，大都如此。（剩余2986字）