Setting the scene

For many Chinese students, history consists of hard facts, the time and place of events that took place in the years far behind us. Seldom have we examined history beyond this. Are historical events that we've imprinted on our memory all true? Are we not creators as well as products of history? Does history justify the present or tell us about the future? Why must people register their crimes, wickedness, follies, and misfortunes? Why are people always ready to reopen the closed case? How could the living free themselves from the haunting nightmares of the dead?

對于許多中國學生來說，歷史由艱辛的事實，發生的時間和地點組成，這些事件發生的時間和地點遠遠落后于我們。除此以外，我們很少審查歷史。我們在記憶中留下的歷史事件是真的嗎？我們既不是創造者，也不是歷史產物？歷史會為現在辯護還是向我們介紹未來？人們為什么要記錄自己的罪行，邪惡，愚蠢和不幸？人們為什么總是準備重新打開已關閉的箱子？活人如何從死者的噩夢中解脫出來？

In this unit, we'll read two episodes in Western history interpreted by Western scholars. We'll see how the Americans present, interpret and infuse fresh meaning into one of the darkest pages of human civilization, the massacre of the Jews during World War Il. We'll see how the Americans commemorate and remember their Civil War, a war between brothers. Then we'll ponder our own history.

在本單元中，我們將閱讀西方學者解釋的西方歷史中的兩集。我們將看到美國人如何將新的含義呈現，解釋并注入到人類文明最黑暗的一頁中，即第二次世界大戰期間猶太人的屠殺。我們將看到美國人如何紀念并記住他們的內戰，這是兄弟之間的戰爭。然后，我們將思考自己的歷史。

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:

1.expand your vocabulary about wars

2.describe the Holocaust and the American Civil War, and the ways they are remembered

3.enhance your understanding of how history can be understood from Western perspectives in relation to current reality

4.discuss the significance of history to the future of humanity?

5.explore ways of commemorating and remembering history

6.make a well-organized and well-developed speech on one major event in Chinese history

完成本單元后，您將能夠：

1.擴大關于戰爭的詞匯

2.描述大屠殺和美國內戰及其記憶方式

3.增強您對如何從西方角度了解歷史與當前現實的理解

4.討論歷史對人類未來的意義?

5，探索紀念歷史的方式

6，就中國歷史上的一件大事發表有條理，發達的演講