第一个印刷家（3）
《泰西故事30篇》作者：李汉昭 2017-04-10 17:32
第一个印刷家（3）
“The strangest thing? Well, I have seen towering mountains and the great sea; I have seen savage beasts and famous men; but nowhere have I seen anything stranger than the ignorance of the common people. Why, they know but little more than their cattle. They know nothing about the country in which they live; and they have scarcely heard of other lands. Indeed, they are ignorant of everything that has happened in the world.”
“I guess you are right,” said the landlord，“but what difference does it make whether they know much or little?”
“It makes a great difference,” answ-ered Gutenberg. “So long as the common people are thus ignorant they are made the dupes of the rich and powerful who know more. They are kept poor and degraded in order that their lords and masters may live in wealth and splendor. Now, if there were only some way to make books plentiful and cheap, the poorest man might learn to read and thus gain such knowledge as would help him to better his condition. But, as things are, it is only the rich who can buy books. Every volume must be written carefully by hand, and the cost of making it is greater than the earnings of any common man for a lifetime.”
“Well,” said the landlord, “we have a man here in Haarlem who makes books. I don’t know how he makes them, but people say that he sells them very cheap. I’ve heard that he can make as many as ten in the time it would take a rapid scribe t
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“The strangest thing? Well, I have seen towering mountains and the great sea; I have seen savage beasts and famous men; but nowhere have I seen anything stranger than the ignorance of the common people. Why, they know but little more than their cattle. They know nothing about the country in which they live; and they have scarcely heard of other lands. Indeed, they are ignorant of everything that has happened in the world.”
“I guess you are right,” said the landlord，“but what difference does it make whether they know much or little?”
“It makes a great difference,” answ-ered Gutenberg. “So long as the common people are thus ignorant they are made the dupes of the rich and powerful who know more. They are kept poor and degraded in order that their lords and masters may live in wealth and splendor. Now, if there were only some way to make books plentiful and cheap, the poorest man might learn to read and thus gain such knowledge as would help him to better his condition. But, as things are, it is only the rich who can buy books. Every volume must be written carefully by hand, and the cost of making it is greater than the earnings of any common man for a lifetime.”
“Well,” said the landlord, “we have a man here in Haarlem who makes books. I don’t know how he makes them, but people say that he sells them very cheap. I’ve heard that he can make as many as ten in the time it would take a rapid scribe t