ENGLAND is just a little island.
It was quite an unimprtant little island in 900 A.D. Much later， England grew rich and strng and， fr a while， had an empire spread allver the wrld.
England is still just a little island.
But it is nw an imprtant island in the wrld！
Abutne hundred years after Charlemagne-that is， 900-there was a kingf England named Alfred. When Alfred was a by he had a hard time learning t read， fr he did nt like t study. In thse days manyf the hand-written bks made by the mnks had pretty drawings and letters made in bright clrs and even in gld.ne day Alfred"s mther shwed such a bk t her children and prmised t give it t thene wh culd read it first. That was a game. Alfred wanted t win the bk， s， fr the first time in his life， he really tried. He studied s hard that in a very shrt time he had learned t read befre his brthers. Alfred wn the bk.
When Alfred grew up， England was being trubled by pirates. These pirates were cusinsf the English-a Germanic tribe called Danes. The English had lng ag becme Christians and civilized， but the Danes were still rugh and wild. They camever frm theirwn cuntry acrss the water， landedn the castf England， rbbed the twns and villages， and then sailed back t their hmes， carryingff everything valuable they culd lay their handsn-like bad bys wh climb a farmer"s fence and steal apples frm hisrchard. At last the Danes became s bld that they didn"t even run away after rbbing the cuntry； they were like the bad bys wh stickut their tngues and thrw stnes at the farmer wh cmes after them. The king"s armies wentut t punish these pirates， but， insteadf beating， they were beaten. It began t lk as if these Danes， wh were able t d pretty much as they pleased， might cnquer England and rulever the English.
nce when things lked pretty bad fr England， King Alfred was withut an army. Alne， ragged， tiredut， and hungry， he came t the hutf a shep- herd and asked fr smething t eat. The shepherd"s wife was baking sme cakes by the fire， and she tld Alfred he shuld havene if he watched themwhile she wentut t milk the cw. Alfred sat dwn by the fire， but in thinking abut what he culd d t beat the Danes he frgt all abut the cakes， and when the shepherd"s wife returned they were all burned. Thereupn she sclded him rundly and drve himff， nt knwing that it was her king that she was treating in this way， fr he never tld her wh he was.
Alfred decided that the best way t fight the Danes was ntn land butn the water， s he set t wrk t build bats bigger and better than thse the Danes had. After a while he had smethingf a fleet， and the bats he built were bigger than thsef the Danes， but they were s big that they culd nt g int the shallw water withut running agrund. The Danes" bats，n accuntf their small size， culd g safely clse in t shre. In deep water， hwever， Alfred"s fleet was very strng and pwerful. This was the first navy that England ever had. England"s navy became the largest in the wrld fr a while， and Alfred the Great was thene wh started it mre than a thusand years ag.
After fighting with the Danes fr many years， Alfred finally thught it best t make an agreement with them and give them a partf England t live in if they wuld prmise t stp stealing and live peaceably. The Danes did agree t this， and they settled dwn peaceablyn the land that Alfred gave them-and then became Christians.ver the years， the Danes and the English married eachther and raised families. Eventually they becamene natinality and nne knew any mre whse ancestrs were Danes and whse were English.
Alfred made very strict laws and severely punished thse wh did wrng. Indeed， it is said that the peplef England were s careful tbey the law in his reign thatne might leave gld by the radside， and nne wuld steal it.
Alfred ntnly built a navy and made wise laws， but he， like Charlemagne， started a schl at curt fr bth children and grwnups， manyf whm were as ignrant as the children. He did manyther useful things besides.
He invented， fr instance， a wayf telling time by a burning candle. Yu have heard hw wnderful the clck， that which Harun al-Rashid sent t Charlemagnene hundred years befre， was thught t be. Althugh striking clcks are，f curse， very cmmn nwadays， it was an extrardinary thing then when there were n clcks nr watches at all in England. Alfred fundut hw fast candles burned dwn and marked lines arund them at different heights-just the distance apart that they burned inne hur. These were called time-candles.
Candles were als used fr lighting but when they were carriedutdrs， they were very likely t be blwnut by the wind. S Alfred put the candle insidef a little bx， and inrder that the light might shine thrugh the bx， he made sidesf very thin piecesf cw"s-hrn， as glass then was very scarce.
48 Getting a Start 239
Such inventins may seem very small and unimprtant， and they are when yu thinkf the marvelus inventins and wnderful machines that are made by the thusands nwadays. These inventinsf Alfred were n mre than the husehld ideas fr which sme magazines nwffernly a few dllars apiece. But I have tld yu abut them just t shw yu hw ignrant the English， as well asther Germanic tribesf Eurpe， were in thse days. Hw much superir were the Arab thinkers with their striking clcks. The English were just getting a start.
【中文阅读】
英国只是一个小岛。
在公元 900 年，它是一个微不足道的小岛。很久以后，英国变得富有、强大起 来，并且在一个时期内拥有一个遍布世界的帝国。
英国还只是一个小岛。 但是，现在它是世界上一个举足轻重的岛国了！
大约在查理曼大帝之后的 100 年--也就是公元 900 年时--英格兰由一位名 为阿尔弗烈德的国王统治。当阿尔弗烈德还是个小孩子的时候，他读书非常辛苦， 因为他并不喜欢学习。那个时代，许多修道士抄写的手抄书上面都有用鲜艳的颜色， 甚至金色描绘出的漂亮的图画和字母。有一天，阿尔弗烈德的母亲拿了这样一本书 给她的孩子们看，并许诺哪个孩子能先读懂这本书，就把它送给谁。这就是一场比 赛。阿尔弗烈德想要赢得这本书，所以生平头一次，他真正努力起来。他学习非常 刻苦，所以在很短的时间内他就比他的兄弟们先学会了阅读。阿尔弗烈德赢得了这 本书。
阿尔弗烈德成年后，英国受海盗不断侵扰。这些海盗可以说是英格兰人的远 亲--一个叫丹麦的日耳曼部落。英国人在很久以前就成为基督徒，变得文明开化， 但是丹麦人仍然既粗鲁又野蛮。他们从自己的国家渡海过来，在英国海岸登陆，抢 劫城镇和村庄，然后就渡海回去，把他们能够得到的所有值钱的东西都搬走了-- 就像坏孩子们翻过农夫的篱笆，从人家的果园里面偷走苹果一样。最后，丹麦人变 得肆无忌惮，他们在抢劫英国之后甚至不急于逃走；他们就像坏孩子一样，对着追 过来的农夫吐舌头、扔石头。国王的军队出征去惩罚这些海盗，但是没能取胜，反 而被海盗打败了。丹麦人此时屡屡得手，颇为自如，这架势看起来好像他们有可能 征服英格兰，统治英国人呢！
有一次，英国的形势看起来相当不利，阿尔弗烈德带的兵全军覆没。他独自一 人，衣衫褴褛，筋疲力尽，饥肠辘辘，来到一个牧羊人的小屋前，向主人讨点东西 吃。牧羊人的妻子正在火边烤蛋糕，她对阿尔弗烈德说，如果他在她出去挤牛奶的 时候照看一下蛋糕，到时候就可以给他一块吃。阿尔弗烈德在火边坐了下来。但是，他一心只想着怎样才能击败丹麦人，结果把蛋糕的事忘得一干二净。等到牧羊人的 妻子回来，蛋糕全都烤糊了。为此，她狠狠地骂了他一顿，把他给轰走了，不知道 自己赶走的正是自己国家的国王，因为阿尔弗烈德从没有告诉她自己是谁。
阿尔弗烈德在深思熟虑后确定，打击丹麦人最好的办法不是在陆上而是在水上。 于是，他开始着手建造比丹麦人的船更大、更好的船。一段时间后，他有了一支相 当不错的舰队，他建的这些船比丹麦人的船大得多。但是，因为船太大了，所以一 到浅水区就会搁浅。而丹麦人的船因为体积小，却能够安全地近岸航行。不过，在 深海区阿尔弗烈德的舰队就坚固又强大了。这是英国历史上的第一支海军。有一个 时期，英国海军的规模是世界上最大的，而在一千多年前就创立了英国海军的正是 阿尔弗雷德大王。
与丹麦人交战多年之后，阿尔弗烈德终于认为最好的办法是和他们达成协议， 在英国给他们拨出一块土地居住，只要他们答应不再抢劫，老老实实地过日子。丹 麦人真的接受了这个协议，在阿尔弗烈德给他们的土地上过上了安定的生活--后 来也成了基督徒。多年来，丹麦人和英国人互相通婚，一起抚养孩子。最终，他们 成为一个民族，再也没人知道谁的祖先是丹麦人，谁的祖先是英国人了。
阿尔弗烈德制定了严格的法律，严罚犯法的人。甚至，据说在阿尔弗烈德统治 期间，英国人民都小心翼翼地遵守法律，即使有人把金子遗落在路边，也没人敢偷 偷拿走。
阿尔弗烈德不仅组建了海军，律法严明，而且他还像查理曼大帝一样，在宫廷 内为孩子和成年人开办了一所学校，因为有很多成年人和孩子一样无知。除此之外， 他还做了其他许多有益的事。
比如，他发明了一种根据燃烧的蜡烛来计时的办法。你已经听说了，比这早 一百年前，人们觉得哈伦-赖世德送给查理曼大帝的那座钟是多么的神奇。尽管现 在报时钟是再寻常不过的东西，但是，那时的英国根本没有钟表，所以只要有办法 能计时在当时就是非同寻常的了。阿尔弗烈德观察到蜡烛向下燃烧的速度有多快， 于是在蜡烛的不同高度上标上短线--间隔的距离就是蜡烛一小时烧掉的长度。这 些蜡烛被称为"报时蜡烛"。
蜡烛也用来照明，但是被带出户外时，很容易就被风吹灭了。所以，阿尔弗烈 德把蜡烛放进一个小盒子里，为了让光能从盒子里透出来，盒子四周都是用很薄的 牛角片做的，因为那时玻璃难得见到。
这样的发明看来好像微不足道，尤其是当你想到现在那些非凡的发明和数以千 计制造出来的奇妙机器，它们就更是如此了。阿尔弗烈德的这些发明与如今有些杂 志愿出几美元奖励一个的家常妙招没有什么区别。但是，我告诉你这些只是为了让 你知道，那时候，英国人和欧洲其他一些日耳曼部落是多么愚昧无知，而阿拉伯的 思想家和他们的报时钟是多么先进！英国人才刚刚启动。
