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?
对于许多中国学生来说，历史由艰辛的事实，发生的时间和地点组成，这些事件发生的时间和地点远远落后于我们。除此以外，我们很少审查历史。我们在记忆中留下的历史事件是真的吗？我们既不是创造者，也不是历史产物？历史会为现在辩护还是向我们介绍未来？人们为什么要记录自己的罪行，邪恶，愚蠢和不幸？人们为什么总是准备重新打开已关闭的箱子？活人如何从死者的噩梦中解脱出来？
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.
在本单元中，我们将阅读西方学者解释的西方历史中的两集。我们将看到美国人如何将新的含义呈现，解释并注入到人类文明最黑暗的一页中，即第二次世界大战期间犹太人的屠杀。我们将看到美国人如何纪念并记住他们的内战，这是兄弟之间的战争。然后，我们将思考自己的历史。
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
完成本单元后，您将能够：
1.扩大关于战争的词汇
2.描述大屠杀和美国内战及其记忆方式
3.增强您对如何从西方角度了解历史与当前现实的理解
4.讨论历史对人类未来的意义
5，探索纪念历史的方式
6，就中国历史上的一件大事发表有条理，发达的演讲
