为什么要学习历史？

双语翻译

People live in the present. They plan for the future. History, however, is the study of the past. Given all the demands and pressures that come from living in the present and anticipating what is yet to come, why bother with what has been? Given all the available branches of knowledge, why insist – as most educational systems do – on history? And why urge many students to study even more history than they are required to?

人们活在当下。他们为未来做计划。然而，历史是对过去的研究。既然所有的需求和压力都来自于活在当下，以及对未来的期待，为什么还要为过去的事情操心呢？鉴于所有现有的知识分支，为什么要像大多数教育系统一样坚持历史？为什么要敦促许多学生学习比他们所要求的更多的历史？

Any subject of study needs justification : supporters must explain why it is worth  attention. Like most widely accepted subjects , history attracts people who simply like   the information and modes of thought involved. But for people who are less interested in the subject and more doubtful about why they should bother with it, a clearer explanation of its purpose is required.

任何研究主题都需要理由：支持者必须解释为什么它值得关注。像大多数被广泛接受的学科一样，历史吸引了那些只喜欢所涉及的信息和思维方式的人。但是，对于那些对这个主题不感兴趣，更怀疑为什么要为此而烦恼的人，需要对它的目的作出更清楚的解释。

Historians do not perform heart transplants, improve highway design, or arrest criminals. In a society that quite correctly expects education to serve useful purposes, history’s functions can seem more difficult to define than those of engineering or medicine. History is in fact very useful, actually essential , but the products of historical study are often less obvious and immediate than those of other subjects.

历史学家不进行心脏移植，不改进公路设计，也不逮捕罪犯。在一个非常正确地期望教育能为有用的目的服务的社会中，历史的功能似乎比工程学或医学的功能更难定义。历史事实上是非常有用的，实际上是必不可少的，但历史研究的成果往往不如其他学科的成果那么明显和直接。

History helps us understand people, societies and how they behave . For example, how can we evaluate past wars (and future threats) without using historical materials? Unfortunately, major aspects of a society’s operation cannot be set up as precise experiments. Consequently , history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory , helping us understand who we are and why we do what we do. This, fundamentally, is why we cannot stay away from history.

历史帮助我们了解人们、社会和他们的行为。例如，我们如何在不使用历史资料的情况下评估过去的战争（和未来的威胁）？不幸的是，一个社会运作的主要方面不能作为精确的实验来建立。因此，无论历史多么不完美，它都必须作为我们的实验室，帮助我们了解我们是谁，为什么要做我们所做的。从根本上说，这就是为什么我们不能远离历史的根本原因。