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Should everyone know history?

Yes, I think so. I think the expression is, ‘no man is an island’, which I gather means history tells us something about our past, such as in community or nation, and our culture, and even ourselves. By reading and knowing history, I think we can discover more about our past and draw upon experiences and lessons from important events of history, both domestically and internationally. I think especially now, history is vital because, as we know, history tends to repeat itself.

• no man is an island 没有人是一座孤岛
• draw upon 借鉴；运用
• domestically 国内
• vital 极其重要的
• history tends to repeat itself 历史总是重演

How do you learn history?

As for me personally, these days, many of the books I read are in some way historical. I’m not a science fiction fan, so, almost all books I read are about the past and set in the past, so I guess that’s how I’ve learnt about some history, and also, for me, when encountering something interesting historically while reading, I always end up going online to look them up and sometimes watch explanatory videos. For instance, while reading a book called ‘Between the World and Me’, I had to check up on some historical events related to the black rights movement in America and some black leaders, like Malcolm X.

• historical 历史的
• science fiction 科幻小说
• set in the past 在过去
• encounter 遇到
• end up 最终
• going online 上网
• look up 查询
• explanatory videos 解释性的视频
• check up on 查询

Why do some people have no interest in history?

Well, I think it’s because many feel it’s boring, you know, like for example in my school, the teacher just read from the book and asked us to memorize lots of historical facts for the exam. I found it painful and really dry, and I think my classmates did too. As a result, I think many came away from the subject rather jaded.

However, I do think today is better, I mean, at least there are lots of interesting kids’ books on the market, and that kids can learn about many different subjects, so much better than the past, and especially about history, because of books and videos, youngsters find history more interesting I think, but perhaps still kinda boring. But I’m not sure, to be honest.

• memorize 记忆
• came away from ... + (形容词）：让……（怎么样）
• jaded 厌倦的
• youngsters 年轻人；小孩

In what ways can children learn history?

As I mentioned, I think books and videos are good, but that also includes storybooks and films, or you know, animations, they can also be good at least to convey the general historical idea. I think though that history-themed books with vivid illustrations are one of the best resources to educate children about history, and it also helps improve their reading comprehension ability!

Videos are more vivid and easier for most kids to learn about key figures and events in history. And of course, through learning history at school.

• animation 动画
• convey 传达
• -themed ……主题的
• vivid illustrations 生动的插图
• reading comprehension ability 阅读理解能力