20 世界的另一边：印度
印度是波斯以东的一个国家。生活在那里的人，被称为印度人。当然，印度人（Indian）和美洲的印第安人（Indian）是一个完全不同的民族，只是因为早期的探险家到达美洲时，以为自己到的是印度或者东印度群岛，才把美洲的土著称为印第安人。
你们可能还记得，印度是沿着河流流域发展起来的早期文明古国之一吧。你们还记得那条河流叫什么吗？给你们一点儿提示吧。它听起来与“印度”差不多。你们记起来了吗？这就是印度河。
印度是一个非常古老的国度。现代印度的邻国巴基斯坦，原来也属于印度。很久、很久以前，即公元前2500年左右，人们都在如今印度和巴基斯坦所在的地方沿着印度河而居，并且驾着船只往来于河上，相互进行贸易。他们发明了一套书写系统，来记录自己的历史。他们建立了一座座有着宽阔、笔直大道的城市。他们的房子里，甚至有带下水道的浴室呢；而那些下水道，则与整座城市的排水系统相连。你们是不是以为，只有现代人才懂得修建排水系统呢？如果是这样，那你们就错了。你们看看，古代印度人想出这种卫生系统，可比我们早了很久呢。
距古代印度人沿着印度河建立起第一批城市差不多一千年后，印度西边的一
River,people from the west invaded their land. These people were Indo-Europeans who came from somewhere near Persia.When they first arrived,these newcomers did not know how to write.They were strong warriors though and gradually conquered more and more of India.The original Indians and the newcomers learned from each other and adopted some of each others'customs.
In the course of time there came to be four chief castes,or classes,of people in India. No one in one caste would have anything to do with a person in another caste.A boy or girl in one caste would never play with a boy or girl in another caste.A man from one class would never marry a woman from another.No one from one class would eat with someone from another class.
The top caste was made up of the priests and scholars. In the next caste were people like rulers and warriors.Then,in the third caste,came farmers and merchants.Fourth,and last,were laborers,men who chopped wood,or dug the soil,or carried water.
But they weren't the lowest！There were other people so low that they didn't even belong to a caste,and so they were outcasts and untouchables. Even today,though India is trying to make changes and caste distinctions have been made illegal,these people are the ones who sweep the streets,clean the gutters,collect the garbage,and do the dirty work that no one else will do.
India today is terribly crowded with people. It is about one-third the size of the United States but has more than three times as many people.Think what that means！
些民族侵入了他们的土地。这些入侵者都属于印欧民族，来自波斯附近。初来乍到的时候，这些人还不知道写字。但他们都骁勇善战，因此逐渐征服了印度越来越多的地方。原来的印度人和这些新来者相互学习，并且相互接受了对方的一些风俗习惯。
随着时间的推移，印度人中出现了四大“种姓”，或者说四大等级。一个种姓里的人，不会与另一个种姓里的人相往来。一个种姓里的小朋友，绝对不会与属于另一个种姓的小朋友玩耍。一个种姓里的男子，决不会娶到属于另一个种姓的女子。而一个种姓里的人，也不会与属于另一个种姓里的人一起吃饭的。
最高一级的种姓，由僧侣和学者组成。第二级种姓是各级官吏和武士。接下来的第三大种姓，则是农民和商人。而最后的第四个种姓，就是体力劳动者，比如劈柴、翻地或者挑水的人。
不过，第四种姓的人的等级并不是最低的呢！还有一些人的地位极其低下，甚至不属于任何一个种姓，所以他们都属于无家可归者和贱民。即便是到了今天，尽管印度正在努力改变这一点，并且已将种姓歧视定为非法，但这些人仍然干着打扫大街、清理下水道、清扫垃圾以及没人会去干的一些脏活儿。
如今的印度，已经人满为患了。该国的面积只有美国国土的三分之一左右，可人口却有美国的三倍多。想象一下，这意味着什么吧！
虽说如今绝大多数印度人都信奉印度教，但从公元前300年到公元400年这七百年间，佛教却在印度逐渐盛行。佛教是这样产生和发展起来的：
Most Indians today follow the Hindu religion,but from about 300 B. C.to 400 A.D.—seven hundred years—Buddhism was very popular.It happened this way.
About 500 B. C.there was born a prince in India by the name of Gautama.Gautama saw so much suffering and trouble in the world that he felt it was not right that he himself,just because he by chance had been born rich,should be happy while others were miserable and unhappy.He gave up the life to which he had been born,a life of ease and luxury with all its good things,and spent his entire time trying to make things better for his people.
Gautama taught the people to be good；he taught them to be honest；and he taught them to help the poor and the unfortunate. After a while people began to call him Buddha,and he was considered so holy and pure that at last they came to think that he must be a god himself,and so they worshiped him as a god.
These people who believed in Buddha were called Buddhists,and many others quickly became Buddhists,too. Buddhism seemed so good that we do not wonder that great numbers of people became Buddhists.
Buddhists thought their religion was so good that they wanted everybody else to become Buddhists. They sent missionaries across land and sea all the way to the island of Japan,and this new religion spread far and wide.Today there are more Buddhists in the world than there are people in the United States.
You can see that India is a very important place. It is the home of one of the world's oldest civilizations and two of the world's important religions.
公元前500年左右，印度诞生了一位王子，名叫乔达摩。乔达摩看到世界上有这么多的痛苦与灾难，所以他认为，自己只是因为碰巧生于富贵之家便生活幸福，而其他人却生活得悲惨而不幸，这种情况是不对的。于是，他放弃了生而拥有的幸福人生，抛下了那种安逸而奢华的生活，以及那种生活中的一切奢侈之物，用毕生的时间来让自己的子民生活得更好。
乔达摩教导人们向善；他教导人们要诚实；他还教导人们要帮助贫困者和不幸者。不久之后，人们便开始尊称他为佛陀。由于人们认为他极其圣洁，所以最后他们开始觉得，乔达摩本人一定是一位神灵，于是他们便把他当作神灵来崇拜了。
这些信奉佛陀的人被称为佛教徒；而不久之后，其他许多人也纷纷变成了佛教徒。佛教看上去非常不错，因此许多人变成佛教徒也就不足为怪了。
佛教徒认为他们的这种宗教非常好，所以希望其他所有的人全都变成佛教徒。他们派遣使徒，一路翻山越岭、漂洋过海，远达日本岛，于是这种新的宗教便到处传播开来了。如今，全世界的佛教徒人数比整个美国的人口还要多哩。
你们看得出，印度是一个非常重要的国度。它不但是世界上最古老文明之一的发祥地，也是世界两大宗教的发源地。