UP t this time there was nt a printed bk anywhere in Eurpe. There was nt a newspaper. There was nt a magazine. All bks had t be written by hand. This，f curse， was extremely slw and expensive， s there were very fewf even these handwritten bks.nly kings and very wealthy peple had any bks at all. Such a bk as the Bible， fr instance， cst almst as much as a huse， and s n pr peple culdwn such a thing. Even when there was a Bible in a church， it was s valuable that it had t be chained t keep it frm being stlen. Thinkf stealing a Bible！
Actually， if yu remember， the Chinese invented printing. Later， peple began t print bks in a new way. First the printer put tgether wden letters called type， and then smeared them with ink. Then he pressed paper against this inky type and made a cpy. After the type wasnce set up， thusandsf cpies culd be made quickly and easily. Then he culd take the letters apart and use them t make the next page. This， as yuf curse knw， was printing. It was printing with mvable type. It all seems s simple， the wnder is that nne had thughtf this typef printing thusandsf years befre.
Gutenberg at his press， cmparing a printed sheet with a manu古腾堡在印刷机旁，正在比较印刷稿和手写稿It is generally believed that a German named Gutenberg made the first printed bk in Eurpe. And what bk d yu suppse it was that he printed？ Why， the bk that peple thught t be the mst imprtant bk in the wrld-the Bible. It tk Gutenberg five years t make such a big bk， and he finished it in 1456.The first dated bk printed in England was made by an Englishman named Caxtn. It was called Sayingsf the Philsphers， and was printed in 1477.
Befre this time few peple， even thugh they were kingsr princes， knew hw t read. There were n bks t teach them hw t read and few bks fr them t read if they had learned. S what was the usef learning？
Yu can see hw difficult it must have been fr peple thrughut the Middle Ages， withut bksr newspapersr anything printed， t learn what was gingn in the wrld，r t learn abut anything thatne wanted t knw.
Nw that printing had been invented， all that was changed. Strybks， schlbks， andther bks culd be made in large numbers and mre cheaply. Peple wh never befre were able t have any bks culd nwwn them. Peple culd nw read all the famus striesf the wrld and learn abut gegraphy， abut histry， abut anything they wanted t knw. The inventinf mvable type was sn t change everything.
The Hundred Years" War had at last cme t an end sn after the inventinf printing.
At the same time smething else that was a thusand yearsld came t an end.
The Muslims， whm we haven"t heardf fr a lng time， had tried t capture Cnstantinple in the seventh century but had been stpped， as I tld yu， by tar and pitch that the Christians pured dwnn them.
Nw in 1453 the Muslimsnce again attacked Cnstantinple. This time， hwever， the Muslims were Turks， and they didn"t try t batter dwn the wallsf the city with arrws. They used gunpwder and cannn. Against the pwerf this new inventin the wallsf Cnstantinple culd nt stand， and finally the city fell. Cnstantinple became Turkish and the magnificent Churchf Santa Sphia， which Justinian had built a thusand years befre， was turned int a msque fr Muslim wrship. This was the endf all that was leftf theld Rman Empire-thether halff which had fallen in 476.
Ever after the dwnfallf Cnstantinple in 1453， wars were fught with gunpwder. N lnger were castlesf any use. N lnger were knights in armrf any use. N lnger were bws and arrwsf any use-against this new kindf fighting. There was a new sund in the wrld， the sundf cannn-firing： "Bm！ bm！ bm！" Befre this， battles had nt been very nisy except fr61 Print and Pwder 301shutsf the victrs and the mansf the dying. S sme peple call 1453 the endf the Middle Ages and the beginningf Mdern Histry.
Gunpwder had put an end t the Middle Ages. The inventinf printing and that little magic needle， the cmpass， did a great deal t start what we call Mdern Histry.
【中文阅读】
直到此时，欧洲各地还没有一本印刷出来的书。没有一张报纸，没有一本杂志。 所有的书籍只得用手写。这样的书做出来自然非常慢而且价格昂贵，所以就连这些 手写的书也非常少。只有国王和很富有的人才有那么几本。比如，像《圣经》这样 一本书的价格和一栋房子差不多，所以穷人根本不可能有这样的东西。如果教堂里 有一本圣经，那可是珍贵得不得了，为了防止被偷，非得用链子锁起来不可。想想 看，还有人去偷一本《圣经》！
如果你还记得，实际上是中国人发明了印刷术。后来人们开始用新的方法印制 书籍。首先印刷工人把称作活字的木制字模排列在一起，然后在上面刷上油墨。接 着他把纸压在沾有油墨的字模上，这样制成了一页副本。活字只要排列无误，就可 以又快又轻松地印刷数千份副本了。之后工人可以把这些排列好的活字拆开，把它 们重新组合印下一页。你当然知道，这就是印刷。上述的印刷方式就是活字印刷。 看上去这一切很简单，奇怪的是几千年前没有人想到这种印刷。
人们普遍认为一个名叫古腾堡的德国人在欧洲印出了第一本书。你猜他印的是 什么书？当然，这本书就是人们认为世界上最重要的一本书--《圣经》呀。印制 这本大部头的书花了古腾堡五年的时间，到 1456 年才完成。
英国第一本印有出版日期的书是一个名叫卡克斯顿的英国人印刷的。此书的书名是《哲学家名言录》，印于 1477 年。 在此之前，很少有人会读书识字，即使国王或王子也不会。没有书教他们怎样读书识字；即使他们懂得阅读，也没有什么书供他们阅读。所以学习有什么用呢？ 你可以想象在整个中世纪，在没有书籍、没有报纸和任何印刷品的情况下，人们要知道世界上发生了什么，或者要了解自己想知道的什么事，该有多么困难。 由于印刷术的发明，一切都改变了。故事书、教科书和其他书籍可以大量印出来，也更加便宜。以前一本书也没有的人现在都能买得起书了。现在人们可以阅读 世界上所有著名的故事，可以了解有关地理、历史和他们想知道的任何事情。活字 印刷术的发明很快就要改变一切。
印刷术发明后不久，百年战争终于结束了。 与此同时，其他有着一千多年历史的事情也要结束了。 我们很久没有谈到穆斯林了，我上次给你讲过在 7 世纪穆斯林想要攻占君士坦丁堡，基督徒从城堡上向下泼焦油和沥青，挡住了他们的进攻。
在 1453 年穆斯林又一次进攻君士坦丁堡。不过这一次，穆斯林是土耳其人，他 们不想用弓箭摧毁城墙。他们使用了火药和大炮。君士坦丁堡的城墙顶不住这种新 发明的威力，最终沦陷了。君士坦丁堡落到土耳其人的手里，一千年前东罗马皇帝 查士丁尼建造的宏伟的圣索菲亚大教堂变成了一座穆斯林朝拜的清真寺。这是残存 的旧罗马帝国的终结--而另一半，西罗马帝国早在公元 476 年就衰亡了。
自 1453 年君士坦丁堡沦陷以后，战争都使用火药了。在这种新型作战方式的强大威力下，城堡不再有什么用处了，身着盔甲的骑士也不再有什么作为了，弓箭 也从此退出历史舞台了。世界响起了一种新的声音，大炮发射时的响声--"轰隆！ 轰隆！轰隆！"在这之前，除了胜利者的欢呼声和垂死者的呻吟声之外，战争不是 很喧闹。所以有些人将 1453 年称为中世纪的结束，现代史的开端。
火药使中世纪走到了尽头。印刷术和那根小魔针--罗盘的发明对我们称为现代历史的开始，发挥了极大的作用。