09.读历史的境界The realm of reading history

Many people love to read history, with all its stories and rivalries. But is that really what you call reading history? In a recent article, Yu Ye, a fellow reader, said that a true reader of history should be able to "ask three questions and know three things".
That is, you don't know good from evil, right from wrong, and true from false.
For example, if you take The Legend of the Gods as history, you will think that King Wen of Zhou was incredibly good and King Zhou of Shang was incredibly bad; but if you read The Records of the Grand Historian, you will find that King Wen of Zhou may not be as good as the novel says; if you read Huainanzi and Mencius, you will find that King Zhou of Shang was not as bad as the novel says; after you read Zuo Zhuan and Shang Shu, you will probably find that King Wen of Zhou and King Zhou of Shang were not as bad as the novel says. When you finish reading Zuo Zhuan and Shang Shu, you will probably find that it is hard to say who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. This is called "not knowing good and evil".
What does it mean to not know right from wrong? For example, people would say that the eight-legged essay examinations restrict people's thinking and are not a good thing. But there is also a positive side to the eight-legged essay, in that the unified standard ensures that the examination is fair. This is called not knowing what is right or wrong.
And what do you mean by not knowing what is true or false? Take the case of Zhang Xueliang's non-resistance during the September 18 Incident. The original textbooks say that Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang Xueliang not to resist, which is considered a conclusive fact. However, Jin Yinan from the National Defence University recently said that Zhang Xueliang had a great deal of autonomy in the Northeast. In other words, Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek did not have the relationship of a professional manager and a boss, but a partnership. Zhang Xueliang himself admitted in his later years that the order of non-resistance was given by him, not at the order of the Central Government. He thought at the time that it was not the first time that Japan had caused trouble in the Northeast, and that each time it was a matter of making a big deal out of a small one and not letting them find an excuse. You can't be biased and believe which of these versions is true and which is not. This is called not knowing what is true and what is false. So, if you don't know good from evil, if you don't know right from wrong, if you don't know true from false, if you don't know anything, then you are a true expert in history.
重点词汇
with all 尽管
be able to 能够 ; 能做到…的 ; 可以…的
That is 即 ; 用于纠正之前说过的内容
For example 例如 ; 比如
may not 不得
as good as 几乎 ; 差不多
好多人都爱读历史，历史故事波澜壮阔，勾心斗角，那叫一个爽啊！但是这真的叫读历史吗？同人于野最近在一篇文章里提到，真正读历史的人，要做到“一问三不知”。
就是不知善恶，不知对错，不知真假。
比如啊，你要是拿《封神演义》当历史，你觉得周文王好的不得了，而商纣王坏得不得了；但你要是读《史记》，你会发现周文王也许不像小说里说的那么好；你要是读了《淮南子》、《孟子》，你会发现商纣王也不像小说里说的那么坏；等你再读完《左传》，《尚书》，你很有可能发现周文王和商纣王，这两个人谁是好人谁是坏人，还真不好说。这就叫“不知道善恶”。
那啥叫不知道对错呢？比如说八股文考试，人们都会说，八股文限制了人的思想，不是个好事。但八股也有积极的一面啊，统一标准恰恰确保了考试公平啊。这就叫不知道对错。
那啥叫不知道真假呢？你拿“九一八事变”张学良不抵抗这个事来说吧，原来教科书上都说是蒋介石命令张学良不抵抗，觉得是盖棺定论的事实。但国防大学的金一南最近说，张学良在东北有很大的自治权，换句话说，张学良和蒋介石不是职业经理人和老板的关系，而是合伙人的关系。张学良晚年自己也承认，不抵抗的命令是他下的，不是听中央的命令。他当时以为，日本在东北捣蛋，又不是第一次了，每次都是大事化小，小事化了，不让他们找到借口就是了，没想到这次日本玩真的，最后大意失东北。这些版本哪个是真，哪个是假，你不能偏听偏信。这就叫不知道真假。所以，不知道善恶，不知道对错，不知道真假，一问三不知，才是历史真专家啊。