29.《自由的基因》The genes of freedom

The book I want to talk about today is called The Gene for Freedom. The author of the book, Hannan, is a British Conservative politician, Member of the European Parliament and historian. He argues that the concept of freedom, invented by the British, went global with the expansion of the British Empire, creating the unique Anglosphere that brought about the modern world.
Civilisation includes many dimensions, such as history, language, beliefs, rituals and basic institutions and customs of life, to name but a few, each of which, divides civilisation and separates groups. For example, in the Qin and Han dynasties, cooking methods were considered to be the boundary that divided the Chinese from the barbarians; cooked rice, roasted meat, lamb soup and wine were all made in a more advanced way and tasted better. When the barbarians could not resist the temptation to eat, they would learn the food habits of the Chinese, and they became part of the Chinese.
Such elements of civilization mixed in various proportions, combined with various other details and phenomena, eventually manifested themselves in a certain order formed and maintained by the community. For Whig historians, the group of English-speaking countries formed by Britain at its centre constituted an Anglosphere, within which the countries spoke a common language, believed in a common political and cultural tradition, and particularly valued the value of individual freedom.
But even if the countries in this circle accepted this order, they were not entirely one, but radiated from the centre to the periphery, like a concentric circle. This is evident from the change in the title of this book.
译文：
今天我要聊的这本书叫《自由的基因》。这本书的作者汉南是英国保守党政治家、欧洲议会议员、历史学家。他认为，自由这个概念，是英国人发明的，随着大英帝国的扩张走向了世界，缔造了独特的盎格鲁圈，带来了现代世界。
文明包括很多层面，比如历史、语言、信仰、礼仪以及基本制度和生活习俗等等，每一项，都是划分文明，区隔群体的界限。举个例子，在秦汉的时候，人们认为烹饪方式是划分华夏和蛮夷的界限，熟饭、烤肉、羊羹、美酒，都是用更高级的烹饪方式来做的，也更好吃。蛮夷抵抗不了好吃的诱惑，就会学习华夏的饮食习惯，就成了华夏的一部分。
这样的文明元素以不同比例混合，结合其他各种细节和现象，最终表现为共同体所形成和维持的某种秩序。对于辉格党历史学家来说，由英国为中心形成的英语国家集团构成了一个盎格鲁圈，圈内国家使用共同的语言，信守共同的政治、文化传统，尤其看重个人自由的价值。
但是，就算这个圈子里的国家都接受了这种秩序，也不完全是一体的，而是由中心向外围辐射的，就像一个同心圆。这一点，从这本书的书名的变化就能看出来。