THE first things are usually the mst interesting-the first baby， the first tth， the first step， the first wrd， the first spanking. This bk will be chiefly the stryf first things； thse that came secndr thirdr furthr fifth yu can read abut and study later.
Primitive peple did nt at first knw what fire was. They had n matches nr any wayf making a lightr a fire. They had n light at night. They had n fire t warm themselves by. They had n fire with which t ck their fd. Smewhere and smetime， we d nt knw exactly whenr hw， they fundut hw t make and use fire.
If yu rub yur hands tgether rapidly， they becme warm. Try it. If yu rub them tgether still mre rapidly， they becme ht. If yu rub tw sticks tgether rapidly， they becme warm. If yu rub them tgether still mre rapidly， they becme ht. If yu rub tw sticks tgether very， very， very rapidly， they becme ht and at last， if yu keep it up lng enugh and fast enugh， are setn fire. Native Americans and By Scuts and Girl Scuts d this and make a fire by twistingne stick against anther.
This wasnef the first inventins， and this inventin was as remarkable frthem at that time as the inventinf electric light inurwn times.
Peplef the Stne Age had hair and beards that were never cut， because they had nthing t cut them with， even had they wanted them shrt， which they prbably didn"t.
They had n clthes madef clth， fr they had n clth and nthing with which t cut and sew clth if they had.
They had n saws t cut bards， n hammerr nails t fasten them tgether t make husesr furniture.
They had n frks nr spns； n pts nr pans； n buckets nr shvels； n needles nr pins.
The peplef the Stne Age had never seenr heardf such a thing as irnr steelr tinr brassr anything madef these metals. Fr thusands and thusandsf years primitive peple gt alng withut anyf the things that are madef metal.
Thenne day a Stne Age man fundut smething by accident； a discverywe call it.
He was making a fire； and a fire， which is t us such a cmmn， everyday thing， was still t him very wnderful. Rund his fire he placed sme rcks t make a srtf campfire stve. Nw， it happened that this particular rck was ntrdinary rck but what we nw call "re，" fr it had cpper in it. The heatf the fire melted smef the cpperutf the rck， and it ranutn the grund.
What were thse bright， shining drps？ He examined them.
Hw pretty they were！
He heated sme mref the same rck and gt sme mre cpper.
Thus was the first metal discvered.
At first peple used the cpper fr beads andrnaments， fr it was s bright and shiny. But they sn fundut that cpper culd be punded int sharp blades and pints， which were much better than the stne knives andarrw-heads they had used befre.
Ntice that it was nt irn they discveredfirst； it was cpper.
A cave man discvering cpper
发现铜的穴居人
We think peple next discvered tin in smewhat the same way. Then， after that， they fundut that tin when mixed with cpper made a still harder and better metal than either alne. This metal， madef tin and cpper tgether， we nw call brnze； and fr twr three thusand years peple made their tls and weapnsutf brnze. We call the time when men used brnze tls， and brnze weapns fr hunting and fighting the Brnze Age.
At last smebdy discvered irn， and sn peple saw that irn was better fr mst useful things than either cpperr brnze. The Irn Age lasted three thusand years.
Peple wh lived in the Brnze and Irn Ages were able， after the discveryf metal， t d many things they culd nt pssibly have dne befre withnly stne.
Yu may have heard in yur mythlgyr fairy talesf a Glden Age als， but by this is meant smething quite different. The Glden Age means a time when everything was beautiful and lvely and everybdy wise and gd. There have been times in the wrld"s histry which have been called the Glden Age fr this reasn.
But I am afraid there never has been really a Glden Age-nly in fairy tales.
18 美国学生世界历史 · A Child"s Histryf the wrld【中文阅读】
最先发生的事情总是最有趣的--生第一个孩子，长第一颗牙，走第一步，说 第一句话，挨第一次打，等等。这本书主要也是关于这些"第一"的故事，那些排 在第二、第三、第四或第五的事情将来你会读到、学到。
原始人开始并不知道火是什么。他们没有火柴，也没有任何来照明或取火的方 法。晚上他们没有灯，他们没有取暖用的火，也没有烧饭用的火。就在某个时间、 某个地点，他们开始学会了如何生火和用火，但我们无法确切知道。
如果你快速地搓手，手就会暖和起来。试试看。如果你搓手再快点，手就会发 烫。如果你快速地摩擦两根木棍，木棍就会发热。如果你摩擦再快一点，木棍就会 发烫。如果你非常快、非常快、非常快地摩擦木棍，它们就会变得滚烫，如果你不 断摩擦下去，越来越快，最终就会点燃木棍。美洲土著人和男、女童子军都是这样 做的，他们转动一根木棍去摩擦另一根木棍来生火。
这是人类最初的发明之一。这项发明当时对他们来说就像我们这个时代发明电 灯一样了不起。
石器时代的人从不剪头发、刮胡子，因为即使他们想把胡子、头发弄短，也没 有工具，可能他们也没想这样做。
他们没有布做的衣服，因为他们没有布，即使有布，也没有剪裁、缝纫的工具。 他们没有锯木板的锯子，也没有斧头和钉子把木板钉在一起造房子、做家具。 他们没有叉子和勺子，没有壶和锅，没有桶和铲子，也没有编织针和别针。 石器时代的人从来没有看过、也没听说过钢、铁、锡、铜这些金属，或用这些金属做成的东西。原始人没有任何金属制品，就这样生活了千万年。
然 后， 有 一 天， 一 个 石 器 时 代 的 人 偶 然 发 现 了 什 么， 我 们 现 在 就 称 它 为 "发现"。
他正在生火，火对我们来说再普通不过了，对他而言却仍然非常神奇。火的四 周他放了一些石块，围起来有点像篝火炉。很偶然地，他挑来的石头刚好不是普通 的石头，而是我们现在所说的"矿石"，因为它里面含有铜。火的高温熔化了石头里 的铜，使它流淌到地上。
这些亮闪闪的一滴一滴的东西是什么？ 他瞧来瞧去。
它们多好看啊 ！ 他又把一些同样的石头放到火里加热，得到了更多的铜。 第一种金属就是这样被发现的。
开始时，人们把铜做成珠子和各种装饰物，因为它那么亮闪闪的，很好看。然 而，他们很快就发现铜可以被敲打成锋利的刀片和箭头，比他们以前用的石制刀和 箭头强多了。
请注意：人最先发现的不是铁，而是铜。 我们认为，接下来人用某种同样的方式发现了锡。在那以后，他们发现锡和铜熔合而成的金属，比锡和铜本身更硬、更好。这种锡和铜的合金，我们现在称为青 铜。两三千年以来，人们就是用青铜做出了工具和武器。我们把人类使用青铜工具 和青铜武器狩猎、打仗的时代称为"青铜时代"。
最后，有人发现了铁，很快，人们就发现铁比铜或青铜更适合做成大多数实用 的东西。铁器时代延续了三千年。
生活在青铜时代和铁器时代的人类，发现金属以后，他们能做很多事情，都是 他们以前只有石头可用时不能做的。
你可能在神话或童话里也听到过"黄金时代"，但是它所表达的可是另一回事。 黄金时代是指一切都很美好而可爱纯洁，人人都很智慧而善良的一个历史时期。世 界历史上有过一些时期因为这个原因而被称为黄金时代。
不过，我却认为历史上这样一个"黄金时代"从未真正有过--恐怕只存在于 神话中吧。