Before the Internet

Before the Internet. Written by Anna Lee. Focus question. How did people research and communicate before the internet?

互联网出现之前。 作者：安娜·李 核心问题： 互联网诞生前，人们如何查找资料、交流沟通呢？

Information and the Internet Imagine that your city holds a festival each year celebrating the history of the city. Your teacher wants everyone in your class to write a report about the festival. You need to research and include information about your city, the history of the festival, and events happening at the festival this year. Your teacher says that You need to use several different sources. You also need to interview a person who lives in your city.

信息与互联网 想象一下，你的城市每年都会举办一场庆典，纪念城市的历史。 你们老师要求班上每个人都写一篇关于这场庆典的报告。 你需要查找资料，内容要涵盖你的城市、庆典的历史，还有今年庆典的活动安排。 老师说，你需要用到好几种不同的信息来源。 你还需要采访一位住在本市的居民。

You probably already know how you would start finding information for your project. Your city likely has a website and social media pages where you can quickly learn about its history and current events. You can also find the people involved in planning the festival. Imagine that you live in a time before the internet was available though. How will you find information for your project now?

你大概已经知道该怎么为这个项目找资料了。 你的城市一般都有官网和社交主页，你能很快在上面查到它的历史和最新动态。 你还能联系上负责策划这场庆典的工作人员。 不过我们来想象一下，你生活在互联网还没普及的年代。 那你现在该怎么为这个项目找资料呢？

at the library. You decide to start at the local public library. There, you know you can find books, articles, news stories, and information about events and people in your city. The librarian can help you find the most useful resources for your project.

去图书馆找资料。 你决定先从当地公立图书馆开始找起。 在那里，你能找到书籍、文章、新闻报道，还有和本市事件、人物相关的各类信息。 图书管理员会帮你找到对项目最有用的资源。

The librarian tells you that encyclopedias are a helpful starting point for any kind of project. Encyclopedias are books full of information about many different topics. They come in a set that is organized alphabetically. Each book usually covers topics that begin with a letter of the alphabet. The encyclopedia might have an article about your city or about important person who once lived there.

图书管理员告诉你，做任何项目，百科全书都是很好的入门起点。 百科全书里收录了许许多多不同主题的各类知识。 它们是按字母顺序编排成一套的。 通常每一本收录的都是以某个字母开头的主题。 百科全书里说不定就有介绍你的城市，或是曾住在这儿的名人的条目。

Once you learn everything you can from the encyclopedia, you look for other books in the library. For this, you use the card catalog. This system keeps track of the books in the library. The librarian shows you drawers full of paper cards with information about every book in the library. The cards list the title, author, and subject of each book. You look through the cards until you find a book you think might be helpful. Then you write down the information from the card. Now you know where to find the book on the shelves.

你看完百科全书里能找到的所有内容后，就开始找图书馆里的其他书籍。 这时候你会用到卡片目录。 这套系统用来记录图书馆里所有的藏书。 图书管理员会给你看装满纸卡片的抽屉，每张卡片都记着一本馆藏书的信息。 卡片上会列出每本书的书名、作者和主题。 你翻找这些卡片，直到找到你觉得能用得上的书。 接着你把卡片上的信息抄下来。 这样你就知道这本书在书架的哪个位置了。