Matteo Ricci: 利瑪竇

侯怡

Matteo Ricci was born in 1552 and he was an Italian priest1 who introduced Christianity2 and Western ideas to? China in the sixteenth century. Matteo Ricci was the oldest child in his family， and he studied first at home and then entered a school that was opened in 1561. He completed his classical studies， and at the age of 16， he went to Rome to study theology3 and law in a Jesuit4 school.

利瑪竇出生于1552年，他是一名意大利神父，他在十六世紀(jì)時(shí)將基督教和西方思想介紹到了中國。利瑪竇是家中長子，一開始他在家中自學(xué)，隨后進(jìn)入一所開設(shè)于1561年的學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)。在完成了傳統(tǒng)學(xué)業(yè)后，十六歲那年，他前往羅馬的一所耶穌學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)神學(xué)和法學(xué)。

In 1577， soon after he had begun the study of science under the mathematician Christopher Clavius， he became a missionary5 to India. Afterwards， he went to Portugal， where he studied at the University of Coimbra. On March 24， 1578， he left Lisbon， arriving on September 13 at Goa， the Portuguese colony6 on the central west coast of India， and he continued his studies for the priesthood7 here.

1577年，在數(shù)學(xué)家克里斯多夫·克拉維于斯那里開始學(xué)習(xí)科學(xué)沒多久，他便成為一名傳教士前往印度。隨后，他前往葡萄牙，在那里的科英布拉大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)。1578年3月24日，他離開了里斯本，之后于9月13日抵達(dá)果阿。果阿是印度中西部海岸的葡萄牙屬殖民地，在這里他繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)傳教。

After arriving in Macao in 1582， Matteo Ricci began to learn the Chinese， and eventually he could understand Chinese classical works. Many Chinese officials and scholars were interested in Matteo Ricci when he showed his knowledge of astronomy， mathematics and geography. Besides， he introduced European clocks， oil paintings， musical instruments， and picture books to them. At first， Matteo Ricci wore like a Buddhist monk， but after realizing that he had to do in China as a person of Ming Dynasty does， he dressed as a Chinese scholar. Matteo Ricci produced the first world map in Chinese， and wrote a number of Christian works in Chinese. He also made the first translation of Confucian texts into Latin.

1582年抵達(dá)澳門之后，利瑪竇開始學(xué)習(xí)中文，最后他能夠讀懂中國經(jīng)典典籍。當(dāng)利瑪竇展現(xiàn)出他在天文學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)和地理方面的學(xué)識(shí)時(shí)，中國許多官員和文人便對(duì)他產(chǎn)生了興趣。同時(shí)，利瑪竇還將歐洲的時(shí)鐘、油畫、樂器和圖書介紹給他們。剛開始，利瑪竇穿得像佛教僧侶一樣，但在他意識(shí)到自己應(yīng)入鄉(xiāng)隨俗后，便穿得和中國文人一樣。利瑪竇繪制出了第一幅中文世界地圖，并用中文撰寫了許多基督教著作。他還第一次將儒家著作翻譯成了拉丁文。

In 1601， Matteo Ricci became the first foreigner from the West to enter the Forbidden City. In addition to establishing Christianity in China， he showed Chinese scholars that people in foreign countries were actually polite. Matteo Ricci was the first person who distinguished8 between religion and culture. He also realized that it was possible for people to become Christians without having to know about European culture at the same time.

1601年，利瑪竇成為了第一位進(jìn)入紫禁城的西方人。除了在中國建立基督教，他還向中國的文人顯示了其他國家的人其實(shí)都是很文明的。利瑪竇是第一個(gè)將宗教和文化區(qū)分開來的人。他還意識(shí)到人們可以成為基督教徒但不必了解歐洲文化。