（这是我在简书写的第43篇文章。）
关于先秦的时间跨越，百度有广义狭义两种范围。Baidu has two time spans for the Pre-qin Period.
广义的时间是指从旧石器时代到公元前221年。旧石器时代是距今 250万年~距今约1万年，那时候，猿猴还在同类尸首旁边安尝美味，没有文明可言。
In the broad sense, it spans from Paleolithic Period to 221 BC, Paleolithic Period is from 2.5 million years ago to about 10,000 years ago, when apes were still feasting besides the corpses of their own kind. There was nothing to talk about civilization at that time.
狭义的先秦时期是指中国从进入文明时代直到秦王朝建立这段时间，主要指夏、商、西周、春秋、战国这几个时期的历史。
The Pre-qin Period in a narrow sense refers to the period from the beginning of Chinese civilization to the foundation of the Qin Dynasty, mainly referring to the history of Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period.
夏朝(约公元前2146年-前1675年)至今也就4000年。而中华文明的萌芽是在三皇时代(约公元前12000年-约公元前3077年), 是中国原始社会的一段历史时期。其后为五帝时代。
The Xia Dynasty (about 2146 BC - 1670 BC) is only 4,000 years old. The Chinese civilization sprouted in the Three King Period from about 12000 BC to about 3077 BC, which was a historical period of China's primitive society. Then came the Five Emperors.Period.
三皇：伏羲 、 女娲 、 神农
Three kings are Fu Xi, Nv Wa and Shen nong
五帝：黄帝、颛顼（zhuan xu）、帝喾（ku）、尧、舜
Five emperors are Huang Di, Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Tang Yao and Yu Shun.
(There are always different opions about the members of Three Kings and Five Emperors)
搞清楚先秦的时间问题，我们再来粗略地了解琴在先秦时期的一些情况。
Having made clear the time problem of the Pre-qin Period, now let’s get to know roughly about the Gutin in the Pre-qin Period.
今天，琴”这个字是各种乐器的总称，包括了所有的拨弦乐器，甚至包括口琴这种吹奏乐器和手风琴这种键盘乐器。钢琴，我们也可以叫琴。
Today, the word Qin is a general term for all kinds of musical instruments, including all stringed instruments, even wind instrument the harmonica and keyboard instrument the accordion. The piano, we can also call it Qin.
但是，在19世纪20年代前，琴只代表古琴。
However, until the 1820s, the Qin only stood for the Guqin.
百度说钢琴最早从英国传入中国是在明朝（1368-1644）。但是百度又说，钢琴在地球上首次出现是在1709年。
Baidu says the piano were first introduced to China from Britain during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) . Meanwhile, Baidu also says the piano first appeared on earth was in 1709.
这就矛盾了，钢琴怎么可能更早地出现在我们的明朝呢，百度能长点心吗？
These are two contradictory views.How could the Guqin appeared in the Ming Dynasty earlier than its own production time? Can Baidu be consistent?
不过，能确定的是，钢琴以一定规模进入我国是在19世纪，为了与钢琴区别，19世纪20年代，琴改名为古琴。
However we can be sure that the piano developed to a certain extent in the 19th century. To distinguish the Qin with the piano, the Qin was renamed to the Gutin in 1920s.
古的意思就是年代久远的意思。
The word Gu means ancient.
钢琴是有300年历史的西洋乐器，而古琴，有文字记载的历史就有4000多年。
The Piano is a 300-year-old western musical instrument, and the Guqin, is with a written history of more than 4000 years.
所以，古琴是一种历史悠久的乐器。前面的文章提过，关于它创制的情况，有各种传说，无法确定它最初是谁创制的，但是，很早就有古琴，这一点是毋庸置疑的。
Therefore, the Guqin is a musical instrument with a long history. As mentioned in my previous article, there are various legends about its creation.
At present, there's no way to know for sure that who originally created it. However, it is our common sense that the Gutin came into being very early.
学术界普遍的说法是，琴的产生与弓箭有关。说古代人民为了改善生活，在与大自然的斗争中发明了弓箭，在狩猎中使用弓箭，弓箭的弹射发出悦耳的声音，启发人民制成琴、瑟等弦乐器。
It is generally believed in the academic circles that the Qin’s creation is related to the bow and Arrow.
In order to improve their lives, the ancient people invented the bow and arrow in their struggle with nature.
They used the bow and Arrow in hunting. The bow and arrow made a pleasant sound, which inspired the people to make stringed instruments such as the Qin and the Se.
我国发现的最早的文字是甲骨文。甲骨文因镌刻、书写于龟甲与兽骨上而得名。最早出土于河南省安阳市殷墟。
The earliest written language found in China is the oracle inscriptions.
Oracle bones are pieces of turtle shell or bone. Ancient people carved or wrote on the shell or bone to keep information.
We call these ancient Chinese characters oracle bone inscriptions which was first discovered in the Yin Ruins in Anyang city, Hunan province.
殷墟，古称“北蒙”，是中国商朝(约公元前17世纪-公元前11世纪)晚期都城遗址。
Yin Ruins, the ancient name is Beimeng, was the capital of Shang Dynasty (the 17th Century bc-the 11th century BC.
所以文字的出现距今约3600多年的历史 。
That means the written words emerged 3600 years ago.
在殷商时代的甲骨文中，音乐的乐字的写法如下：
The Chinese character 乐 means music.In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, this character is written as follows:
这是丝弦张附在木器上的象形。
This is a pictograph , resembling the image of the silk strings attached to the wood.
这说明，早在甲骨文产生的时候或者此前，人民就已经在使用琴、瑟这类的弦乐器了。
This indicates that people had been using stringed instruments like the Qin and the Se since or before the time when the oracle inscriptions showed up.
从古代音乐的发展史来看，打击乐器石磐产生于4000多年前，吹奏乐器埙[xūn]产生于7000多年前。
According to the history of ancient music, percussion instrument the Chinese Shipan was born more than 4000 years ago, and wind instrument the Xun was born more than 7000 years ago.
这俩的出现都比琴要早，为何文字中音乐的乐字偏偏要用弦乐器来表示呢？
The both are older than the Qin, but why does the musical character have to be represented by a stringed instrument?
学术界猜测可能是因为弦乐器的表现能力更强，更能反映音乐水平。
Academics speculated that it might be because stringed instruments are more expressive.
《诗经》，是中国最早的一部诗歌总集，收集了西周初年至春秋中叶(前11世纪至前6世纪)的诗歌。
《Shijing》（《The Book of Songs》）is our earliest collection of poetic songs, related to ancient musical activities and dancing. Of it a lot is about farming activities.
The poetic songs are dated from early the Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid Spring and Autumn Period( the 11st century BC -- the 6th century BC).
《诗经》中有记载公元前662年，卫国人民有唱诗歌“椅桐梓漆，爱伐琴瑟”。当时的人们已经懂得制造琴瑟的理想木材是梓和桐。
Among these poetic songs, there is one writing that in 662 BC, the people of Wei State Sang a song which means that ancient people planted four kinds of tree, they are yi, tong, zhi, qi, to make stringed musical instruments.
Tong means Chinese parasol tree.
Zhi means catalpal tree.
From which, we know that the people of that time already known Chinese parasol and catalpa are the ideal wood for making the stringed instrument.
现在，梓木和桐木仍然是斫琴主要木材。这是几千年以来的制作经验。
Nowadays, Chinese parasol and catalpa are still the main wood for making the Gutin. This isi an experience having been used for thousands of years.
1978年，湖北随县曾侯乙墓出土了战国初期的大量乐器，其中十弦琴和马王堆汉墓中的七弦琴的形制基本一致，它们都没有后世琴面上的十三个徽位，底板和面板是分开浮搁在一起的,而现在是黏合的。
In 1978, a large number of musical instruments were unearthed in Tomb of Marquis Yi (Yi is the emperor of Zeng State) , in Sui County, Hubei province. It is a tomb of Waring States Period.
Among them, there is the 10-stringed Qin which is similar shape to 7-stringed Qin founded in Western Han Tombs at Mawangdui .
The both didn’t have the 13 markers which we now have on the surface of the Gutin, and the bottom and the top were separate, but now glued together.
由这些出土文物，我们知道琴的形制在先秦时代还在不断发展，未定型。
From these cultural relics, we know that the shape of the Qin was till developing in the Pre-qin Period, not yet finalized.
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