INDIA is a cuntry eastf Persia. The peple wh live there are called Indians. The Indians，f curse， are entirely different frm Native Americans wh were called Indians when early explrers believed they had reached Indiar the East Indies.
Yu may remember that India wasnef the very early civilizatins that grew up alng a river valley. D yu remember the namef the river-Here"s a hint. It sunds like India. Did yu remember？ It"s the Indus River.
India is a veryld cuntry. Its mdern neighbr， Pakistan， used t be partf India， t. Lng， lng ag-abut 2500 B.C.-the peple living alng the Indus River， in what is nw India and Pakistan， sailed up and dwn the river t trade with eachther. They invented a systemf writing t keep their recrds. They built large cities with wide， straight streets. Their huses even had bathrms with drains that were cnnected t a city sewer system. Did yu think that mdern peple were thenlynes t have sewer systems？ If yu did， yu were wrng. Yu can see that ancient Indians thught up this healthy system lng befre we did.
Abut a thusand years after the ancient Indians built their first cities alng the Indus River， peple frm the west invaded their land. These peple were Ind-Eurpeans wh came frm smewhere near Persia. When they first arrived， these newcmers did nt knw hw t write. They were strng warrirs thugh and gradually cnquered mre and mref India. Theriginal Indians and the newcmers learned frm eachther and adpted smef eachthers" custms.
In the cursef time there came t be fur chief castes，r classes，f peple in India. Nne inne caste wuld have anything t d with a persn in anther caste. A byr girl inne caste wuld never play with a byr girl in anther caste. A man frmne class wuld never marry a wman frm anther. Nne frmne class wuld eat with smene frm anther class.
The tp caste was made upf the priests and schlars. In the next caste were peple like rulers and warrirs. Then， in the third caste， came farmers and merchants. Furth， and last， were labrers， men wh chpped wd，r dug the sil，r carried water.
But they weren"t the lwest！ There werether peple s lw that they didn"teven belng t a caste， and s they wereutcasts and untuchables. Even tday， thugh India is trying t make changes and caste distinctins have been made illegal， these peple are thenes wh sweep the streets， clean the gutters， cllect the garbage， and d the dirty wrk that nne else will d.
India tday is terribly crwded with peple. It is abutne-third the sizef the United States but has mre than three times as many peple. Think what that means！
Mst Indians tday fllw the Hindu religin， but frm abut 300 B.C. t 400 A.D.-seven hundred years-Buddhism was very ppular. It happened this way.
Abut 500 B.C. there was brn a prince in India by the namef Gautama. Gautama saw s much suffering and truble in the wrld that he felt it was nt right that he himself， just because he by chance had been brn rich， shuld be happy whilethers were miserable and unhappy. He gave up the life t which he had been brn， a lifef ease and luxury with all its gd things， and spent his entire time trying t make things better fr his peple.
Gautama taught the peple t be gd； he taught them t be hnest； and he taught them t help the pr and the unfrtunate. After a while peple began t call him Buddha， and he was cnsidered s hly and pure that at last they came t think that he must be a gd himself， and s they wrshiped him as a gd.
These peple wh believed in Buddha were called Buddhists， and manythers quickly became Buddhists， t. Buddhism seemed s gd that we d nt wnder that great numbersf peple became Buddhists.
Buddhists thught their religin was s gd that they wanted everybdy else t becme Buddhists. They sent missinaries acrss land and sea all the way t the islandf Japan， and this new religin spread far and wide. Tday there are mre Buddhists in the wrld than there are peple in the United States.
Yu can see that India is a very imprtant place. It is the hmefnef the wrld"sldest civilizatins and twf the wrld"s imprtant religins.
【中文阅读】
印度是波斯东面的一个国家，生活在那儿的人叫印度人。当然了，这里的印度 人和现在叫做"印第安人"的美洲原住民是完全不同的。印第安人原来也叫印度人， 那是因为早期的探险家到达美洲时，以为自己到达了印度或是东印度群岛，所以把 住在那里的人叫印度人。
你可能还记得印度是沿着河谷发展起来的早期文明发源地之一。还记得那条河 的名字吗？给你个提示，它的名字听上去和印度有关系。记起来了吗？就是印度河。
印度是个非常古老的国家，它的现代邻国，巴基斯坦，曾经也是印度的一部分。 很久以前--大约公元前 2500 年左右--在今天的印度和巴基斯坦所在地，印度河20 Thether Sidef the Wrld： India 99沿岸的人，驾着船只沿河航行，彼此做买卖。他们发明了一种文字系统来记录他们 的生活。他们还建造了有着宽阔、笔直街道的大城市。他们的房子里甚至还有浴室， 浴室的下水道和城市的排污系统是连在一起的。你认为只有现代人才有排污系统吗？ 如果你那么认为，可就错了。你看，古印度人早在我们之前很久就想出来了这种卫 生设施了。
古印度人沿着印度河建造了最初一些城市后大约一千年，来自他们国家西边的 人入侵了他们的家园。那些人是印欧语系的人，他们来自波斯附近的某个地方。最 初到印度时，那批新人还不知道如何使用文字。不过，他们都是身强力壮的战士， 在印度逐渐占领了越来越多的土地。原来的印度人和新来的移民相互学习，彼此都 吸收了对方的一些风俗习惯。
在印度的历史过程中，印度社会逐渐形成了四个主要的"种姓"，或者叫等级。 不同种姓之间不会有任何往来。一个种姓的男孩或女孩绝不可以和另一个种姓的男 孩或女孩一起玩。某个等级的男人永远也不会娶另一等级的女人。不同等级的人绝 不会在一起用餐。
最高的种姓是由僧侣和学者组成的；各级官吏和士兵次之；农民和商人属于第 三种姓；第四个，也是最后一个种姓，是劳工，就是那些砍柴、挖土、挑水的人。
但是，这些人的等级还不是最低的！还有一些人，他们地位低下到不属于任何 一个种姓，所以他们是"贱民"，也叫"不可接触者"。甚至到了今天，虽然印度试 图改变这种状况，而且等级区分已被定为非法，但是这些人依然在打扫街道、清扫 水沟、收拣垃圾、做那些没人愿意干的脏活儿。
今天的印度，人口十分密集，它的面积只有美国的三分之一，但是人口却是美 国的三倍还多。想想这意味着什么！
今天，大多数印度人信奉印度教，但是从大约公元前 300 年到公元 400 年，足 有七百年的时间--佛教一直很兴盛。它产生的过程是这样的。
大约公元前 500 年，印度有位王子出生了，名叫乔答摩。乔答摩看到世界上有 这么多苦难和不幸，就觉得仅仅因为自己幸运出生在贵族家庭就过着幸福生活，而 其他这么多人都生活得很悲惨，太不公平。他放弃了生来就享受的那种生活--安 逸、奢华、享用的东西无不精美的生活。他把自己毕生的时间都用来造福人民。
乔答摩教导他的人民要善良，他教导他们要诚实，他还教导他们要帮助穷人和 不幸的人。过了一段时间，人们开始称他为"佛陀"。人们觉得他是那样神圣和纯 洁，最后他们认定他本人就是神，所以，他们就把他当做神来崇拜。
这些信仰佛的人叫佛教徒，很快，其他很多人也成了佛教徒。佛教似乎很完美， 所以，有大量群众成为佛教徒，对此我们并不觉得奇怪。
佛教徒们认为他们的宗教如此完美，因此希望所有的人都能成为佛教徒。他们 派出传教士越过陆地，漂洋过海一直到了日本岛。从此，这种新宗教就广泛地传播 开来。今天，世界各地的佛教徒比美国的人口还要多。
你现在明白了吧，印度是个非常重要的地方。它既是世界上最古老文明之一的 发源地，也是世界上两大宗教的家园。