關於四大文明迄今為止發現的最為權威的英文文獻。

關於四大文明迄今為止發現的最為權威的英文文獻。

首先，將要引用的內容來自於Complete History of the World- The Ultimate Work of History Reference. 這本書由倫敦的Times Books出版社出版，請看該書扉頁的簡介：
The Times Complete History of the World has sold over 2 million copies since
its first publication in 1978. It is the most exciting, authoritative and
and accessible work on world history available today....

我手上的這本是2004年出版，2005年重新印刷的第六版。該版的主編是倫敦大學國王學院現代曆史
教授Richard Overy。其他編輯都是劍橋，牛津等多所大學的教授，副教授。所以這本書的權威性是不容質疑的。

好了，言歸正傳，我們感興趣的東西在該書第第二節，The First Civilizations，的開端部分。以下內容是作為對這一節內容的簡介：

About 6000 years ago, in a few areas of particularly intensive agriculture, the dispersed villages of Neolithic peoples gave way to more complex societies. These were the first civilizations, and their emergence marks the start of a new phase of world history. They arose, apparently independently, in four widely dispersed areas (the early civilizations of America emerged considerably later): the lower Tigris and Euphrates valleys; the valley of the Nile; the Indus valley around Harrappa and MohenjoDaro; and the Yellow River around An-yang. The characteristic feature of them all was the city, which now become an increasingly dominant social form, gradually encroaching on the surrounding countryside, until today urbancivilization has become the criterion of social progress.
一下就是解釋城市在文明中的重要作用，就不貼出了。

可以看出，黃河流域的文明，在這樣權威的曆史書籍裏麵，是作為最早的四個文明中的一個
和其他三者並列的。雖然沒有專有的名詞比如The four major civilizations，但是，
作為對這種人類早期文明的概括，用中文提出四大文明是符合曆史事實的。