How Steel Was Tempered -- Must-Reads for the New Curriculum of the 21st Century

Author: Nikolai Ostrovsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: To comprehensively improve the Chinese literacy of primary and secondary school students, enhance the modern awareness of Chinese teaching, and vigorously promote new learning methods, the Ministry of Education issued the "Full-time Compulsory Education Chinese Curriculum Standards" and the "General High School Chinese Curriculum Standards" as core content of the basic education curriculum reform in 2001 and 2003, respectively. The "Chinese Curriculum Standards" serve as the basis for teaching, assessment, and exam question-setting, and are the foundation for national curriculum management and evaluation, reflecting the fundamental requirements of the state for students at different stages in terms of knowledge, skills, processes, and methods. Compared to the original "Chinese Teaching Syllabus" for primary and secondary schools, the "Chinese Curriculum Standards" have made significant revisions to the specific titles of extracurricular reading materials in the original syllabus and have stipulated the total amount of reading required for students at different stages, urging primary and secondary school students to read widely. For this purpose, we have compiled and published this series of "New Curriculum Standards Chinese Reading Series," with all book titles designated by the new standards. To assist students in reading, we have included a preface introducing the relevant background of each classic work before each book. Most successful works are largely written with the author's blood and tears. "How the Steel Was Tempered" is not a biographical work, but it essentially reflects Ostrovsky's ordinary life experiences and his profound philosophical reflections and summaries on the value and meaning of life. The book was originally translated by Mr. Mei Yi from Ales Bykov's English version and published by Xinhua Publishing House in Shanghai in 1942. When published by our press, it was revised and supplemented by Mr. Liu Liaoyi, a Russian literature translator, based on the 1949 version from the Soviet State Literature Publishing House. In 1958, Mr. Mei Yi made a second revision based on Prokofy's English version published by the Moscow Foreign Languages Publishing House. The revised edition was published in 1979.