At the end of every year, I attempt a first draft of history by listing what seem to me to be the five most significant events of the past twelve months. Some of my picks for 2013 also featured in 2012. I hope this is not because of intellectual laziness, but simply because the war in Syria, and the turmoil in Egypt remain defining events of our era. I probably should also once again include the tensions between China and Japan – but they are still simmering and have not yet boiled over. So I’ll give the Senkaku-Diaoyu islands a rest this year.
每年年末，我都会试着草拟一份历史事件榜单，列出过去12个月里在我看来最重大的五件事。我选中的2013年五大事件中有的也曾出现在2012年的榜单里。我想这不是因为我懒得动脑筋，而是因为叙利亚战争和埃及骚乱依然是我们这个时代的标志性事件。也许，我还应该再次将中日间的紧张关系包括进来，然而它仍在缓慢发酵中，并未爆发。因此，今年我将暂时不提尖阁诸岛（Senkaku，manbetx3.0 称钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿）纷争。