摘要
The study of history always includes working with fragments, whether they arewords remaining from a larger writing, or words inscribed on physical remains, or indeed any physical remains themselves. The work of historians is to collect such fragments, distinguish them, deduce implications, connect the fragments using professional techniques and good logic, and then construct an understandable, historical proposal. The proposal is a historical truth according to our best understanding of it. From this angle, historical materials form both the foundation and the main research object of history.
