I know you've been doing some reading about the current crisis

我知道你们都了解过当前的金融危机
and its relationship to ideas of capitalism and so forth.

以及它与资本主义思想之间的关系等等
I thought a little bit of historical foundation would be a

我认为了解一定的历史基础
good thing to lead off with

是认识一次危机的良好开端
and give you an idea of how old these financial crises are.

并让你们知道以前的金融危机是怎样的
This is a cuneiform tablet from the old Babylonian period,

这是一块古巴比伦时期的楔形字石板
roughly 1600 B.C.

大约在公元前1600年
It's a loan,

它表示一笔贷款
so that it was created with the terms

在这一面上
of the loan on one side, and typically,

记载着借贷条款
although you can't see it from this side,

虽然另一面看不太清
you'll have people that are witnesses to the loan on the other side.

但肯定有贷款见证人的名字