0 Authors Note

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When I wrote "Foundation," which appeared in the May 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, I had no idea that I had begun a series of stories that would eventually grow into six volumes and a total of 650,000 words (so far). Nor did I have any idea that it would be unified with my series of short stories and novels involving robots and my novels involving the Galactic Empire for a grand total (so far) of fourteen volumes and a total of about 1,450,000 words.

当我撰写“基地”这个故事的时候（它发表于“震撼科幻小说”一九四二年五月号），根本没想到竟为一系列的故事开了个头。目前为止，它已经扩展成六部小说，共计65万字。当时我也完全没有想到，它会跟我写的有关机器人的短篇与长篇系列，以及银河帝国的长篇统一起来，至今总共累积了十四部，共计145万字。

You will see, if you study the publication dates of these books, that there was a twenty-five-year hiatus between 1957 and 1982, during which I did not add to this series. This was not because I had stopped writing. Indeed, I wrote full-speed throughout the quarter century, but I wrote other things. That I returned to the series in 1982 was not my own notion but was the result of a combination of pressures from readers and publishers that eventually became overwhelming.

如果您研究这些书的出版日期，将会发现一九五七至一九八二年间有长达25年的断层，其间未曾为这个系列做任何补充。并非因为当时我中止写作，事实上，在这四分之一世纪问，我一直以全速写作，只不过我写的是别的东西。我会在一九八二年重拾这个系列，其实不是我自己的意思，而是来自读者与出版者的联合压力，最后终于变得无可抵御。

In any case, the situation has become sufficiently complicated for me to feel that the readers might welcome a kind of guide to the series, since they were not written in the order in which (perhaps) they should be read.

无论如何，如今情况已变得足够复杂，我想读者会欢迎见到对本系列的一个简介，因为它们不是依照应该阅读的顺序写出来的。

The fourteen books, all published by Doubleday, offer a kind of history of the future, which is, perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency to begin with. The chronological order of the books, in terms of future history (and not of publication date), is as follows:

这十四部书都由“双日”出版，可谓展现了一部未来的历史。其中内容或许不算完全一致，因为最初我并未考虑到一致性。根据未来史的年代（而不是出版日期），这些书的顺序如下：

1. The Complete Robot (1982). This is a collection of thirty-one robot short stories published between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in my earlier collection I Robot (1950). Only one robot short story has been written since this collection appeared. That is "Robot Dreams," which has not yet appeared in any Doubleday collection.

一、《机器人短篇全集》（一九八二年）：这是由发表于一九四○至一九七六年间的31个机器人短篇组成，包括较早的《我，机器人》（一九五○年）中的每个故事。自从这个全集问世后，我只再写了一个机器人短篇，那就是《机器人之梦》，它尚未收录在任何“双日”版选集中。

2. The Caves of Steel (1954). This is the first of my robot novels.

二、《钢穴》（一九五四年）：这是我的第一本机器人长篇。

3. The Naked Sun (1957). The second robot novel.

三、《裸阳》（一九五七年）：第二本机器人长篇。

4. The Robots of Dawn (1983). The third robot novel.

四、《曙光中的机器人》（一九八三年）：第三本机器人长篇。

5. Robots and Empire (1985). The fourth robot novel.

五、《机器人与帝国》（一九八五年）：第四本机器人长篇。

6. The Currents of Space (1952). This is the first of my Empire novels.

六、《星空暗流》（一九五一年）：这是我的第一本帝国长篇。

7. The Stars, Like Dust (1951). The second Empire novel.

七、《繁星若尘》（一九五一年）：第二本帝国长篇。

8. Pebble in the Sky (1950). The third Empire novel.

八、《苍穹微石》（一九五○年）：第三本帝国长篇。

9. Prelude to Foundation (1988). This is the first Foundation novel (although it is the latest written, so far).

九、《基地前奏》（一九八八年）：这是基地长篇的第一本（但也是目前为止最后完成的一本）。

10. Foundation (1951). The second Foundation novel. Actually, it is a collection of four stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944, plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949.

十、《基地》（一九五一年）：基地长篇的第二本。事实上，它是五个故事的合集，其中四个发表于一九四二至一九四四年间，再加上一九四九年为这本书而写的一篇引介。

11. Foundation and Empire (1952). The third Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1945.

十一、《基地与帝国》（一九五二年）：基地长篇的第三本．由两个故事组成，最初发表于一九四五年。

12. Second Foundation (1953). The fourth Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949.

十二、《第二基地》（一九五三年）：基地长篇的第四本，由两个故事组成，最初发表于一九四八与一九四九年。

13. Foundations Edge (1982). The fifth Foundation novel.

十三、《基地边缘》（一九八二年）：基地长篇的第五本。

14. Foundation and Earth (1983). The sixth Foundation novel.

十四、《基地与地球》（一九八六年）：基地长篇的第六本。

Will I add additional books to the series? I might. There is room for a book between Robots and Empire (5) and The Currents of Space (6) and between Prelude to Foundation (9) and Foundation (10) and of course between others as well. And then I can follow Foundation and Earth (14) with additional volumes……as many as I like.

我会在这个系列中再多加几本吗？也许我会。在《机器人与帝国》（五）与《星空暗流》（六）之间，以及《基地前奏》（九）与《基地》（十）之间都能再插一本，当然其他各册之间也都有空间。此外我还能继《基地与地球》（十四）后再写下去……爱写几本就写几本。

Naturally, theres got to be some limit, for I don't expect to live forever, but I do intend to hang on as long as possible.

自然，总该有某个限制存在，因为我并不指望永生，但我打算尽可能地继续下去。

译注一：其实《星空暗流》（六）与《繁星若尘》（七）的顺序应该交换，这想必是阿西莫夫一时的笔误。

译注二：1993年出版的《迈向基地》应插在《基地前奏》（九）与《基地》（十）之间。