While there are almost as many definitions of history as there are historians, modern practice most closely conforms to one that sees history as the attempt to recreate and explain the significant events of the past.
幾乎每個歷史學家對史學都有自己的界定，但是現代史學家的實踐最趨於認為歷史學試圖重現過去的重大史實並對其做出解釋。
Caught in the web of its own time and place, each generation of historians determines anew what is significant for it in the past.
由於受其所處時間和地點的限制，每一代史學家都要重新判斷過去哪些史料對他們具有重要價值。
In this search the evidence found is always incomplete and scattered; it is also frequently partial or partisan.
在這種探索中，所發現的證據總是不完全的、零散的，而且常常是不全面的或帶有派別色彩的。
The irony of the historian’s craft is that its practitioners always know that their efforts are but contributions to an unending process.
歷史研究這個行當的諷刺意味在於，從事研究的人一直知道，他們的努力只不過是為永無止境的過程添磚加瓦而已。
Interest in historical methods has arisen less through external challenge to the validity of history as an intellectual discipline and more from internal quarrels among historians themselves.
人們之所以關注歷史研究的方法論，主要是因為史學界內部意見不一，其次是因為外界並不認為歷史是一門學問。
While history once revered its affinity to literature and philosophy, the emerging social sciences seemed to afford greater opportunities for asking new questions and providing rewarding approaches to an understanding of the past.
儘管歷史學一度崇尚它與文學和哲學的相似之處，但新興的社會科學似乎提供了更多機會，以便人們能夠提出新問題，有了解過去的有效途徑。
Social science methodologies had to be adapted to a discipline governed by the primacy of historical sources rather than the imperatives of the contemporary world.
社會科學研究的方法論必須進行改變以適應這樣一個學科，其基礎是史料，而不是當代社會的需要。
During this transfer, traditional historical methods were augmented by additional methodologies designed to interpret the new forms of evidence in the historical study.
在這種轉變中，歷史學家研究歷史時，那些解釋新史料的新方法充實了傳統的歷史研究方法。
Methodology is a term that remains inherently ambiguous in the historical profession.
在歷史學界，方法論這個詞從來都是模稜兩可的。
There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to historical workin general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various branches of historicalinquiry.
所謂方法論是指一般的歷史研究中的特有概念，還是指歷史探究中各個具體領域適用的研究手段，人們對此意見不一。
Historians, especially those so blinded by their research interests that they have been accused of 「tunnel method,」 frequently fall victim to the 「technicist fallacy.」
史學家，尤其是那些單純局限於他們研究興趣的史學家，被指責為使用「單方向研究法」，他們常常成為「純技術方法論」的犧牲品。
Also common in the natural sciences, the technicist fallacy mistakenly identifies the discipline as a whole with certain parts of its technical implementation.
純技術方法論錯誤地把整個學科與學科研究的某些操作方法等同起來，這種情況在自然科學領域裡也屢見不鮮。
It applies equally to traditional historians who view history as only the external and internal criticism of sources, and to social science historians who equate their activity with specific techniques.
這種謬誤同樣存在於歷史傳統派和歷史社科派；前者認為歷史就是史學界內部和外部人士對各種史料來源的評論，後者則認為歷史的研究是具體方法的研究。