郑和七下西洋：真正的航海英雄辛巴达（英）

　　这是一部关于15世纪中国探险航海家郑和的传记。奉明朝黄帝朱棣之命，郑和建造了一支由300多艘宝船组成的船队，其中一些船只比足球场还大。他带领船队七次远征东南亚、印度阿拉伯及非洲等地。一些历史学家认为，在哥伦布开始探索新大陆之前60年，郑和可能已经航行到了澳大利亚、欧洲和美洲。他的航海事迹可能就是电影《航海英雄辛巴达传奇》的灵感来源。全书用浅显的语言讲述了郑和的一生，尤其是七次下西洋的精彩故事。文字通俗易懂，生动传神，有画面感，非常适合儿童阅读，也适合对中国历史中国故事感兴趣的外国读者阅读。 “The Seven Voyages of Zheng He; The Real Sinbad the Sailor，” is a mid-grade （ages 10-18） biography about the 15th Century Chinese explorer， Zheng He. At the instigation of Ming Emperor Zhu Di， Zheng He built a fleet of over 300 treasure ships， some of them larger than a football field， and led them on seven expeditions to S.E. Asia， India， Arabia， and Africa. Some historians believe he may also have sailed to Australia， Europe， and the Americas sixty years before Columbus set out to discover the New World. His journeys may have been the inspiration for the Legend of Sinbad the Sailor. Zheng He was a Muslim by birth， a Buddhist by training and， in practice， a follower of Matsu， the Chinese Goddess of the Seas. He was also exemplary in that he was able to spread the power and influence of the Ming Dynasty by peaceful means rather than through military conquest.

　　本书作者Don Morreale，美国国籍，居住于科罗拉多州丹佛市。高中开始创作，用英文出版了两本关于佛教的书籍：《美国佛教徒——静修与实践》，约翰缪尔出版社（1988年）和《美国佛教徒完全指南》，香巴拉出版社（1998年）。他曾作为《丹佛邮报》专栏作家，每周撰写一篇关于科罗拉多普通人的故事。他曾获美国丹佛大学创意写作硕士学位，并在五年期间内多次赴中国杭州的浙江理工大学及尼泊尔的加德满都大学（2015年）任教英文写作及英文演讲。在中国任教期间，他为撰写关于郑和的书而专程赴南京进行了现场研究。 Don Morreale began writing in high school. He has two books in print on Buddhism in the West; Buddhist America; Centers Retreats， and Practices， John Muir Publications （1988）， and The Complete Guide to Buddhist America， Shambhala Publications （1998）. For several years he wrote a weekly column for the Denver Post about interesting Colorado characters which he later combined into a book entitled Cowboys， Yogis， and One-Legged Ski Bums; The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary Coloradans， XLibris （2014）. He also self-published a book of essays by his students at Kathmandu University entitled We Will Rebuild; Survivors’ Tales of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake . With regard to his academic credentials， Morreale has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Denver， and taught writing and public speaking over a five year period at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou， China， and at Kathmandu University in Nepal in 2015. While in China， he did on-site research in Nanjing for his book on Zheng He.