【参考译文】

Before the compass was invented，people only identified directions at sea according to the position of the sun and stars.If it was cloudy or rainy，people would completely get lost.It was the compass，invented by the Chinese people，that solved this problem.A compass is an instrument used for indicating direction.As early as the Warring States Period（475 BC-221 BC），the Chinese discovered that a magnet could be applied to indicate the south and north，and a direction-indicating instrument sinan was made on the basis of this feature.In the Song Dynasty，people created a proper compass called luopan.The invention of the compass had an epoch-making influence on navigation，thereby opening up a new era in the history of international navigation.