纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 006巴布亚新几内亚鸟形杵（1）

006:Episode 6 - Bird-shaped pestle¹

第六集——巴布亚新几内亚鸟形杵

Abstract摘要 :

Bird-shaped pestle (made 4 - 8,000 years ago). Stone, found in Papua New Guinea

鸟形杵，石制，距今约4000至8000年，巴布亚新几内亚。

MP3听力原文：

Lunch here at the British Museum staff canteen has always been a pretty international affair. It's not just the scholars and the curators who come from all round the world; it's also of course the food.

在大英博物馆职工餐厅里吃午餐，堪称是一件相当国际化的事情。一则博物馆里的学者与管理员都是来自全球世界，二则当然大家所吃的食物也是。

As today is one of my healthy days, I'm at the salad bar, looking in among the greens at a fairly standard run of potato salad, rice, sweetcorn and kidney beans. What I find interesting about these vegetables is not just that they come originally from all over the world, but that none of them would exist in the form they do today if the plants they come from hadn't been carefully chosen, cherished and modified in a long process that began about ten thousand years ago with some intrepid² and ingenious Ice Age cooks.

今天恰好是我的“健康日”之一，所以我站在沙拉吧前边，在一大堆形形式式的蔬菜前面左看看，右瞧瞧。菜式挺标准的，有土豆沙拉、米饭、甜主米、腰豆等等。让我对这些蔬菜颇感兴趣的倒不是它们源产地本来是遍及世界各地，而是假如不是当年经过一代又一代的人类精心选择，仔细培育，品种改良，这些植物也不可能会长得现代这样子了。而那漫长的过程，早在距今约一万年前，就由冰河时代那些勇敢而天才的厨师们开始了。

'Everyone did these things, and the families existed as families because you did it not for yourself but for the family.'

“大家都在做这些日常琐事，而家庭之所以存在恰恰是因为你不仅仅是为了自己，还为了家庭。”

'We need some new evolutionary³ tricks in order to spread out into increasingly hostile environments.'

“为了能在日趋恶劣的环境里开枝散叶、生息繁衍，我们需要拥有更新、更加进化的技能。”

Bird-shaped pestle ,made of stone 4 - 8,000 years old , discovered in Papua New Guinea

鸟形杵，石制，距今约4000至8000年，巴布亚新几内亚。

In previous programmes, we have looked at how our ancestors moved around the world; in this week's programmes I'm going to be focussing on what happened when they settled down. This is a week full of ancient animals, powerful gods, dangerous weather, good sex and even better food.

在之前的节目里，我们观察我们的祖先们是如何全世界迁徙；在本周的节目里，我将聚集于当人类开始定居生活后所产生的变化。本周节目将充满各种古老动物、强大神灵、恶劣气候、美好性爱与美食佳肴。

Around 11,000 years ago, the world underwent a violent and rapid period of climate change, leading to the end of the last Ice Age.

大约一万年前，这世界经历了剧烈而快速的气候巨变期，导致了最后一次冰河时代的终结。

1 pestle   

n.杵

参考例句：

• He ground the rock candy with a mortar and pestle.他自己动手用研钵和杵把冰糖研成粉。
• An iron pestle can be ground down to a needle.只要功夫深，铁杵磨成针。

2 intrepid   

adj.无畏的，刚毅的

参考例句：

• He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
• John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。

3 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。