纪录片《文明》 第4期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（4）

They are a design,

这是一种设计

and design announces the beginning of culture.

这一设计宣告了文明的开始

Another 40,000 years pass and in northern Spain

又过了四万年 在西班牙的北部

within a hill so uncannily conical it seems man-made

在一座好似人造般的锥形山体里

that mineral, that red ochre, has become paint.

这种矿石 红赭石 被用作了涂料

Deep inside a cave,

在洞穴深处

rudimentary marks have bloomed and multiplied, red circles.

原始符号如红色的圆圈 成倍地蔓延开来

There are no brushes, no sticks to lay on this paint,

没有画笔和树枝可以蘸上这涂料

they are all applied¹ orally

都是用嘴弄上去的

colour swilled² in the mouth with saliva³

将涂料与唾液在口中混合

and blown directly onto the rock.

然后直接喷到岩石上

And then these,

还有这些

an eruption⁴ of design not blown onto the surface, but painted.

这成片的绘画不是喷上去的 而是手绘而成

Contours, outlines, flowing streams of dots.

线条 轮廓 成串的圆点

There's a meaning here, but we don't know what it is.

肯定代表着什么 但我们并不知道

The signs of a biological compulsion to pattern,

这些迹象表明了对绘画的本能冲动

it's what we humans do,

这正是我们的天性

what we want to do,

我们想这么做

what we can't stop ourselves doing.

我们无法控制自己

1 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

2 swilled   

v.冲洗( swill的过去式和过去分词 )；猛喝；大口喝；（使）液体流动

参考例句：

• She swilled the glasses with clean water. 她用清水涮了杯子。
• He just swilled down his beer and walked out. 他一口气把啤酒灌下肚，然后走了出去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

4 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。