纪录片《文明》 第5期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（5）

And then you come across this.

然后再来看看这些

And in an instant, vast millennia¹ of time just collapse²

就在一瞬间 数千年的时间过去了

and you're in the midst of fellow humans.

你站在了人类同胞中间

Their hands doing what hands do,

他们用双手做事

signalling from a very long way off,

从很远的地方发出信号

37,000 years distant, in fact.

确切来说 是三万七千年前

But this long-distance greeting somehow makes us bond

但不知怎么这长距离的问候却把我们

with the makers⁴ of this because they establish a presence

和这些创作者紧紧相连 因为他们创造了

that is palpably alive.

一个鲜活的存在

Astonishingly,

令人吃惊的是

hand stencils⁵ like these have been found in caves

远在印度尼西亚和巴塔哥尼亚的洞穴里

as far apart as Indonesia and Patagonia.

也有这些手板画的存在

Wherever we went, it seems

似乎无论去往何地

the urge to signal a presence went with us.

想留下人类印记的强烈欲望都一直存在

And, undeniably, these hand stencils do

无可否认 这些手板画

what nearly all art that would follow would aspire⁶ to.

做到了几乎后来所有艺术所追求的

First, they want to be seen by others,

首先 它们渴望被他人发现

and then they want to endure beyond the life of the maker³.

其次 它们想超脱创造者生命的限制

Like the earliest photographs,

就像最早的照片一样

the images here are faded, indistinct,

这些图像已变得模糊 难以辨别

but something tantalising is happening -

但有些诱人的事在悄然发生

the realisation that we can, however crudely, represent.

我们意识到我们可以呈现生活 尽管形式粗糙

In another cave further west in Asturias,

再往西的阿斯图里亚斯的另一个山洞里

20 minutes walk away from any daylight,

走二十分钟来到黑暗深处

are images that are anything but crude.

这里画着一些绝不粗糙的图案

1 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 stencils   

n.蜡纸( stencil的名词复数 )；（有图案或文字的）模板；刻蜡纸者；用模板印出的文字或图案v.用模板印（文字或图案）( stencil的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• My job is to cut stencils and sort up mails. 我的工作是刻蜡板和把来信分类。 来自辞典例句
• Stencils are available to aid in the construction of neat flow charts. 型板用于帮助构成简洁的程序框图。 来自辞典例句

6 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。