纪录片《文明》 第8期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（8）

In Africa, the animals that dominate European cave paintings

欧洲壁画由动物主导 但在非洲

are accompanied by humans.

它们还有人类相伴

They appear as stylised, elongated¹ figures.

他们以固定风格的 细长的形象出现

Sometimes they're shown while becoming transformed into beasts.

有的时候他们还以野兽化的形象出现

Men with the heads of antelopes²,

长着羚羊头的人

creatures that could never have been observed from life,

这是生活中看不到的生物

but which arose from the trance-struck imagination of the shamans.

而是源自于萨满的迷幻想象

In the rock art of Africa, these hybrids³ were painted.

在非洲的岩画中 画着这些兽人

In Europe, where there were far fewer of them,

在欧洲 兽人形象相比非洲少很多

they went three-dimensional.

但他们变成了三维立体的

In 1939, the fragments of this lion-man,

1939年在德国的石洞中发现了

carved from mammoth⁴ ivory, were found in a German cave.

这个用猛犸象牙雕刻而成的狮人的碎片

They remained an unsolved puzzle for 30 years

它们成了一个三十年未解之谜

before archaeologists realised that they formed a single figure

直到考古学家发现它们拼在一起是一个人物形象

made between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago.

距今三万五千到四万年

This may be a shaman in the middle of a transformation⁵.

这可能是一个正在变身的萨满

It may be the very first of the beast gods,

它可能是最早的兽神

around which Pagan religions would build their mythologies⁶.

异教的神话就是围绕它们创造的

1 elongated   

v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Modigliani's women have strangely elongated faces. 莫迪里阿尼画中的妇女都长着奇长无比的脸。
• A piece of rubber can be elongated by streching. 一块橡皮可以拉长。 来自《用法词典》

2 antelopes   

羚羊( antelope的名词复数 )； 羚羊皮革

参考例句：

• One jump, and you're out, and we'll run for it like antelopes.' 你只要一跳就出来了，我们可以像羚羊那样飞快地逃掉。”
• Most antelopes can withhold their young for weeks, even months. 绝大部分羚羊能把分娩期推迟几个星期，甚至几个月。

3 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

4 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

5 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

6 mythologies   

神话学( mythology的名词复数 )； 神话（总称）； 虚构的事实； 错误的观点

参考例句：

• a study of the religions and mythologies of ancient Rome 关于古罗马的宗教和神话的研究
• This realization is enshrined in "Mythologies." 这一看法见诸于他的《神话集》一书。