世界小史 第1章:从前

 　　第一章 从前

　　All stories begin with "Once upon a time".

　　所有的故事都以"从前 "开头。

　　And that's just what this story is all about: what happened, once upon a time.

　　那恰好是这个故事所要讲的：从前发生了什么？

　　Once you were so small that, even standing¹ on tiptoes, you could barely² reach your mother's hand.

　　从前你非常小，站着都几乎够不着你母亲的手。

　　Do you remember?

　　你记得吗？

　　世界小史1.jpg

　　Your own history might begin like this:

　　你自己的故事可能这样开头：

　　"Once upon a time there was a small boy" – or a small girl – "and that small boy was me".

　　“从前有一个小男孩”--或者一个小女孩--“那个小男孩就是我”。

　　But before that you were a baby in a cradle³.

　　在那以前你是一个襁褓中的婴孩。

　　You won't remember that, but you know it's true.

　　这一点你回忆不起来了，但是你知道。

　　Your father and mother were also small once, and so was your grandfather, and your grandmother.

　　你的父亲和母亲从前也是小孩，你的祖父和祖母也一样。

　　a much longer time ago, but you know that too.

　　这已经是很久以前的事，但你仍然知道这件事。

　　After all, we say: "They are old".

　　我们说：“他们是老人”。

　　But they too had grandfathers and grandmothers, and they, too, could say:"Once upon a time".

　　他们也曾经有过祖父和祖母，所以他们也曾经可以说："从前"。

　　And so it goes on, further and further back.

　　所以就这样永远上溯，再上溯。

　　Behind every "Once upon a time" there is always another.

　　在每一个"从前"之后总是还有另一个。

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

3 cradle   

n.摇篮，策源地，支船架；vt.把...放在摇篮里

参考例句：

• The baby was rocked to sleep in a cradle.婴儿在摇篮里被摇得睡着了。
• Tokyo was the cradle of Japanese culture.东京是日本文化的发源地。