世界小史 第7章:回到地球

 　　And before that? Before that, not even the sun, our good old sun, was there.

　　那么在那以前呢？在那以前，甚至太阳，我们可爱又古老的太阳也不存在。

　　Only weird¹ and amazing giant stars and smaller heavenly bodies, whirling among the gas clouds in an infinite, infinite universe.

　　只有奇怪而惊人的巨星和较小的天体在无边无际的宇宙中的气云间旋转。

　　"Once upon a time"– but now all this peering down into the past is making me feel dizzy again.

　　“从前”——但现在这样向下看过去，又使我感到头晕了。

　　Quick! Let's get back to the sun, to earth, to the beautiful sea,

　　快！让我们回到太阳，回到地球，回到美丽的大海，

　　to plants and snails² and dinosaurs³, to our mountains, and, last of all, to human beings.

　　回到植物、蜗牛和恐龙，回到我们的群山，然后，最后，回到人类这儿来吧。

　　It's a bit like coming home, isn't it?

　　这有点像回家，不是吗？

　　And just so that "Once upon a time" doesn't keep dragging us back down into that bottomless well, from now on we'll always shout:

　　为了不让这"从前" 不断把我们向下拉进这个无底的深井，从现在起我们将一直喊：

　　"Stop! When did that happen?" And if we also ask, "And how exactly did that happen?"

　　"停！这是什么时候发生的事情？" 如果我们这时也问"这件事情究竟是如何发生的？"

　　we will be asking about history.

　　我们便是在问历史了。

　　Not just a story, but our story, the story that we call the history of the world.

　　不仅是一个故事，而是我们的故事，我们称之为世界的历史的故事。

　　Shall we begin?

　　我们开始吧？

1 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

2 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》