世界小史 第11章:祖先

 　　These were our ancestors who may have already been using stones as tools more than 150,000 years ago.

　　这是我们的祖先，他们也许在15万年前就已经开始用石头当工具了。

　　They were very different from the Neanderthal people who appeared about 70,000 years earlier and inhabited the earth for about 200,000 years.

　　他们与出现于7万年以前并在地球上居住了将近20万年之久的尼安德特人不同。

　　And I owe the Neanderthal people an apology, for despite their low foreheads, their brains were no smaller than those of most people today.

　　有些事我得请尼安德特人原谅，因为，尽管他们的额头很低，但他们的大脑却不比今天大多数人的小。

　　But all these "about"s, with no names and no dates ... this isn't history!you say,

　　但是所有这些没有名字和没有精确年代数字的"大约"...... 并不是历史嘛！

　　and you are right. It comes before history.

　　你肯定会这样说,你说得对。这是在史前时期。

　　That is why we call it 'prehistory', because we only have a rough idea of when it all happened.

　　所以人们称之为史前史，因为人们只是模糊地知道这是在什么时候发生的事。

　　But we still know something about the people whom we call prehistoric¹.

　　不过我们还知道一些被我们称之为史前人类的情况。

　　At the time when real history begins – and we will come to that in the next chapter

　　就在真正的历史起始的时候——这件事将在本书下一章提及

　　– people already had all the things we have today: clothes, houses and tools, plows³ to plow² with, grains to make bread with,

　　——人类已经有了一切我们今天有的东西：衣服，房屋和工具，犁，烤面包的粮食，

　　cows for milking, sheep for shearing⁴, dogs for hunting and for company, bows and arrows for shooting and helmets and shields for protection.

　　用来挤奶的奶牛，用来剪羊毛的绵羊，狩猎的和当作人类朋友的狗，用来射击的箭、弓和用来防身的盔和盾。

1 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

2 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

3 plows   

n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• Alex and Tony were turning awkward hands to plows and hoe handles. 亚历克斯和托尼在犁耙等农活方面都几乎变成新手了。
• Plows are still pulled by oxen in some countries. 在一些国家犁头仍由牛拖拉。

4 shearing   

n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• The farmer is shearing his sheep. 那农夫正在给他的羊剪毛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The result of this shearing force is to push the endoplasm forward. 这种剪切力作用的结果是推动内质向前。 来自辞典例句