世界小史 第16章:危险的地方

 　　Because forests were dangerous places in those days, home to large numbers of wild animals such as wolves and bears,

　　因为当时的森林是非常危险的地方，住着许多野兽，如狼和熊，

　　people in several places (and this is often the case with inventors) had the same excellent idea:

　　许多来自不同地方的史前人类（这里指的是有些擅长发明创造的人)都想到了同一个了不起的念头：

　　they built 'pile dwellings¹' in the middle of lakes, huts on stilts² rammed³ deep in the mud.

　　他们把房屋建在水中央，建在打进地基的木桩上。

　　By this time they were masters at shaping and polishing their tools and used a different, harder stone to bore holes in their axe-heads for handles.

　　到这时，他们已经把他们的石头工具打造和磨制得十分精致，而且他们另外用一块更坚硬的石头在他们的斧头上钻孔做成把手。

　　That must have been hard work! Work which could take the whole of the winter.

　　这是一桩多么艰难的工作！他们多半要干一整个冬季。

　　Imagine how often the axe-head must have broken at the last minute, so that they had to start all over again.

　　想象一下斧头一定常常在中间就崩裂了，于是他们只得从头再来。

　　The next thing these people discovered was how to make pots out of clay, which they soon learnt to decorate with patterns and fire in ovens⁴,

　　后来这些史前人类发现了如何把泥土烧成瓦罐，他们很快学会了在上面装饰花纹和在烤炉里烧制，

　　although by this time, in the late Stone Age, they had stopped painting pictures of animals.

　　虽然到这个时候，较后期的石器时期，他们已经不再画动物图画了。

1 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stilts   

n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷

参考例句：

• a circus performer on stilts 马戏团里踩高跷的演员
• The bamboo huts here are all built on stilts. 这里的竹楼都是架空的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ovens   

n.烤箱，炉( oven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Bakers bake in huge ovens. 面包师用大烤炉烤面包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cleaning ovens is a real fag. 清洗烤箱是一件累人的活。 来自辞典例句