万物简史 第644期:永不安分的类人猿(6)

These first modern humans are surprisingly shadowy. We know less about ourselves, curiously¹ enough, than about almost any other line of hominids. It is odd indeed, as Tattersall notes, "that the most recent major event in human evolution—the emergence² of our own species—is perhaps the most obscure of all." Nobody can even quite agree where truly modern humans first appear in the fossil record. Many books place their debut³ at about 120,000 years ago in the form of remains⁴ found at the Klasies River Mouth in South Africa, but not everyone accepts that these were fully⁵ modern people. Tattersall and Schwartz maintain that "whether any or all of them actually represent our species still awaits definitive⁶ clarification."

这些最早的现代人的情况不甚分明。很有意思的是，我们对自己的了解，少于对人科动物几乎任何别的分支的了解。塔特萨尔说，真怪，“人类进化过程中最近的一次重大事件——我们自己这个种的出现——也许是最扑朔迷离的”，甚至没有人能够确定现代人化石最早是在哪里发现的。有许多书里认为是在南非克莱西斯河口发现的大约12万年前的化石，但并不是每个人都承认他们就是真正意义上的现代人类。在塔特萨尔和施瓦兹看来，“代表我们这个种的是他们中的一些，还是他们的全部，还有待更进一步的确定。”

The first undisputed appearance of Homo sapiens is in the eastern Mediterranean⁷, around modern-day Israel, where they begin to show up about 100,000 years ago—but even there they are described (by Trinkaus and Shipman) as "odd, difficult-to-classify and poorly known." Neandertals were already well established in the region and had a type of tool kit⁸ known as Mousterian, which the modern humans evidently found worthy⁹ enough to borrow. No Neandertal remains have ever been found in north Africa, but their tool kits¹⁰ turn up all over the place. Somebody must have taken them there: modern humans are the only candidate. It is also known that Neandertals and modern humans coexisted in some fashion for tens of thousands of years in the Middle East. "We don't know if they time-shared the same space or actually lived side by side," Tattersall says, but the moderns continued happily to use Neandertal tools—hardly convincing evidence of overwhelming superiority. No less curiously, Acheulean tools are found in the Middle East well over a million years ago, but scarcely exist in Europe until just 300,000 years ago. Again, why people who had the technology didn't take the tools with them is a mystery.

智人最先出现在地中海东部，即在今天以色列所在的地区，这点已经无可争辩，他们大约开始出现在10万年前——但是即使在耶里，他们也被（特林考斯和希普曼）描述为“零散的，难以分类和所知甚少的”。尼安德特人已经在这一地区定居下来，并且使用了一种被称为莫斯特的工具，这种工具后来现代人显然认为值得加以借鉴。非洲北部从未发现过尼安德特人化石，但是他们的工具在那里随处可以找到。一定有人把它们带到了那里：现代人是惟一可能的候选。我们还知道，在中东地区，尼安德特人与现代人以某种方式共存了数万年。“我们不知道他们是否共处一处，还是彼此为邻。”塔特萨尔说。但是现代人非常乐于继续使用尼安德特人的工具——但这很难证明谁占绝对的优势。同样奇柽的是，中东地区发现的阿舍利工具是100万年以前的，但是这种工具出现于欧洲却仅仅在30万年前。问题又来了，为什么那些具有能力制造这种工具的人却没有随身携带它们呢？

1 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

2 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

3 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

9 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

10 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。