万物简史 第644期:永不安分的类人猿(7)

For a long time, it was believed that the Cro-Magnons, as modern humans in Europe became known, drove the Neandertals before them as they advanced across the continent, eventually forcing them to its western margins¹, where essentially² they had no choice but to fall in the sea or go extinct. In fact, it is now known that Cro-Magnons were in the far west of Europe at about the same time they were also coming in from the east. "Europe was a pretty empty place in those days," Tattersall says. "They may not have encountered each other all that often, even with all their comings and goings." One curiosity of the Cro-Magnons' arrival is that it came at a time known to paleoclimatology as the Boutellier interval³, when Europe was plunging⁴ from a period of relative mildness into yet another long spell of punishing cold. Whatever it was that drew them to Europe, it wasn't the glorious weather.

在很长一段时期里，人们认为，被称为欧洲现代人的克罗马农人在向欧洲大陆推进的过程中，将他们之前的尼安德特人驱赶到西海岸，尼安德特人要么跳海，要么灭绝，除此之外别无选择。事实上，我们现在知道，克罗乌农人从东部向欧洲内陆挺进时，遥远的西部也有克罗马农人。“那时欧洲是一个空无人烟的地方，”塔特萨尔说．“即使在他们来往穿梭的时候，他们也很难狭路相逢。一克罗马农人到达歇溯的疑点之一是，当时欧洲正好处在古气象学所谓的波特利尔间冰期，欧洲气候突然从相对温暖转向另一个漫长的寒冷时期。无论是什么原因驱使克罗马农人到欧洲，反正不是冰川气候。

In any case, the idea that Neandertals crumpled⁵ in the face of competition from newly arrived Cro-Magnons strains against the evidence at least a little. Neandertals were nothing if not tough. For tens of thousands of years they lived through conditions that no modern human outside a few polar scientists and explorers has experienced. During the worst of the ice ages, blizzards⁶ with hurricane-force winds were common. Temperatures routinely fell to 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit⁷. Polar bears padded across the snowy vales of southern England. Neandertals naturally retreated from the worst of it, but even so they will have experienced weather that was at least as bad as a modern Siberian winter. They suffered, to be sure—a Neandertal who lived much past thirty was lucky indeed—but as a species they were magnificently resilient and practically indestructible. They survived for at least a hundred thousand years, and perhaps twice that, over an area stretching from Gibraltar to Uzbekistan, which is a pretty successful run for any species of being.

无论如何，认为尼安德特人在新来的竞争者克罗马农人面前彻底垮了台，至少有点儿有悖于考古发现所提供的证据。尼安德特人十分坚忍顽强，在长达几万年的时间里，他们生活在现代人当中只有极少数极地科学家和探险家才经历过的环境中。在冰川期气候最恶劣的时候，暴雪加上飓风级的大风成了家常便饭。温度经常降到零下45摄氏度，英格兰南部的冰谷中有北极熊走动。尼安德特人在气候最为恶劣的一段时期里自然向后退却。即便如此，他们依然不得不经历至少和今天的西伯利亚冬天一样可怕的气候。毫无疑问，他们经历了磨难——尼安德特人能够活过30岁就已是十分幸运，但作为一种物种，他们具有很强的适应性和不屈不挠的性格。他们生存了至少10万年，也许是20万年，其范围从直布罗陀一直到乌兹别克斯坦。对于任何物种来说，这都是十分成功的。

1 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

4 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

6 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

7 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。