第一章

　　The Setting of the Stage

　　人类历史舞台的形成

　　We live under the shadow of a gigantic question mark.

　　人类一直以来都生活在一个巨大问号的阴影下面

　　Who are we?

　　我们是谁？

　　Where do we come from?

　　我们从哪儿来？

　　Whither are we bound?

　　我们要去向哪里？

　　Slowly, but with persistent courage, we have been pushing this question mark further and further towards that distant line, beyond the horizon,

　　凭着坚持不懈的勇气与毅力，人类慢慢将这个 问题推向越来越远的边界，

　　where we hope to find our answer.

　　朝着我们希望找到答案的天际步步逼近。

　　We have not gone very far.

　　可迄今为止，我们还没能走出多远。

　　We still know very little

　　我们知道的依然少得可怜。

　　but we have reached the point where (with a fair degree of accuracy) we can guess at many things.

　　但我们至少能以相当精确的程度，推测出许多事情来。

　　In this chapter I shall tell you how (according to our best belief) the stage was set for the first appearance of man.

　　在这一章，我要告诉你们，人类历史的舞台是如何被搭建起来的。

　　If we represent the time during which it has been possible for animal life to exist upon our planet by a line of this length,

　　如果我们以一定长度的直线来代表动物生命可能存在于地球上的时间，

　　then the tiny line just below indicates the age during which man (or a creature more or less resembling man) has lived upon this earth.

　　那么在它下面那条最短的线则表示人类（或多少类似人的生命）生活在这块土地上的时间。

　　Man was the last to come but the first to use his brain for the purpose of conquering the forces of nature. That is the reason why we are going to study him,

　　人类是最后出现在地球上，却最先学会用脑力征服大自然的。这就是我们打算研究人，

　　rather than cats or dogs or horses or any of the other animals, who, all in their own way, have a very interesting historical development behind them.

　　而非研究猫、狗、马或其它动物的原因。要知道，在这些动物身后，同样也留下了许多就其自身来说非常有趣的历史。

　　In the beginning, the planet upon which we live was (as far as we now know) a large ball of flaming matter, a tiny cloud of smoke in the endless ocean of space.

　　最初，我们居住的这颗行星（就目前所知），是燃烧着的一个巨大球体。可相对于浩瀚无边的宇宙，它只不过是一 块微小的烟云。

　　Gradually, in the course of millions of years, the surface burned itself out, and was covered with a thin layer of rocks.

　　几百万年过去了，它的表面渐渐地燃烧殆尽，并覆上了一层薄薄的岩石。

　　Upon these lifeless rocks the rain descended in endless torrents,

　　在这片生机全无的岩石之上，暴雨无休无止地下着，

　　wearing out the hard granite and carrying the dust to the valleys that lay hidden between the high cliffs of the steaming earth.

　　雨水将坚硬的花岗岩慢 慢地侵蚀掉，并把冲刷下来的泥土带到了雾气笼罩的高峰之间的峡谷。

　　Finally the hour came when the sun broke through the clouds and saw how this little planet was covered with a few small puddles which were to develop into the mighty oceans of the eastern and western hemispheres.

　　最后雨过天霁，太阳破云而出。遍布这颗星球上的众多小水洼逐渐扩展成了东西半球的巨大海洋。

　　Then one day the great wonder happened.

　　随后的某一天，最美妙的奇迹发生了：

　　What had been dead, gave birth to life.

　　这个死气沉沉的世界终于出现了生命。

　　The first living cell floated upon the waters of the sea.

　　第一个活着的细胞漂流在大海之上。

　　For millions of years it drifted aimlessly with the currents.

　　它毫无目标地随波飘荡了几百万年。

　　But during all that time it was developing certain habits that it might survive more easily upon the inhospitable earth.

　　在此过程中，它慢慢发展着自己的某些习性。这些习性使它在环境恶劣的地球上能更容易地生存下去。

　　Some of these cells were happiest in the dark depths of the lakes and the pools.

　　这些细胞中的部分成员觉得呆在黑沉沉的湖泊和池塘的底部最舒适不过，

　　They took root in the slimy sediments which had been carried down from the tops of the hills and they became plants.

　　于是它们在从山顶冲刷到水底的淤泥间扎下根来，变成了植物。

　　Others preferred to move about and they grew strange jointed legs, like scorpions and began to crawl along the bottom of the sea amidst the plants and the pale green things that looked like jelly-fishes.

　　另一些细胞则情愿四处游荡，它们长出了奇形怪状的有节的腿，像蝎子一样，在海底植物和状似水母的淡绿色物体间爬行。

　　Still others(covered with scales) depended upon a swimming motion to go from place to place in their search for food,

　　还有一些身上覆着鳞片的细胞，它们凭借游泳似的动作四处来去，寻找食物。

　　and gradually they populated the ocean with myriads of fishes.

　　慢慢地，它们变成了海洋里繁若晨星的鱼类。