万物简史 第637期:神秘的两足动物(15)（在线收听）

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has an absorbing diorama that records the moment of their passing. It depicts life-sized re-creations of a male and a female walking side by side across the ancient African plain. They are hairy and chimplike in dimensions, but have a bearing and gait that suggest humanness. The most striking feature of the display is that the male holds his left arm protectively around the female's shoulder. It is a tender and affecting gesture, suggestive of close bonding.

纽约美国自然史博物馆有一个非常吸引人的仿真模型，记录了他们经过时的情形。真人大小的模型再现了一个男人和一个女人肩并肩地行走在古代非洲平原，他们浑身上下毛茸茸的，高矮和黑猩猩差不多，但是他们的面部表情以及行走的姿势表明他们已经是人类。模型最打动人心的地方是那个男人用左臂搂住女人的肩膀护卫着她，这样一个温柔而动人的动作显示了他们之间亲密无间的关系。

The tableau is done with such conviction that it is easy to overlook the consideration that virtually everything above the footprints is imaginary. Almost every external aspect of the two figures—degree of hairiness, facial appendages (whether they had human noses or chimp noses), expressions, skin color, size and shape of the female's breasts—is necessarily suppositional. We can't even say that they were a couple. The female figure may in fact have been a child. Nor can we be certain that they were australopithecines. They are assumed to be australopithecines because there are no other known candidates.

这个场景是如此的逼真，以致使人很容易忽略了围绕这些脚印所展现的一切都是出自想像。这两个人几乎所有的外部特征——头发的长短、面部器官（他们的鼻子究竟更像人类，还是更像大猩猩？）、表情、肤色、女人胸部的大小和形状——都纯然是想像的结果。我们甚至不能肯定他们就是一对夫妇。那个女人也许实际上是个小孩。我们也不能确定他们就一定是南方古猿。他们之所以被假定为南方古猿，是因为我们不知道还有别的候选对象。

I had been told that they were posed like that because during the building of the diorama the female figure kept toppling over, but Ian Tattersall insists with a laugh that the story is untrue. "Obviously we don't know whether the male had his arm around the female or not, but we do know from the stride measurements that they were walking side by side and close together—close enough to be touching. It was quite an exposed area, so they were probably feeling vulnerable. That's why we tried to give them slightly worried expressions."

我曾经被告知，他们之所以摆出那样的姿势，是因为在制作他们的过程中女性模型老是要翻倒。但是，伊恩·塔特萨尔笑着坚持说，这种说法并不符合实际。 “显然我们并不知道男人是否用他的胳膊护卫着女人，但是通过测量他们的步伐.我们确实可以断定他们是肩并肩地行走的。他们离得那么近——近得足以相互触摸。那是一个十分开阔的地带，因此他们很可能觉得很危险，这就是为什么我们把他们的表情塑造成略带一丝担忧的样子的原因。”