纪录片《为何讲话》 第39期：社会分工（在线收听）

We had something that no other animal does

有些事情其它动物做不了

and that's what humans do is that they divide up the tasks.

只有人类能做 那就是社会分工

So, early in our evolution,

所以 人类进化早期

somebody might have been gathering wood

一个人可能负责收集木材

while another one was gathering water.

而另一个人负责收集水源

Somebody might have been making the huts

一些人可能负责搭建棚屋

while someone else was making spears

而另一些人负责建造长矛

and, at the end of the day, all those tasks are shared

最后 大家一起分享劳动成果

and I think we can start to see

我想 这时人类开始觉得

that we need language to regulate that.

自己需要语言去管理那些分工

We need language for people

人们需要语言

to be able to talk to each other about what they're doing

来交流沟通彼此正在干什么

and to be able to represent what their contribution is

来表达与其他人相比

to the society as opposed to everyone else's.

自己对社会的贡献

This motivation to clarify social tasks

使社会分工变得清晰

was the final push we needed to get us talking.

是最终促使人类说话的动力

How we adapted the first sounds we made into language

人类是如何把最初的声音变成语言的

is now being revealed for the first time.

这个问题直到现在才被提出

Because no-one designed English, say, no-one sat down and thought,

没人去设计英语 没人会坐在那想

"English would be useful if it had relative clauses

如果有了关系从句或其他语法

or some other piece of grammar,"

英语就会比较有用

it just happens,

它是自然产生的

it happens by this blind unconscious process of transmission

来自于盲目而无意识的信息传播过程

and, for the first time, we're able to see that happen in the laboratory.

我们首次在实验室中观测到了这一过程