PREHISTORIC MAN

史前人类

2016年3月4日功课

PREHISTORIC MAN BEGINS TO MAKE THINGS FOR HIMSELF.

史前人类开始给自己制做工具。

EARLY man did not know what time meant. He kept no records of birthdays or wedding anniversaries or the hour of death. He had no idea of days or weeks or even years. But in a general way he kept track of the seasons for he had noticed that the cold winter was invariably followed by the mild spring -- that spring grew into the hot summer when fruits ripened and the wild ears of corn were ready to be eaten and that summer ended when sudden gusts of wind swept the leaves from the trees and a number of animals were getting ready for the long hibernal sleep.

早期人类不知道时间意味着什么。关于生日或者结婚纪念日以及死亡的时间，他都没有记录。但是一般地他记录了季节，因为他发现寒冷的冬季过后通常是温和的春天。当果实成熟或者谷穗儿能吃的时候，春天就变成了酷热的夏天。当一阵风突然把树叶吹落，许多动物开始准备长长的冬眠，夏天就结束了。

2016年3月5日功课

But now, something unusual and rather frightening had happened. Something was the matter with the weather. The warm days of summer had come very late. The fruits had not ripened. The tops of the mountains which used to be covered with grass now lay deeply hidden underneath a heavy burden of snow.

但现在，一些不寻常的，甚至有些恐怖的事情发生了。这些事情与气候有关系。夏天来的特别晚。果实也没有成熟。原来长满草的山顶，现在被厚厚的积雪覆盖着。

2016年3月6日功课

Then, one morning, a number of wild people, different from the other creatures who lived in that neighbourhood, came wandering down from the region of the high peaks. They looked lean and appeared to be starving. They uttered sounds which no one could understand. They seemed to say that they were hungry. There was not food enough for both the old inhabitants and the newcomers. When they tried to stay more than a few days there was a terrible battle with claw-like hands and feet and whole families were killed. The others fled back to their mountain slopes and died in the next blizzard.

然后，一天早上，一些野人从高山地带游荡下来，他们与居住在附近的其它生物都不一样。他们看起来很受弱，并且看上去饥肠碌碌。他们发出的声音没有一个人能听懂。他们看起来是在说他们饿了。这里没有足够的食物供给原居民和新来者。当他们想多待几天时，一场恐怖的战争爆发了，他们手脚并用。有的整个家庭都被杀死了。其余的逃回了山坡上，在接下来的一场暴风雪中死掉了。

But the people in the forest were greatly frightened. All the time the days grew shorter and the nights grew colder than they ought to have been.

但丛林里的人陷入了巨大的恐惧中。与之前相比，白天变短了，并且晚上变冷了。

2016年3月7日功课

Finally, in a gap between two high hills, there appeared a tiny speck of greenish ice. Rapidly it increased in size. A gigantic glacier came sliding downhill. Huge stones were being pushed into the valley. With the noise of a dozen thunderstorms torrents of ice and mud and blocks of granite suddenly tumbled among the people of the forest and killed them while they slept. Century old trees were crushed into kindling wood. And then it began to snow.

最后，在两座高山的山坳上出现了一小块泛绿的冰块儿。冰块很快就变大了，变成巨大的冰山滑向山脚下。巨石也被推进山谷。伴随着雷鸣般地嘈杂声，混合了冰块、泥石和巨大花岗岩块的洪流滚向了丛林人，他们在睡梦中就失去了生命。百年的老树都被碾成了碎木片。然后，就开始下雪了。

2016年3月8日功课

It snowed for months and months.All the plants died and the animals fled in search of the southern sun. Man hoisted his young upon his back and followed them. But he could not travel as fast as the wilder creatures and he was forced to choose between quick thinking or quick dying. He seems to have preferred the former for he has managed to survive the terrible glacial periods which upon four different occasions threatened to kill every human being on the face of the earth.

大雪成年累月的下着。所有的植物都死掉了，动物们四处逃窜寻找南方的太阳。人类驮着他的孩子跟着动物们一起逃。但人类无法像野生动物那样跑那么快。要么赶快想办法，要么立即死掉，他必须做出选择。看起来他选择了前者，因为人类想方设法在可怕的冰川时代生存下来了。冰川时代人类面临四种不同的情形，都足以使人类从地球上灭绝。

2016年3月9日

In the first place it was necessary that man clothe himself lest he freeze to death. He learned how to dig holes and cover them with branches and leaves and in these traps he caught bears and hyenas, which he then killed with heavy stones and whose skins he used as coats for himself and his family.

第一种情形是他必须穿衣服，以免被冻死。他学会了怎样打洞，然后用树枝和树叶把它覆盖住。用这种陷阱，他逮到了熊和土狼。他用大石头把猎物砸死，然后用它们的皮毛做成自己和家人的衣服。

Next came the housing problem. This was simple. Many animals were in the habit of sleeping in dark caves. Man now followed their example, drove the animals out of their warm homes and claimed them for his own.

接下来就是住的问题，这个很简单。许多动物都习惯睡在黑暗的山洞里。人类现在学习它们的样子，把动物们从它们温暖的家中赶走，把山洞变成自己的家。

2016年3月10日功课

Even so, the climate was too severe for most people and the old and the young died at a terrible rate.Then a genius bethought himself of the use of fire.Once, while out hunting, he had been caught in a forest-fire.He remembered that he had been almost roasted to death by the flames.Thus far fire had been an enemy. Now it became a friend. A dead tree was dragged into the cave and lighted by means of smouldering branches from a burning wood. This turned the cave into a cozy little room.

即便如此，对大多数人来说，气候还是太严酷了。老人和孩子的死亡率极高。突然一个聪明人想到了用火。他记得有一次外出打猎时，他被一场林火困住了，他差点被火焰给烧死。直到现在火都是敌人。现在火成了朋友。他们将枯死的树木拖进山洞，用一颗燃烧的树木上红热的树枝将枯木点着。这将山洞变成了一间舒适的小屋。

2016年3月11日功课

And then one evening a dead chicken fell into the fire. It was not rescued until it had been well roasted. Man discovered that meat tasted better when cooked and he then and there discarded one of the old habits which he had shared with the other animals and began to prepare his food.

有一天晚上一只死小鸡掉进了火里，当它被取出来时正好被烤熟了。人类这才发现烤过的肉吃起来更好吃。他从此丢弃了和别的动物那共有的吃生肉的老习惯，他开始制作食物。

2016年3月12日功课

In this way thousands of years passed. Only the people with the cleverest brains survived. They had to struggle day and night against cold and hunger. They were forced to invent tools. They learned how to sharpen stones into axes and how to make hammers. They were obliged to put up large stores of food for the endless days of the winter and they found that clay could be made into bowls and jars and hardened in the rays of the sun. And so the glacial period, which had threatened to destroy the human race, became its greatest teacher because it forced man to use his brain.

就这样几千年过去了。只是最聪明的人活了下来。他们必须日夜与寒冷和饥饿战斗。他们不得不去发明工具。他们学会了把石头打磨成锋利的斧头，并且学会了制作锤子。为了渡过漫长的冬季，他们也不得不建造大的仓库储藏食物。他们发现陶土可以制成碗和罐子，经太阳照射就变硬了。如此以来，差点使人类灭亡的冰河世纪却成为人类最伟大的老师，因为它强迫人类去使用他的大脑。