世界小史 第15章:獵獲品

Rather like when we say 'Talk of the devil!' when someone we've been talking about turns up unexpectedly.

就像我們說(shuō)："說(shuō)曹操, 曹操到。"的時(shí)候，當(dāng)我們正在談?wù)摰娜艘馔獬霈F(xiàn)。

After all, these animals were their prey, and without them they would starve.

畢竟，這些動(dòng)物是他們的獵獲品，沒(méi)有它們他們就會(huì)餓死。

So they may have been trying to invent a magic spell.

所以他們可能想發(fā)明一種魔法咒語(yǔ)，

It would be nice to think that such things worked.

而如果魔法起效，那倒也真不賴(lài)。

But they never have yet. The Ice Age lasted for an unimaginably long time.

可是迄今它們還沒(méi)起效。冰河時(shí)代延續(xù)得難以想象的長(zhǎng)久。

Many tens of thousands of years, which was just as well, for otherwise these people would not have had time to invent all these things.

幾十萬(wàn)年，這是一件好事，因?yàn)榉駝t這些人就不會(huì)有什么時(shí)間去發(fā)明所有這些東西了。

But gradually the earth grew warmer and the ice retreated to the high mountains, and people – who by now were much like us – learnt,

但地球上的氣候逐漸變暖，冰塊在退回到高山上，而已經(jīng)和我們非常相像的人則已經(jīng)在溫暖的氣候中學(xué)會(huì)了種草，

with the warmth, to plant grasses and then grind the seeds to make a paste which they could bake in the fire, and this was bread.

搓磨它們的谷粒并用磨過(guò)的谷粒做成一種他們能夠在火上烘烤的面團(tuán)，這就是面包。

In the course of time they learnt to build tents and tame animals which until then had roamed freely around.

經(jīng)過(guò)一段時(shí)間，他們學(xué)會(huì)了搭建帳篷和馴養(yǎng)動(dòng)物，直到這些動(dòng)物到處自由地游動(dòng)。

And they followed their herds, as people in Lapland still do.

他們就跟著他們的畜群，比如今天的拉普人仍然這樣。