時(shí)差N小時(shí):直立行走 Stand on two legs

Among all the primates, we humans are the onlyones that stand on two legs.

在所有的靈長(zhǎng)類動(dòng)物中,人類是唯一能以兩條腿直立行走的。

You may have seen other animals stand on two legsbriefly, such as a cat or a dog.

你可能看到過(guò)其他動(dòng)物短暫的兩條腿站立,比如一只貓或一只狗。

But they always return to their original posture.

但是汪星人和喵星人總會(huì)回到原來(lái)的姿勢(shì)。

Even apes, who have arms and hands much likehumans, still put them down to walk.

即使是擁有很像人類胳膊和手的猿類仍是用四肢走路。

How did it come about that we do every day what nobody else does?

人類的這種不同究竟是如何形成的?

Well, one theory says that standing up is the result of reaching up.

嗯,有一種理論表示直立是伸手的結(jié)果。

Think of it this way.

想象一下。

You may have seen a cat go up on itshind legs in order to pull food down off a table.

你可能親眼見(jiàn)到過(guò)一只貓為了把食物從桌子上弄下來(lái)用后腿站立。

Suppose those same conditions remained in place for a hundred thousand generations.

假設(shè)那些相同條件仍然存在于成千上萬(wàn)個(gè)世代。

The only food was always on tables, and only accessible to cats who could reach for it.

唯一的食物總是在桌子上,而只允許可以拿到它的貓享用。

In time, the cats who couldn't manage that trick would die out.

經(jīng)過(guò)一段時(shí)間之后,不能深諳這一秘訣的貓們就會(huì)滅絕。

The ones who could manage it would survive and reproduce.

而拿到食物的喵星人生存下來(lái)并繁衍生息。

A cycle begins.

一個(gè)周期就這樣開(kāi)始。

It is thought that this kind of scenario may have led the predecessors to human beings to gofrom being four-footed to being upright creatures.

據(jù)認(rèn)為這樣的一種畫面可能使人類的祖先去從最先的四肢行走變成直立行走的生物。

In the forests and savannas where our species got its start, being able to reach up and pluckfruit trees was a good thing.

在森林和熱帶大草原,我們的祖先開(kāi)始能夠摘取得樹(shù)上的果實(shí)無(wú)疑是一件好事。

We see chimpanzees do this even today, standing temporarily on two feet while grabbing foodwith their hands.

甚至今天我們也可以看到黑猩猩臨時(shí)性的雙腿站立用手抓取食物。

Given a few million years, these conditions may have given rise to an animal that can stand upall the time, not just briefly.

幾百萬(wàn)年時(shí)間內(nèi),這些條件可能已經(jīng)讓一種動(dòng)物可以站起來(lái),而不是短暫性。

That animal is us.

那種動(dòng)物就是我們。