基本信息
歌手：英語聽力
所屬專輯：新概念英語(第四冊)
內容詳情
Lesson 1
第一節
Finding fossil man
發現化石人
Why are legends handed down by storytellers useful?
講述者流傳下來的傳說為什麼是有用的？
We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East,
我們從書籍中可讀到5,000 年前近東發生的事情
where people first learned to write.
那裡的人最早學會了寫字
But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.
但直到現在,世界上有些地方，人們還不會書寫
The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas
他們保存歷史的唯一辦法是將歷史當作傳說講述
--legends handed down from one generation of storytellers to another.
由講述人一代接一代地將史實描述為傳奇故事口傳下來
These legends are useful
這些傳說是有用的
because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago,
因為他們告訴我們很久以前生活在這裡的移民的一些事情
but none could write down what they did.
但是沒有人能寫下來
Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples
人類學家過去不清楚玻里尼西亞人
now living in the Pacific Islands
如今生活在太平洋諸島上的
came from.
來自何方
The sagas of these people explain
當地人的傳說卻告訴人們
that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
其中一部分是約在2,000年前從印度尼西亞遷來的
But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago
但是，和我們相似的原始人生活的年代太久遠了
that even their sagas,if they had any,are forgotten.
因此，有關他們的傳說既使有如今也失傳了
So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out
於是，考古學家們既缺乏歷史記載，又無口頭傳說來幫助他們弄清
where the first 'modern men' came from
第一個現代人是從哪裡來的
Fortunately,however,ancient men made tools of stone,especially flint,
然而， 幸運的是，遠古人用石頭製作了工具，特別是用燧石
because this is easier to shape than other kinds.
因為燧石較之其他石頭更容易成形
They may also have used wood and skins,but these have rotted away.
他們也可能用過木頭和獸皮，但這類東西早已腐爛殆盡
Stone does not decay,and so the tools of long ago have remained
石頭是不會腐爛的。因此，儘管製造這些工具的人的
when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.
骨頭早已蕩然無存，但遠古時代的石頭工具卻保存了下來
