精讀《新概念英語（4）》-Lesson 01- Finding fossil man

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Unit 1

Lesson 1

Finding fossil man 發現化石人

First listen and then answer the following question.

聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。

Why are legends handed down by storytellers useful?

流傳的傳說 怎麼說？

legend handed down

為什麼有用怎麼說？

why are xxx useful?

We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.

讀到xxx怎麼說？

學會寫字怎麼說？

learn to write

But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.

世界上有些地方怎麼說？

there are some parts of the world where

人們甚至不能xxx 怎麼說？

even people cannot xxx 不是 people even cannot xxx

The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down from one generation of another.

xxx唯一的方法怎麼說？

the only way that xxx

保存歷史怎麼說？

preserve their history

當作xxx講述怎麼說？

recount it as xxx

以後看到sagas 就想到full-length novel或者山寨的說就是 「long story"

流傳怎麼說？

hand down

一代接一代的怎麼說？

from one generation of another

These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did.

告訴某些事兒怎麼說？

tell us something about

人類遷移怎麼說？

migrations of people

Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from.

xxx不清楚xxx 怎麼說？

xxx wondered xxx

xxx的祖先怎麼說？

the remote ancestors of xxx

The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.

印度尼西亞 怎麼說？

Indonesia

But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten.

和我們相似的原始人怎麼說？

the first people who were like ourselves

生活的年代太久遠 怎麼說？

lived so long ago

即使有怎麼說？

if they had any （作為插入語放在主體後面）

失傳了可以怎麼說？

are forgotten

So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first modern men came from.

既沒有xxx也沒有yyy怎麼說？

have neither xxx nor yyy

where從句怎麼說？

先用where挑起擔子，然後開始解釋xxxx

Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds.

但是 幸運的是 怎麼說？

fortunately, however, xxx

石頭製作的工具 怎麼說？

tools of stone

尤其是xxx怎麼做插入語？

xxx, espceically xxx， xxx

比其他類型更xxx怎麼說？

shape than other kinds

They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away.

Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.

人的骨頭 怎麼說？

the bones of men

然而此時xxx 怎麼說？

xxxx when even xxx

R OBIN PLACE Finding fossil man

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

fossil man (title)

adj. 化石人

recount

v. 敘述

saga

n. 英雄故事

legend

n. 傳說，傳奇

migration

n. 遷移，移居

anthropologist

n. 人類學家

archaeologist

n. 考古學家

ancestor

n. 祖先

Polynesian

adj.波利尼西亞（中太平洋之一群島）的

Indonesia

n. 印度尼西亞

flint

n. 燧石

rot

n. 爛掉

參考譯文

我們從書籍中可讀到5,000 年前近東發生的事情，那裡的人最早學會了寫字。但直到現在,世界上有些地方，人們還不會書寫。 他們保存歷史的唯一辦法是將歷史當作傳說講述，由講述人一代接一代地將史實描述為傳奇故事口傳下來。人類學家過去不清楚如今生活在太平洋諸島上的波利尼西亞人的祖先來自何方，當地人的傳說卻告訴人們：其中一部分是約在2,000年前從印度尼西亞遷來的。

但是，和我們相似的原始人生活的年代太久遠了，因此，有關他們的傳說既使有如今也失傳了。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最早的「現代人」是從哪裡來的。

然而， 幸運的是，遠古人用石頭製作了工具，特別是用燧石，因為燧石較之其他石頭更容易成形。他們也可能用過木頭和獸皮，但這類東西早已腐爛殆盡。石頭是不會腐爛的。因此，儘管製造這些工具的人的骨頭早已蕩然無存，但遠古時代的石頭工具卻保存了下來。