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："說曹操, 曹操到。"的時候，當我們正在談論的人意外出現(xiàn)。

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

畢竟，這些動物是他們的獵獲品，沒有它們他們就會餓死。

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，

It would be nice to think that such things worked.

而如果魔法起效，那倒也真不賴。

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

可是迄今它們還沒起效。冰河時代延續(xù)得難以想象的長久。

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.

幾十萬年，這是一件好事，因為否則這些人就不會有什么時間去發(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)在溫暖的氣候中學會了種草，

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的谷粒做成一種他們能夠在火上烘烤的面團，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)過一段時間，他們學會了搭建帳篷和馴養(yǎng)動物，直到這些動物到處自由地游動。

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。