纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 002奥杜瓦伊石质切割工具（4）

Without those extra chips on the edge of the chopping tool, this whole series would be impossible,

倘若没有那额外的几次敲击，也就不会有这些后话，

because those chips tell us that right from the beginning, we - unlike other animals -

这些敲敲打打说明人类一开始便与众不同，

have wanted to make things more complicated than they need to be. You see, objects carry powerful messages about their makers¹,

总是尝试着制作出比实际需要更加复杂的东西。你看，物品能强烈地传达出其制作者的信息，

and the chopping tool is the beginning of a relationship between humans and the things they create, which is both a love affair and a dependency.

这件切割工具便反映出人和人造物之间的最初关系——既是爱恋，又是依赖。

From this point on, we can't survive without the things we make and, in this sense, it is making things that makes us human.

自这一刻起，我们离了人造物便无法生存。从这个角度讲，是制作物品造就了人类。

Leakey's discoveries in the warm earth of the Rift² Valley did more than push humans back in time,

在东非大裂谷温暖的泥土里，李基(Leakey)的发现不仅推延了人类的历史，

they made it clear that all of us descend³ from those African ancestors, that every one of us is part of a huge African diaspora -

其更深刻的意义在于它表明我们均为非洲祖先流散在各地后裔，

we all have Africa in our DNA⁴ and all our culture began in the same place.

我们的DNA中均含有非洲的遗传密码，我们的文明一脉相承。

Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan environmentalist and a Nobel Peace Prize winner:

王盖里·玛太(Wangari Maathai)是一位肯尼亚环保主义者和诺贝尔和平奖得主：

So far it seems like the information we have tells us that we came from somewhere within this part of the world in eastern Africa.

“我们当前所掌握的信息显示我们均源自于这里——东非的某个区域。

And that of course for many people must be surprising - because I think we are so used to being divided along ethnic⁵ lines, along racial lines,

这个结论听上去匪夷所思，因为我们早已习惯于各种各样的民族划分和种族划分，

and we look all the time for reasons to be different from each other -

而且我们追求与众不同，

it must be surprising to some of us to realise that what differentiates⁶ us is usually very superficial,

所以当人们意识到我们的区别通常只是肤色、眼珠色和发质这些肤浅的因素时，一定觉得非常不可思议。

like the colour of your skin or the colour of your eyes or the texture⁷ of your hair, but essentially⁸ that we are all from the same stem, the same origin.

事实上，我们本是同根生。

So, I think that as we continue to understand ourselves and to appreciate each other, and especially when we get to understand,

我想，当我们不断尝试了解自己、欣赏他人，

for example, that we all come from the same origin - we will shed a lot of the prejudices that we have harboured in the past.

特别是认识到我们同根同源时，那些冥顽不化的偏见便会荡然无存。”

Listening to the news on the radio, it's easy to imagine the world is divided into rival tribes and competing civilisations.

听着收音机播报的新闻，我们不难想象世界被分割为彼此敌对的部落和相互竞争的文明。

So it's good, it's essential in fact, to be reminded that the idea of our common humanity is not just an enlightenment dream,

因此，我们记起普遍人性的理念不止是一个启蒙的梦想，

but a genetic⁹ and a cultural reality. It's something we'll see again and again in this series.

更是基因和文化的事实，这是非常重要的。这一点将在一系列节目中得到反复验证。

Our next object is the tool that people took with them when they first left Africa and began to spread around the world -

我们下期介绍的是人类首次离开非洲、流向世界时所携带的工具，

it's been called the Swiss Army knife of the Stone Age ... it's the hand axe¹⁰.

它有“石器时代的瑞士军刀”的美誉——手斧。

1 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

3 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 differentiates   

区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的第三人称单数 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征

参考例句：

• This genus of plants differentiates into many species. 这种植物可分为许多种类。
• Our fax machine differentiates between an incoming fax signal and a voice call. 我们的传真机能区分接收传真信号和语音信号。

7 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

10 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。