纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 008埃及彩绘陶牛（5）

The story begins over nine thousand years ago, in the vast expanses of the Sahara. In Egypt then, instead of today's landscape of arid¹ desert, the Sahara was a lush, open savannah with gazelles, giraffes, zebras, elephant and wild cattle roaming through it - happy hunting for humans.

故事大概开始于九千年前左右，在撒哈拉那广袤无垠的土地上。然而当年的埃及，可不是如今这般干旱荒凉的沙漠景观，那年的撒哈拉一派郁郁葱葱、草水丰盛、一望无际的热带稀树大草原，羚羊、长颈鹿、斑马、大象和野牛等动物就在这片沃土上生息繁衍——对人类而言，这却是一片狩猎的沃土了。

But around eight thousand years ago, the rains that nourished this landscape dried up. Without rain, the land began to turn to the desert that we know today, leaving people and animals to seek ever-dwindling sources of water. This dramatic change of environment meant that people had to find an alternative to hunting.

然后大概在八千元前左右，曾经滋养着这方水土的雨水突然干涸。没有了雨水，土地开始沙化，逐渐演变成我们今天所熟悉的大沙漠，迫使人类与动物背井离乡，到处寻找日益减少的水源。这种戏剧性的剧烈环境变化，意味着人们不得不寻找一种方式来代替狩猎。

Somehow they found a way to tame wild cattle. No longer did they just chase them, one by one, they learnt how to gather and manage herds², with which they travelled and from which they could live. Cows became almost literally³ the lifeblood of these new communities. The needs of fresh water and pasture for the cattle now determined⁴ the very rhythm of life as both human and animal activity became ever more intertwined.

也不知如何，他们寻找到了一种方法来驯服野牛。人类不再逐一地追逐着野牛，而是学会了如何集合它们，如何驯化它们。人类在迁徙的过程中带上了牛群，人类依靠着牛群而生存。牛群于是渐渐变成了这种新兴人类群体的生命线。随着人类与牛群彼此互动变得越来越相互交织，寻找牛群所需的新鲜水源与肥沃牧草开始变成人类生活的主旋律。

What role did these early Egyptian cattle play in this sort of society? What did they keep cows for? Professor Fekri Hassan has excavated⁵ and studied many of these early Egyptian graves:

那么在早期古埃及社会，牛群扮演了什么样的角色呢？人们养牛群在干什么？法克瑞·哈桑教授挖掘与研究过许多这些早期的古埃及坟墓：

1 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

2 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》