纪录片《为何讲话》 第37期：追踪语言

Once we had the anatomy¹ and physiology² required for speech,

从我们拥有说话必备的生理结构那刻起

we were primed to talk.

就准备好了说话

Enriched their lives enormously.

极大地丰富了他们的生命

I don't know why I said it.

我不知道我为什么要这么说

To create everything that exists up till now.

创造至今存在的一切

But when did we actually start to speak?

但我们究竟是何时开始讲话的呢

The dawn of speech is one of the great puzzles of evolution

语言的黎明是进化史上的巨大谜题之一

because there's no fossil record of verbal communication

因为并没有记录语言交流的化石

for scientists to look back through.

供科学家来回溯过去

Mark Pagel is an evolutionary³ biologist

马克·帕杰尔是位进化生物学家

on the hunt for the origins of language.

专门寻找语言的起源

There's a lot of ideas about this.

关于语言起源有很多说法

They're all speculation⁴

都是推测

but they rely on having the right genetics in place

但他们都依赖于适当的基因

and having the right anatomy in place,

以及适当的生理结构

and we know that by 200,000 years ago,

我们知道 在二十万年前

both of those things were available.

人类就具备了这种基因和结构

1 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

2 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

3 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

4 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。