美国学生人类历史第9期:我们最早的祖先(3)

 　　In due time he learned that he could use this guttural noise to warn his fellow beings whenever danger threatened and he gave certain little shrieks¹ which came to mean "there is a tiger!" or "here come five elephants."

　　日子长了，他突然意识到，可以用这种喉部发出的声音去提醒同伴。当某种危险悄然接近的时候，他便发出具有特定含义的尖叫，比如“那儿有一只老虎”或者“这边来了5头大象”。

　　Then the others grunted² something back at him and their growl³ meant, "I see them," or "let us run away and hide."

　　同伴听见他的警告，也向他回吼几声，表示“我看见它们了”或者“我们快跑开藏起来吧”。

　　And this was probably the origin of all language.

　　这大概就是所有语言的起源。

　　But, as I have said before, of these beginnings we know so very little.

　　可正如我前面讲过的，我们对这些起源知道的非常之少。

　　Early man had no tools and he built himself no houses.

　　早期的人类不会制造工具，不会修建房屋。

　　He lived and died and left no trace of his existence except a few collar-bones and a few pieces of his skull⁴.

　　他活着，死去，除了留下几根锁骨与头骨的碎片，再没有其它线索可以追寻他们生存的踪迹。

　　These tell us that many thousands of years ago the world was inhabited by certain mammals who were quite different from all the other animals

　　我们只知道在几百万年前，地球上曾生活着某种哺乳动物，他们与其它所有的动物都截然不同。

　　who had probably developed from another unknown ape-like animal which had learned to walk on its hind-legs and use its fore-paws as hands

　　他们可能是由一种像猪的动物进化而来的。他们学会了用下肢直立行走，把前爪当手来使用。

　　and who were most probably connected with the creatures who happen to be our own immediate⁵ ancestors.

　　他们与恰巧是我们直接的祖先的动物可能具有某种联系。

　　It is little enough we know and the rest is darkness.

　　总之，我们对人类祖先知道的就这些，其它的秘密仍然匿于沉沉黑暗之中。

1 shrieks   

n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• shrieks of fiendish laughter 恶魔般的尖笑声
• For years, from newspapers, broadcasts, the stages and at meetings, we had heard nothing but grandiloquent rhetoric delivered with shouts and shrieks that deafened the ears. 多少年来， 报纸上， 广播里， 舞台上， 会场上的声嘶力竭，装腔做态的高调搞得我们震耳欲聋。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

3 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

4 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。