万物简史 第644期:神秘的两足动物(23)

Luckily for us, one did—a group of tool users, which seemed to arise from out of nowhere and overlapped¹ with the shadowy and much disputed Homo habilis. This is Homo erectus, the species discovered by Eugene Dubois in Java in 1891. Depending on which sources you consult, it existed from about 1.8 million years ago to possibly as recently as twenty thousand or so years ago.

我们真够幸运，其中有一个种属成功了——一群会使用工具的人科动物似乎突然出现，与难以捉摸和颇有争议的能人同时存在，这就是直立人，一种尤金·杜布瓦发现于1891年的爪哇人属。根据你引用的资料的不同，他存在的时间最远约在180万年前，最近约在20万年前。

According to the Java Man authors, Homo erectus is the dividing line: everything that came before him was apelike in character; everything that came after was humanlike. Homo erectus was the first to hunt, the first to use fire, the first to fashion complex tools, the first to leave evidence of campsites, the first to look after the weak and frail². Compared with all that had gone before, Homo erectus was extremely human in form as well as behavior, its members long-limbed and lean, very strong (much stronger than modern humans), and with the drive and intelligence to spread successfully over huge areas. To other hominids, Homo erectus must have seemed terrifyingly powerful, fleet, and gifted.

根据《爪哇人》作者们的观点，直立人是一条分界线：在他之前的一切种属都具有猿的特征：在他之后一切都具有人类的特征。直立人第一个学会狩猎，第一个使用火，第一个制造复杂的工具，第一个留下宿营的证据，第一个懂得照顾弱小。与以前所有的种属相比，直立人无论从外表还是行为上都更像人类，其成员四肢较长，身体颇瘦，非常强壮（比现代人强壮得多），有足够的精力和智力成功地在广阔的地域范围内迁移。在其他人科动物的眼里，直立人肯定显得个儿大、有力气、敏捷和有才干。他们的太脑是当时世界上最发达的。

Erectus was "the velociraptor of its day," according to Alan Walker of Penn State University and one of the world's leading authorities. If you were to look one in the eyes, it might appear superficially to be human, but "you wouldn't connect. You'd be prey³." According to Walker, it had the body of an adult human but the brain of a baby.

根据宾夕法尼亚州立大学世界最权威的学者之一艾伦·沃克的说法，直立人是“那个时代的速龙”。如果你正面盯着他看，直立人表面上显得像人类，但是“你不会愿意和他交流，你会成为他的捕食对象”。根据沃克的说法，他有着成年人般的身躯，婴儿般得大脑。

1 overlapped   

_adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠

参考例句：

• His visit and mine overlapped. 他的访问期与我的访问期有几天重叠。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Our visits to the town overlapped. 我们彼此都恰巧到那小城观光。 来自辞典例句

2 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

3 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。