Recording 33

录音33

In today's lecture, I'm going to talk about the part that plants have played in our history, something most of us probably never give any thought to.

今天这节课，我将会讲讲植物在历史中扮演的角色，这是我们绝大多数人从未想过的。

Flowers began changing the way the world looked almost as soon as they appeared on Earth about 130 million years ago.

花朵从一千三百万年前出现在地球上开始，就在改变世界的样子。

That's relatively recent in geologic time-if all Earth's history were compressed into an hour, flowering plants would exist for only the last 90 seconds.

这在地质时间中相对近期—假如把整个地球历史压缩成一小时，开花的植物只存在了九十秒。

Without those flowering plants, it's likely we wouldn't be here.

要是没有了这些开花植物，很可能我们也不会在这里了。

They are fundamental to our existence, forming a vital part of our food supplies.

这些开花植物是我们生存的基础，在我们的食物来源中占重要地位。

If we look further on in time, to the year 2737 B.C., we arrive at the discovery of tea by a Chinese emperor, when a leaf fell into a cup of hot water.

如果我们向更远的时间看，公元前2737年，一片叶子掉进了一杯热水里，于是一位中国皇帝发现了茶。

This discovery eventually played a very important part in the history of China, the USA and the UK.

这项发现最终在中国、美国和英国的历史里产生了重要作用。

For Britain, where demand for tea was high, there were financial implications when a Chinese emperor declared that it could only be bought with silver which they were then forced to find overseas.

对于英国这个对茶叶需求量很大的国家来说，当中国皇帝宣布茶叶只能用白银购买，其财政影响可不小，随后英国人被迫去国外寻找白银。

A second influential plant emerged around 202 BC in the form of the White Mulberry.

另一种影响深远的植物在约公元前202年出现，桑树。

It became extremely sought after and it remained so until 220 AD because white mulberries provide food for the worm that creates silk.

它成为人们狂热追求之物，在公元220年前一直如此，因为桑树为产丝的虫提供食物。

This luxurious material was responsible for establishing extremely valuable trade routes.

这种奢华的面料是人们建起极度重要的贸易路线之原因。

And it was along these same routes that different religions made their way around the world.

沿着这些路线，不同的宗教以自己的方式走向世界。

But, unfortunately, they also caused the spread of previously unknown diseases, as well as weapons of war such as gun powder.

但，不幸的是，它们也导致了此前人们毫无所知的疾病，还有战争用武器的产生，比如火药。

Finally, moving into more recent history, we come to the 16th century and the potato.

最后，往更近期的历史看，我们来到16世纪，有了土豆。

It originated in Central America but it was the Spanish who introduced it to the European diet.

土豆起源于中美洲，但是西班牙人把土豆引入了欧洲人的日常饮食。

There, it quickly became popular because not only did it cost little to grow, but it was also a food source that was rich in vitamins so much so that its arrival has been credited with ridding Britain of a disease known as scurvy.

在这儿，土豆很快流行起来，不仅因为种植成本低，还因为这种食物来源富含维他命，其含量太丰富，以至于人们称赞它的出现杜绝了英国的一种疾病，坏血病。

However, it is perhaps more famous now for the potato famines of the mid l800s in Ireland.

无论如何，可能现在人们更熟知的是19世纪中期在爱尔兰发生的土豆饥荒。

The Irish people were so dependent on the crop that its widespread failure over this period caused the deaths of over a million people and the emigration of a further million to mainland Britain, Canada and the US.

爱尔兰人们太过依赖这种作物了，以至于这段时期内土豆的普遍欠收导致上百万人死亡，更有上百万人移居英国内陆、加拿大和美国。