世界小史 第10章:下頜骨

But now you are going to say:Stop! That's not what we agreed.

但現(xiàn)在你一定會說，"停!那不是我們當(dāng)初同意的。

When did these people live, what were they like, and how did they live?

這些人生活在什么時候，他們長什么樣，還有他們怎樣生活?

Your questions make me blush, as I have to admit that we don't know, precisely.

你的問題問得我臉紅，我不得不承認(rèn)準(zhǔn)確地說我們還不太清楚，

But we will find out one day, and maybe you will want to help.

但是我們有一天會弄清楚的。也許你想出把力。

We don't know because these people didn't yet know how to write things down, and memory only takes us a little way back.

我們不知道這一情況因為這些人不會作任何文字記載，而且記憶不能帶我們追溯那么遠。

But we are making new discoveries all the time.

但我們一直有新發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Scientists have found that certain materials, such as wood and plants and volcanic rocks, change slowly but regularly over a very long period of time.

科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)某些物質(zhì)，如木頭和植物以及火山巖，長時間緩慢卻有規(guī)則地變化。

This means that we can work out when they grew or were formed.

這意味著我們可以計算出它們是何時生長出來或形成的。

And since the discoveries in Germany, people have carried on searching and digging, and have made some startling finds.

自德國有發(fā)現(xiàn)開始，人們繼續(xù)探尋和挖掘人類的遺骸，而且有了一些驚人的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

In Asia and Africa, in particular, more bones have been found, some at least as old as the Heidelberg jaw.

特別是在亞洲和非洲，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)了很多骨骼，有一些至少與在海德堡挖掘的下頜骨的年代一樣久遠。