Inspired by湖畔呓语and his efforts to re-read NCE-4, I will start a similar journey, reading [i]The Story of Mankind [/i]and sharing my understanding of this great book with intermediate-level English learners. The focus, naturally, will falls on words, expressions, structures among others. Welcome to join us!

《人类的故事》中文版简介

《人类的故事》导读

《人类的故事》前言

《人类的故事》系列讲座（一）

2007年度巨献

阅读《人类的故事》 全面提高您的英文水平

Lesson 1

语音讲解

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Text

WE live under the shadow of a gigantic question mark.

Who are we?

Where do we come from?

Whither are we bound?

Slowly, but with persistent courage, we have been pushing this question mark further and further towards that distant line, beyond the horizon, where we hope to find our answer.

We have not gone very far.

We still know very little but we have reached the point where (with a fair degree of accuracy) we can guess at many things.

In this chapter I shall tell you how (according to our best belief) the stage was set for the first appearance of man.

If we represent the time during which it has been possible for animal life to exist upon our planet by a line of this length, then the tiny line just below indicates the age during which man (or a creature more or less resembling man) has lived upon this earth.

Man was the last to come but the first to use his brain for the purpose of conquering the forces of nature. That is the reason why we are going to study him, rather than cats or dogs or horses or any of the other animals, who, all in their own way, have a very interesting historical development behind them.

Words & Expressions

gigantic: adj. very big, huge or enormous
persistent: adj. refusing to give up or let go;

whither: adv. to what place, result, or condition

bound: adj. headed or intending to head in a specified direction
bound for: on the way to, heading for. For example, This bus is bound for Broadway. It is also found in a well-known gospel hymn in which the singer is "bound for the land of Canaan." This phrase stems from the 12th-century meaning of bound as "ready" or "prepared."

horizon: n. 1. the apparent intersection of the earth and sky as seen by an observer.
2. the range of one's knowledge, experience, or interest

accuracy: n. precision; exactness

represent: v. to stand for; symbolize, indicate

indicate: v. to serve as a sign, symptom, or token of; signify

resemble: v. to look or be like

参考译文

第一章人类历史舞台的形成


人类一直以来都生活在一个巨大问号的阴影下面
我们是谁？我们从哪儿来？我们要去向哪里？
　　凭着坚持不懈的勇气与毅力，人类慢慢将这个问题推向越来越远的边界，朝着我们希望找到答案的天际步步逼近。
　　可迄今为止，我们还没能走出多远。
　　我们知道的依然少得可怜。但我们至少能以相当精确的程度，推测出许多事情来。
[color=""#000000""]　　在这一章，我要告诉你们，人类历史的舞台是如何被搭建起来的。如果我们以一定长度的直线来代表动物生命可能存在于地球上的时间，那么在它下面那条最短的线则表示人类（或多少类似人的生命）生活在这块土地上的时间。[/color]
　　人类是最后出现在地球上，却最先学会用脑力征服大自然的。这就是我们打算研究人，而非研究猫、狗、马或其它动物的原因。要知道，在这些动物身后，同样也留下了许多就其自身来说非常有趣的历史。

[color=""#0000ff""]主讲人：周玉亮[/color]

[color=""#0000ff""]技术支持: [/color][color=""#0000ff""]四川爱思科技[/color]