歌词与中文翻译
Lesson 1
第一节
Finding fossil man
发现化石人
Why are legends handed down by storytellers useful?
讲述者流传下来的传说为什么是有用的？
We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East,
我们从书籍中可读到5,000 年前近东发生的事情
where people first learned to write.
那里的人最早学会了写字
But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.
但直到现在,世界上有些地方，人们还不会书写
The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas
他们保存历史的唯一办法是将历史当作传说讲述
--legends handed down from one generation of storytellers to another.
由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传下来
These legends are useful
这些传说是有用的
because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago,
因为他们告诉我们很久以前生活在这里的移民的一些事情
but none could write down what they did.
但是没有人能写下来
Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples
人类学家想知道波利尼西亚人民的远程祖先
now living in the Pacific Islands
如今生活在太平洋诸岛上的
came from.
来自何方
The sagas of these people explain
当地人的传说却告诉人们
that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
其中一部分是约在2,000年前从印度尼西亚迁来的
But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago
但是，和我们相似的原始人生活的年代太久远了
that even their sagas,if they had any,are forgotten.
因此，有关他们的传说既使有如今也失传了
So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out
于是，考古学家们既缺乏历史记载，又无口头传说来帮助他们弄清
where the first 'modern men' came from
第一个现代人是从哪里来的
Fortunately,however,ancient men made tools of stone,especially flint,
然而， 幸运的是，远古人用石头了工具，特别是用燧石
because this is easier to shape than other kinds.
因为燧石较之其他石头更容易成形
They may also have used wood and skins,but these have rotted away.
他们也可能用过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽
Stone does not decay,and so the tools of long ago have remained
石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的
when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.
骨头早已荡然无存，但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来