我们永远无法回到的过去——《人类世考察报告》：英语精读讲义

Today, we're doing something different.

今天，我们要来点不一样的。

Our friend John Green will read a story from his podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed.

我们的朋友John Green将朗读他的播客《The Anthropocene Reviewed》中的一个故事。

We hope you enjoy it, and we'll be back with a regular video soon.

希望大家喜欢，我们很快会恢复常规视频的更新。

So, if you've ever been or had a child,

所以，如果你曾经是个孩子或者养育过孩子，

you will likely already be familiar with hand stencils. 短語搭配

你可能对“手印”并不陌生。

They were the first figurative art made by both our kids somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3.

这是我们所有的孩子在两到三岁之间创作的第一幅具象艺术作品。

My children spread the fingers of one hand out across a piece of paper,

我的孩子们把一只手的手指摊开放在一张纸上，

and then with the help of a parent, traced their five fingers. 短語搭配

然后在父母的帮助下，描绘出他们五个手指的轮廓。

I remember my son's face as he lifted his hand

我还记得我儿子抬起手时的表情，

and looked absolutely shocked to see the shape of his hand still on the paper,

当他看到自己手的形状依然留在纸上时，他显得无比震惊，

a semi-permanent record of himself.

仿佛那是他自身的一种半永久记录。

I am extremely happy that my children are no longer 3,

我非常庆幸我的孩子们不再是三岁的模样，

and yet to look at their little hands from those early artworks 語法

然而，看着他们那些早期画作中的小手，

is to be inundated with a strange soul-splitting joy. 習語

却会让人被一种奇异的、直击灵魂的喜悦所淹没。

Those pictures remind me that they are not just growing up, 講解

这些画提醒我，他们不仅在长大，

but also growing away from me, running toward their own lives.

也在渐渐远离我，奔向他们自己的人生。

But of course, that's meaning I am applying to their hand stencils, 短語搭配

但当然，这是我赋予他们手印的意义，

and that complicated relationship between art and its viewers

而艺术与观众之间这种复杂的关系，

is never more fraught than when we are looking deeply into the past. 語法

在我们凝视深邃的历史时，总是显得最为棘手。

In September of 1940, an 18-year-old mechanic named Marcel Ravidat was walking his dog Robot

1940年9月，一位名叫Marcel Ravidat的18岁机械师正带着他的狗Robot

in the countryside of southwestern France when the dog disappeared down a hole.

在法国西南部的乡间散步，突然狗跑进了一个洞里消失了。

Robot eventually returned,

Robot最终回来了，

but the next day Ravidat went to the spot with three friends to explore the hole.

但第二天，Ravidat带着三个朋友来到了那个地方，探索那个洞穴。

And after quite a bit of digging, 短語搭配

在挖了很大一阵子之后，

they discovered a cave with walls covered with paintings,

他们发现了一个洞穴，墙上画满了壁画，

including over 900 paintings of animals,

其中包括900多幅动物的画像，

horses, stags, bison, and also species that are now extinct,

有马、牡鹿、野牛，还有现在已经灭绝的物种，

including a woolly rhinoceros.

包括一头披毛犀。

The paintings were astonishingly detailed and vivid,

这些壁画细节惊人，栩栩如生，

with red, yellow, and black paint made from pulverized mineral pigments

所用的红、黄、黑颜料是由粉碎的矿物色素制成的，

that were usually blown through a narrow tube, possibly a hollowed bone, onto the walls of the cave.

通常是通过一根窄管（可能是一根空心骨）吹到洞壁上的。

It would eventually be established that these artworks were at least 17,000 years old. 語法

最终人们确定，这些艺术品至少有17000年的历史。

Two of the boys who visited the cave that day were so profoundly moved by the art they saw 語法

当天参观洞穴的男孩中，有两个被他们看到的艺术品深深打动，

that they camped outside the cave to protect it for over a year.

甚至在洞外扎营保护了它一年多。

After World War II, the French government took over protection of the site, 短語動詞

二战后，法国政府接管了该遗址的保护工作，

and the cave was open to the public in 1948.

1948年，洞穴向公众开放。

When Picasso saw the cave paintings on a visit that year,

当毕加索在那一年参观这些洞穴壁画时，

he reportedly said, "We have invented nothing." 文化背景

据说他曾感叹："我们什么也没发明出来。"

There are many mysteries at Lascaux.

Lascaux洞穴有许多未解之谜。

Why, for instance, 表達脈絡

比如，为什么

are there no paintings of reindeer,

这里没有驯鹿的画像？

which we know were the primary source of food for the Paleolithic humans who lived in that cave? 短語搭配

我们明明知道驯鹿是住在这个洞穴里的旧石器时代人类的主要食物来源。

Why were they so much more focused on painting animals than painting human forms? 語法

为什么他们更专注于画动物，而不是画人类的形态？

Why are certain areas of the cave filled with images,

为什么洞里的某些区域画满了图像，

including pictures on the ceiling that required the building of scaffolding to create,

包括那些需要搭建脚手架才能在天花板上创作的壁画，

while other areas have only a few paintings?

而其他区域却只有寥寥几幅？

And were the paintings spiritual? Here are our sacred animals. 表達脈絡

这些壁画是精神层面的吗？代表着“这些是我们的神圣动物”。

Or were they practical? Here is a guide to some of the animals that might kill you.

还是具有实用价值的？代表着“这是一份可能会杀死你的动物指南”。

Aside from the animals, 表達脈絡

除了动物，

there are nearly a thousand abstract signs and shapes we cannot interpret,

还有近一千个我们无法解读的抽象符号和形状，

and also several negative hand stencils, 用詞

以及一些负形手印，

as they are known by art historians.

这是艺术史学家对它们的称呼。

These are the paintings that most interest me.

这些是我最感兴趣的画作。

They were created by pressing one hand with fingers splayed against the wall of the cave, 用詞

它们的创作方法是将一只手指张开的手按在洞壁上，

and then blowing pigment,

然后吹喷颜料，

leaving the area around the hand painted.

从而将手周围的区域上色。

Similar hand stencils have been found in caves around the world,

类似的负形手印在世界各地的洞穴中都有发现，

from Indonesia to Spain to Australia to the Americas to Africa.

从印度尼西亚到西班牙，从澳大利亚到美洲再到非洲。

We have found these memories of hands 習語

我们发现了这些手的记忆，

from 15 or 30 or even 40,000 years ago.

它们来自1万5千年前、3万年前甚至4万年前。

These hand stencils remind us of how different life was in the distant past.

这些手印提醒着我们，遥远过去的生命是多么不同。

Amputations, likely from frostbite, are common in Europe,

截肢在欧洲很常见，很可能是因为冻伤，

and so you often see negative hand stencils with three or four fingers,

所以你经常能看到只有三四根手指的负形手印，

and life was short and difficult.

那时的生命短暂而艰难。

As many as a quarter of women died in childbirth. 短語搭配

多达四分之一的妇女死于分娩。

Around 50% of children died before the age of five.

约有50%的儿童在五岁前夭折。

But they also remind us that the humans of the past were as human as we are. 語法

但它们也提醒我们，过去的人类和我们一样，也是鲜活的人。

Their hands indistinguishable from ours. 表達脈絡

他们的手与我们的手毫无二致。

These communities hunted and gathered,

这些群体以狩猎和采集为生，

and there were no large caloric surpluses. 用詞

没有大量多余的热量。

So every healthy person would have had to contribute to the acquisition of food and water. 語法

因此，每一个健康的人都必须为获取食物和水贡献力量。

And yet somehow, they still made time to create art, 短語搭配

然而不知何故，他们仍然腾出时间来创造艺术，

almost as if art isn't optional for humans. 語法

仿佛艺术对人类来说绝非可有可无。

We see all kinds of hands stenciled on cave walls,

我们在洞壁上看到了各种各样的手印，

children and adults, but almost always the fingers are spread,

有小孩的，也有成人的，但几乎总是张开手指，

like my kids' hand stencils.

就像我孩子们的手印一样。

I'm no Jungian, but it's fascinating and a little strange 語氣意圖

我不是荣格学派的人，但这确实令人着迷且有些不可思议：

that so many Paleolithic humans,

那么多旧石器时代的人类，

who couldn't possibly have had any contact with each other, created the same paintings the same way. 語法

他们之间根本不可能有任何接触，却以同样的方式创作了同样的画。

Paintings that we are still making.

而这些画，我们今天依然在画。

But then again, what the Lascaux art means to me is likely very different 語法

不过话又说回来，Lascaux艺术对我的意义，可能截然不同于

from what it meant to the people who made it.

它对创作者的意义。

Some academics theorized that the hand stencils were part of hunting rituals.

一些学者推测这些手印是狩猎仪式的一部分。

Then there's always the possibility that the hand was just a convenient model 短語搭配

此外，也不排除手只是一个方便的模板，

situated at the end of the wrist.

刚好长在手腕的末端。

To me, though, the hand stencils at Lascaux say, "I was here." 習語

但对我来说，Lascaux洞穴里的手印在诉说："我曾在这里。"

They say, "You are not new."

它们在说："你并非前无古人。"

And because they are negative prints surrounded by red pigment,

因为它们是被红色颜料包围的负形印记，

they also looked to me like something out of a horror movie, 習語

在我看来它们也有点像恐怖电影里的场景，

like ghostly hands reaching up from some bloody background.

就像从血红背景中伸出的幽灵之手。

They remind me that, as Alice Walker wrote,

它们让我想起Alice Walker写过的一句话，

"All history is current." 習語

"所有的历史都是当下的。"

The Lascaux cave has been closed to the public for many years now.

Lascaux洞穴如今已对公众关闭多年。

Too many contemporary humans breathing inside of it

太多现代人在里面呼吸

led to the growth of mold and lichens, which has damaged some of the art. 短語搭配

导致了霉菌和地衣的生长，破坏了一部分艺术品。

Just the act of looking at something can ruin it, I guess. 語法

我想，仅仅是“注视”这个行为本身，就能毁掉一件东西。

But tourists can still visit an imitation cave called Lascaux II,

但游客仍然可以参观一个名为Lascaux II的仿制洞穴，

in which the artwork has been meticulously recreated.

里面的艺术品被精心复刻了出来。

Humans making fake cave art to save real cave art

人类制造假洞穴艺术来拯救真洞穴艺术，

may feel like peak Anthropocene behavior, 用詞

感觉可能像是人类世的巅峰行为，

but I have to confess that even though I am a jaded and cynical semi-professional reviewer of human activity, 語氣意圖

但我必须承认，尽管我作为一个麻木而愤世嫉俗的人类活动半专业评论员，

I actually find it overwhelmingly hopeful 語法

我其实从中感受到了压倒性的希望：

that four teenagers and a dog named Robot discovered a cave with 17,000-year-old handprints,

四个青少年和一只名叫Robot的狗，发现了一个有着一万七千年前手印的洞穴，

That the cave was so overwhelmingly beautiful 語法

这个洞穴美得如此震撼人心，

that two of those teenagers devoted themselves to its protection.

以至于其中两名少年全身心地投入到对它的保护中。

And that when we humans became a danger to that caves' beauty, 短語搭配

而当我们人类成为了威胁洞穴之美的存在时，

we agreed to stop going.

我们同意不再涉足。

Lascaux is there. You cannot visit.

Lascaux就在那里。你无法参观。

You can go to the fake cave we've built and see nearly identical hand stencils,

你可以去我们建造的假洞穴，看几乎一模一样的手印，

but you will know this is not the thing itself, but a shadow of it. 習語

但你会知道这不是真实的事物本身，而是它的影子。

This is a handprint, but not a hand. 表達脈絡

这是一个手印，而不是一只手。

This is a memory that you cannot return to. 習語

这是一段你永远无法重返的记忆。

All of which makes the cave very much like the past it represents. 表達脈絡

这一切使得洞穴非常像它所代表的过去。

We hope you enjoyed this video, even if it was different.

我们希望你喜欢这个视频，即使它风格迥异。

Check out John Green's podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed,

去看看John Green的播客《The Anthropocene Reviewed》吧，

where he poetically reviews the human world we live in.

在那里他充满诗意地评论我们所生活的人类世界。

John is a good friend of Kurzgesagt.

John是Kurzgesagt的好朋友。

In fact, without his channel Crash Course, 語法

事实上，如果没有他的频道Crash Course，

that he and his brother Hank started years ago, Kurzgesagt would not exist,

那个多年前他和弟弟Hank创办的频道，就不会有今天的Kurzgesagt，

because it was the original inspiration for what we do today.

因为那是我们今天所做之事的最初灵感来源。

And over the years, John and Hank have helped us in a multitude of ways,

这些年来，John和Hank在许多方面帮助了我们，

from advice to just being friends.

从提供建议到仅仅是做我们的朋友。

So check out The Anthropocene Reviewed or any of their many channels.

所以，去听听《The Anthropocene Reviewed》或看看他们的众多频道吧。