人类的新历史——人类纪元：英语精读讲义

Humans have existed for millions of years as part of nature.

人类作为自然的一部分已经存在了数百万年。

But then something changed and in an incredibly short amount of time, 短語搭配

但后来发生了一些变化，在极短的时间内，

we terraformed this planet and designed it to fit our needs. 用詞

我们改造了这颗星球，并将其设计得符合我们的需求。

As far as we know, 語氣意圖

据我们所知，

we're the first beings to awaken and completely take over a planet. 短語動詞

我们是第一个觉醒并完全接管一颗星球的物种。

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming and building was so breathtakingly fast 語法

从狩猎采集到农耕建筑的转变快得令人惊叹，

that many of our ways of thinking about the world are no longer useful.

以至于我们关于世界的许多思维方式都不再适用。

One of our most outdated ideas

我们最过时的观念之一，

is that the most commonly used calendar in the world

就是世界上最常用的历法

insists that we live in the year 2016.

坚称我们生活在2016年。

This distorts our view of our own history

这扭曲了我们对自身历史的看法，

and makes it harder to understand who we are as a species 語法

让我们更难理解我们作为一个物种究竟是谁，

and just how far we've come in an incredibly short amount of time. 習語

以及我们在极短的时间内究竟走了多远。

So maybe it's time to choose a year zero for humanity. 語法

所以，也许是时候为人类选择一个真正的“零年”了。

A year zero that truly represents us as a species

一个真正代表我们这个物种、

and includes all cultures.

并且包容所有文化的零年。

A year zero that marks when we began building our own world on top of the old one. 習語

一个标志着我们开始在旧世界上建立自己新世界的零年。

12,000 years ago,

12000年前，

hundreds of humans came together in the hills of southern Anatolia.

数百名人类聚集在安纳托利亚南部的群山中。

They were hunters and gatherers without knowledge of agriculture or metalworking.

他们是狩猎采集者，对农业或金属加工一无所知。

All they had were tools made of stone and wood.

他们拥有的只有用石头和木头制成的工具。

But they built humanity's first big construction project

但他们建造了人类第一个大型建筑工程，

7,000 years before the pyramids were built in Egypt.

比埃及金字塔的建造早了7000年。

Spread over 300 m,

在超过300米的范围内，

our ancestors erected circles of massive stone pillars,

我们的祖先竖起了一圈圈巨大的石柱，

each of them up to 6 m high and 40 tons in weight. 短語搭配

每根石柱高达6米，重达40吨。

Decorated with artful pictograms and stone carvings of animals and mythical creatures.

上面装饰着巧妙的象形文字，以及动物和神话生物的石雕。

We have no idea how they were able to do this. 短語搭配

我们完全不知道他们是如何做到的。

It was probably a project of epic scale for the Stone Age, 短語搭配

这对于石器时代来说，可能是一个史诗级规模的工程，

requiring a level of organization we didn't know early humans were capable of until we found this site.

它需要的组织水平，直到我们发现这个遗址前，都不知道早期人类能够达到。

So why did they build it?

那么他们为什么要建它呢？

The most popular theory is that this was the first temple of humanity 表達脈絡

最流行的理论是，这是人类的第一座神庙，

dedicated to long-forgotten gods.

献给早已被遗忘的神明。

We only know that this construction project,

我们只知道，这个建筑工程，

the first of its kind, 短語搭配

作为同类中的第一个，

marks the beginning of a new era.

标志着一个新时代的开始。

It's in this area around that time that humans truly began to build their own world, 語法

正是在那个时期左右的这个地区，人类真正开始建立自己的世界，

which would make it a fitting milestone in our history for the start of our calendar.

这使它成为我们历史中作为历法起点的合适里程碑。

This moment in time is so distinct that scientist Cesare Emiliani

这个时间点如此独特，以至于科学家Cesare Emiliani

proposed that humanity should switch to what he called the Holocene calendar 文化背景

提议人类应该切换到他所谓的“全新世历”，

by adding 10,000 years to our current Gregorian calendar.

即在目前的公历上加上10000年。

We don't need to change our well-established days and months

我们不需要改变我们早已确立的日期和月份，

and religious calendars could stay the same as well.

宗教历法也可以保持不变。

But for all official purposes, 短語搭配

但在所有官方用途上，

our current year would be the year 12,016 of the human era.

我们现在的年份将是人类纪元的12016年。

This would drastically alter how we think about history

这将彻底改变我们思考历史的方式，

and how it feels.

以及我们对历史的感受。

Let's take a very brief look and move through our new history

让我们非常简短地回顾一下，并在这段新历史中穿梭，

from our new year zero.

从我们的新零年开始。

12,000 years ago saw the beginning of the first construction project

12000年前，第一个建筑工程开始了，

kicking off our history. 短語動詞

开启了我们的历史。

It would be in use for about 2,000 years.

它大约被使用了2000年。

It took nearly a millennium until Jericho,

经过将近一千年的时间，杰里科（Jericho），

probably the first city on Earth,

这座可能是地球上最早的城市，

was founded in the year 1000 after the start of the human era.

在人类纪元开始后的1000年被建立。

Progress was still very, very slow at this point.

此时的进展仍然非常非常缓慢。

Over the next 1,000 years,

在接下来的1000年里，

more and more permanent settlements appeared around the world 語法

世界各地出现了越来越多的永久定居点，

and more and more plants and animals were domesticated as agriculture spread.

随着农业的传播，越来越多的动植物被驯化。

Evidence for trade over thousands of kilometers has been found from this period. 表達脈絡

从这一时期发现了跨越数千公里贸易的证据。

Around 5 million humans were alive at this point in history,

在历史的这个阶段，大约有500万人类在世，

fewer than live in London today. 語法

比今天生活在伦敦的人还要少。

Technology advanced constantly at a slow pace.

科技在缓慢却持续地进步。

Pottery became widespread.

陶器开始普及。

The first cultural communities appeared in China, India, and the Fertile Crescent. 文化背景

最早的文化社区出现在中国、印度和新月沃土。

Around the year 4000, 8,000 years ago from today,

大约在4000年，也就是距今8000年前，

humans started to use metal for the first time,

人类开始首次使用金属，

learning to mix tin and copper and kickstarting what we know as the Bronze Age

学会了混合锡和铜，从而开启了我们所知的青铜时代，

around the year 5000.

约在5000年。

The first proto-writing emerged and the wheel was invented.

最早的原始文字出现，轮子被发明出来。

In South America, the Chinchorro culture started to artificially mummify humans

在南美洲，新克罗文化开始人工制作人类木乃伊，

2,000 years earlier than in ancient Egypt.

比古埃及早了2000年。

The first high cultures began emerging around the year 7000. 用詞

到了7000年左右，最早的高级文化开始兴起。

The Indus Valley Civilization, ancient Egypt,

印度河谷文明、古埃及、

the Minoans in Greece, and the Sumerians in Mesopotamia.

希腊的米诺斯人，以及美索不达米亚的苏美尔人。

Stonehenge was built in Britain

英国建起了巨石阵，

and the first dynasty in China began.

中国的第一个王朝开始了。

Ötzi the Iceman lived around this time.

冰人奥茨就生活在这个时代左右。

What we consider history now started and things began picking up pace 短語搭配

我们现在所认为的历史开始了，事物发展的步伐开始加快，

as the world population rose to over 30 million.

此时世界人口增长到超过3000万。

A number of new high cultures appeared around the world,

世界各地出现了许多新的高级文化，

many writing down their legends.

许多文化记录下了他们的传说。

More and more cities were founded.

越来越多的城市被建立。

In South America, the Olmec culture emerged.

在南美洲，奥尔梅克文化出现了。

Around this time, the legendary Siege of Troy is supposed to have happened. 語法

大约在这个时候，传说的特洛伊之战被认为发生了。

Soon after in the eastern Mediterranean and the Fertile Crescent,

不久之后，在东地中海和新月沃土，

the Bronze Age ended in violence.

青铜时代在暴力中结束。

Every Bronze Age culture, except Egypt,

除了埃及，每一个青铜时代文化，

was destroyed by mysterious invaders.

都被神秘的入侵者摧毁了。

Writing and progress froze for hundreds of years. 習語

文字和进步停滞了数百年。

Around the year 9500, what we consider Western culture began.

到了9500年左右，我们所认为的西方文化开始了。

The Greek city-states beat off the Persian invasion and triggered their golden era, 短語動詞

希腊城邦击退了波斯的入侵，开启了他们的黄金时代，

ended by Alexander the Great around 9700.

最终在9700年左右被亚历山大大帝终结。

100 years later, Rome destroyed Carthage

100年后，罗马摧毁了迦太基，

and became a dominant force in the world. 短語搭配

成为世界上的一支主导力量。

Caesar was murdered in the year 9956

凯撒在9956年被谋杀，

while the world population had risen to about 300 million people.

而此时世界人口已增加到约3亿人。

And it's only now, around the year 10,000, 語法

直到现在，也就是大约10000年左右，

that we've reached the point

我们才达到这个时间点：

where the Gregorian calendar and our current method of marking human history begins.

即公历和我们目前标记人类历史的方法开始的时候。

A mere 2,000 years from now, humans will walk on the moon. 用詞

仅仅2000年后，人类就将在月球上漫步。

If we think about history as we do now,

如果我们像现在这样思考历史，

we are underplaying 10,000 years of human progress and development,

我们就是在低估人类一万年的进步和发展。

including all of it in our calendar 語法

如果把所有这些都囊括在我们的历法中，

makes our past more impressive.

就会让我们对过去的印象更加深刻。

It shows how progress became exponential with time

它展示了进步是如何随时间呈指数级增长的，

and it incorporates all humans from all cultures into our calendar.

并且它将所有文化的所有人类都纳入了我们的历法之中。

A new year zero for our history could reframe how we think of ourselves. 短語搭配

历史的一个全新零年，可以重塑我们对自身的认知。

As a building project that started 12,000 years ago,

就像12000年前开始的那个建筑工程，

when for the first time our ancestors came together

当时我们的祖先第一次聚集在一起，

to carve a temple out of bedrock with tools made of stone, 短語搭配

用石头制成的工具在基岩上雕刻出一座神庙，

not knowing what they would set in motion, 習語

他们并不知道这会引发什么，

where it would lead us as a species.

又会将我们作为一个物种引向何方。

From building the first temple to ships flying beyond the sky. 表達脈絡

从建造第一座神庙，到飞船驶向天空之外。