人類的新歷史——人類紀元：英語精讀講義

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

人類作為自然的一部分已經存在了數百萬年。

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

但後來發生了一些變化，在極短的時間內，

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

我們改造了這顆星球，並將其設計得符合我們的需求。

As far as we know, 語氣意圖

據我們所知，

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

我們是第一個覺醒並完全接管一顆星球的物種。

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

從狩獵採集到農耕建築的轉變快得令人驚嘆，

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

以至於我們關於世界的許多思維方式都不再適用。

One of our most outdated ideas

我們最過時的觀念之一，

is that the most commonly used calendar in the world

就是世界上最常用的曆法

insists that we live in the year 2016.

堅稱我們生活在2016年。

This distorts our view of our own history

這扭曲了我們對自身歷史的看法，

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

讓我們更難理解我們作為一個物種究竟是誰，

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

以及我們在極短的時間內究竟走了多遠。

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

所以，也許是時候為人類選擇一個真正的「零年」了。

A year zero that truly represents us as a species

一個真正代表我們這個物種、

and includes all cultures.

並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. 慣用語

一個標誌著我們開始在舊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.

數百名人類聚集在安納托利亞南部的群山中。

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

他們是狩獵採集者，對農業或金屬加工一無所知。

All they had were tools made of stone and wood.

他們擁有的只有用石頭和木頭製成的工具。

But they built humanity's first big construction project

但他們建造了人類第一個大型建築工程，

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,

在超過300公尺的範圍內，

our ancestors erected circles of massive stone pillars,

我們的祖先豎起了一圈圈巨大的石柱，

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

每根石柱高達6公尺，重達40噸。

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

上面裝飾著巧妙的象形文字，以及動物和神話生物的石雕。

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

我們完全不知道他們是如何做到的。

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

這對於石器時代來說，可能是一個史詩級規模的工程，

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

它需要的組織水準，直到我們發現這個遺址前，都不知道早期人類能夠達到。

So why did they build it?

那麼他們為什麼要建它呢？

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

最流行的理論是，這是人類的第一座神廟，

dedicated to long-forgotten gods.

獻給早已被遺忘的神明。

We only know that this construction project,

我們只知道，這個建築工程，

the first of its kind, 片語搭配

作為同類中的第一個，

marks the beginning of a new era.

標誌著一個新時代的開始。

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

正是在那個時期左右的這個地區，人類真正開始建立自己的世界，

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

這使它成為我們歷史中作為曆法起點的合適里程碑。

This moment in time is so distinct that scientist Cesare Emiliani

這個時間點如此獨特，以至於科學家Cesare Emiliani

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

提議人類應該切換到他所謂的「全新世曆」，

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

即在目前的公曆上加上10000年。

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

我們不需要改變我們早已確立的日期和月份，

and religious calendars could stay the same as well.

宗教曆法也可以保持不變。

But for all official purposes, 片語搭配

但在所有官方用途上，

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

我們現在的年份將是人類紀元的12016年。

This would drastically alter how we think about history

這將徹底改變我們思考歷史的方式，

and how it feels.

以及我們對歷史的感受。

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

讓我們非常簡短地回顧一下，並在這段新歷史中穿梭，

from our new year zero.

從我們的新零年開始。

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

12000年前，第一個建築工程開始了，

kicking off our history. 片語動詞

開啟了我們的歷史。

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

它大約被使用了2000年。

It took nearly a millennium until Jericho,

經過將近一千年的時間，傑里科（Jericho），

probably the first city on Earth,

這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.

在人類紀元開始後的1000年被建立。

Progress was still very, very slow at this point.

此時的進展仍然非常非常緩慢。

Over the next 1,000 years,

在接下來的1000年裡，

more and more permanent settlements appeared around the world 文法

世界各地出現了越來越多的永久定居點，

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

隨著農業的傳播，越來越多的動植物被馴化。

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

從這一時期發現了跨越數千公里貿易的證據。

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

在歷史的這個階段，大約有500萬人類在世，

fewer than live in London today. 文法

比今天生活在倫敦的人還要少。

Technology advanced constantly at a slow pace.

科技在緩慢卻持續地進步。

Pottery became widespread.

陶器開始普及。

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

最早的文化社區出現在中國、印度和新月沃土。

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

大約在4000年，也就是距今8000年前，

humans started to use metal for the first time,

人類開始首次使用金屬，

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

學會了混合錫和銅，從而開啟了我們所知的青銅時代，

around the year 5000.

約在5000年。

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

最早的原始文字出現，輪子被發明出來。

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

在南美洲，新克羅文化開始人工製作人類木乃伊，

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，最早的高級文化開始興起。

The Indus Valley Civilization, ancient Egypt,

印度河谷文明、古埃及、

the Minoans in Greece, and the Sumerians in Mesopotamia.

希臘的米諾斯人，以及美索不達米亞的蘇美爾人。

Stonehenge was built in Britain

英國建起了巨石陣，

and the first dynasty in China began.

中國的第一個王朝開始了。

Ötzi the Iceman lived around this time.

冰人奧茨就生活在這個時代左右。

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

我們現在所認為的歷史開始了，事物發展的步伐開始加快，

as the world population rose to over 30 million.

此時世界人口增長到超過3000萬。

A number of new high cultures appeared around the world,

世界各地出現了許多新的高級文化，

many writing down their legends.

許多文化記錄下了他們的傳說。

More and more cities were founded.

越來越多的城市被建立。

In South America, the Olmec culture emerged.

在南美洲，奧爾梅克文化出現了。

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

大約在這個時候，傳說的特洛伊之戰被認為發生了。

Soon after in the eastern Mediterranean and the Fertile Crescent,

不久之後，在東地中海和新月沃土，

the Bronze Age ended in violence.

青銅時代在暴力中結束。

Every Bronze Age culture, except Egypt,

除了埃及，每一個青銅時代文化，

was destroyed by mysterious invaders.

都被神秘的入侵者摧毀了。

Writing and progress froze for hundreds of years. 慣用語

文字和進步停滯了數百年。

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

到了9500年左右，我們所認為的西方文化開始了。

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

希臘城邦擊退了波斯的入侵，開啟了他們的黃金時代，

ended by Alexander the Great around 9700.

最終在9700年左右被亞歷山大大帝終結。

100 years later, Rome destroyed Carthage

100年後，羅馬摧毀了迦太基，

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

成為世界上的一支主導力量。

Caesar was murdered in the year 9956

凱撒在9956年被謀殺，

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

而此時世界人口已增加到約3億人。

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

直到現在，也就是大約10000年左右，

that we've reached the point

我們才達到這個時間點：

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

即公曆和我們目前標記人類歷史的方法開始的時候。

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

僅僅2000年後，人類就將在月球上漫步。

If we think about history as we do now,

如果我們像現在這樣思考歷史，

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

我們就是在低估人類一萬年的進步和發展。

including all of it in our calendar 文法

如果把所有這些都囊括在我們的曆法中，

makes our past more impressive.

就會讓我們對過去的印象更加深刻。

It shows how progress became exponential with time

它展示了進步是如何隨時間呈指數級增長的，

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

並且它將所有文化的所有人類都納入了我們的曆法之中。

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

歷史的一個全新零年，可以重塑我們對自身的認知。

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

就像12000年前開始的那個建築工程，

when for the first time our ancestors came together

當時我們的祖先第一次聚集在一起，

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

用石頭製成的工具在基岩上雕刻出一座神廟，

not knowing what they would set in motion, 慣用語

他們並不知道這會引發什麼，

where it would lead us as a species.

又會將我們作為一個物種引向何方。

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

從建造第一座神廟，到飛船駛向天空之外。