美国学生人类历史第11期:史前人类(2)

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　　当过了几天他们还赖着不走，于是一场可怕的战斗发生了。人们相互撕咬，发疯般地肉搏。有的全家被杀死，

　　The others fled back to their mountain slopes and died in the next blizzard¹.

　　其他人则逃回山区，死于下一场袭来的暴风雪。

　　But the people in the forest were greatly frightened.

　　可住在森林里的居民也吓坏了。

　　All the time the days grew shorter and the nights grew colder than they ought to have been.

　　现在，白昼变得一天比一天短，而夜晚却冷得异乎寻常。

　　Finally, in a gap between two high hills, there appeared a tiny speck² of greenish ice.

　　最后，在两山之间的裂缝里，出现了星星点点的绿色小冰块。

　　Rapidly it increased in size.

　　它们迅速地变大，

　　A gigantic glacier³ came sliding downhill.

　　长成巨大的冰川，沿山坡滑下来，

　　Huge stones were being pushed into the valley.

　　把巨大的石块推进山谷。

　　With the noise of a dozen thunderstorms torrents⁴ of ice and mud and blocks of granite⁵ suddenly tumbled among the people of the forest and killed them while they slept.

　　在雷鸣般的响声中，裹挟着冰块、泥浆和花岗岩的巨流呼啸着卷过森林，许多人在睡梦中就遭受了灭顶之灾。

　　Century old trees were crushed into kindling⁶ wood. And then it began to snow.

　　百年的老树被齐腰折断，倒在燃烧起来的森林里。随后，大雪纷纷扬扬地下了起来。

　　It snowed for months and months.

　　绵绵不绝的大雪下了一个又一个月。

　　All the plants died and the animals fled in search of the southern sun.

　　所有的植物都冻死了，大批动物逃往南方，去寻找温暖的太阳。

　　Man hoisted⁷ his young upon his back and followed them.

　　人类肩挑手打，背起年幼的孩子，跟动物一起踏上了逃难的旅程。

　　But he could not travel as fast as the wilder creatures and he was forced to choose between quick thinking or quick dying.

　　可他们跋涉的速度比用四肢奔跑的动物慢了许多，严寒却毫不留情地在身后紧紧追赶。他们不得不迅速想出办法，否则只能坐以待毙。

　　He seems to have preferred the former for he has managed to survive the terrible glacial periods which upon four different occasions threatened to kill every human being on the face of the earth.

　　事实证明，他们更情愿开动脑子。在冰川纪，有四种情形对地球上的人类构成了致命的威胁，可他们都—一想出了对付的办法，使自己幸免于难。

　　In the first place it was necessary that man clothe himself lest he freeze to death.

　　首先，人类必须穿衣服御寒，否则只能冻死。

　　He learned how to dig holes and cover them with branches and leaves and in these traps he caught bears and hyenas⁸,

　　于是，他们学会了怎样制造捕猎的陷阶：挖一些大坑，上面覆以枝条和树叶，一俟熊和鬣狗掉下去，

　　which he then killed with heavy stones and whose skins he used as coats for himself and his family.

　　便用石块砸死它们，用它们的毛皮做大衣。

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