[by:英语听力网|http://yingyu.chazidian.com||查字典英语网] [00:00.00]喜欢chazidian.com，就把chazidian.com复制到QQ个人资料中！Lesson 38 The first calendar [00:05.25]38 最早的日历 [00:10.50]Listen to the text and answer this question [00:16.12]听录音,然后回答以下问题. [00:21.73]What is the importance of the dots,lines,and symbols [00:26.36]那些点、线和符号对我们有什么意义？ [00:30.98]engraved on stone,bones and ivory? [00:37.92]它们是雕刻在石头的、骨头上、象牙上的 [00:44.85]Future historians will be in a unique position [00:47.28]未来的历史学家会别具一格地 [00:49.71]when they come to record the history of our own times [00:52.28]写我们这一段历史. [00:54.86]They will hardly know which facts to select [00:57.18]他们几乎不知道 [00:59.51]from the great mass of evidence that steadily accumulates [01:02.24]逐渐积累起来的庞大材料中,哪些值得选取 [01:04.97]What is more,they will not have to rely solely on the written word [01:08.21]而且,他们可以依赖的不仅仅限于文字材料 [01:11.44]Films,videos,CDs and CD-ROMs [01:14.62]电影、录像、光盘和光盘驱动器 [01:17.79]are just some of the bewildering amount of information they will have [01:20.61]也是能为他们提供令人困惑的大量信息的几种手段 [01:23.44]They will be able,as it were,to see and hear us in action. [01:26.56]他们能够身临其境般地观看我们做事,倾听我们讲话 [01:29.68]But the historian attempting to reconstruct the distant past [01:32.56]但是,历史学家企图重现遥远的过去 [01:35.45]is always faced with a difficult task. [01:37.88]可是一项艰巨的任务. [01:40.31]He has to deduce what he can from the few scanty clues available [01:43.39]他们必须根据现有的不充分的线索进行推理 [01:46.48]Even seemingly insignificant remains [01:48.70]即使看起来微不足道的遗物, [01:50.92]can shed interesting light on the history of early man. [01:53.59]也可能揭示人类早期历史中的一些有趣的内容 [01:56.27]Up to now, [01:57.59]迄今为止, [01:58.91]historians have assumed that calendars [01:59.42]历史学家认为日历 [01:59.93]came into being with the advent of agriculture, [02:02.50]是随农业的问世而出现的, [02:05.07]for then man was faced with a real need [02:07.45]因为人们当时面临着真正的需要 [02:09.83]to understand something about the seasons. [02:12.11]即去了解四季的需要。 [02:14.40]Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate [02:16.76]但近期科学研究发现, [02:19.13]that this assumption is incorrect. [02:21.49]好像这种假设是不正确的 [02:23.86]Historians have long been puzzled by dots,lines and symbols [02:27.29]长期以来,历史学家一直对点、线和符号感到困惑 [02:30.73]which have been engraved on walls, [02:32.75]它们都是雕刻在石头上、 [02:34.78]bones,and the ivory tusks of mammoths. [02:37.41]骨头上、形形色色的象牙上的. [02:40.05]The nomads who made these markings [02:42.18]留下这些痕迹的游牧人 [02:44.31]lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age [02:46.99]生活在冰川期末期,以狩猎,捕鱼为生, [02:49.67]which began about 35,000 B.C.and ended about 10,000 B.C. [02:54.04]这一时期约为公元前35,000--前10,000年 [02:58.42]By correlating markings made in various parts of the world, [03:01.29]通过把世界各地留下的这种痕迹放在一起研究 [03:04.16]historians have been able to read this difficult code. [03:07.04]历史学家终于弄懂了这种费解的代码. [03:09.91]They have found [03:11.28]他们发现, [03:12.65]that it is connected with the passage of days and the phases of the moon [03:15.98]代码与昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关 [03:19.31]It is,in fact,a primitive type of calendar. [03:21.80]事实上,它是一种最原始的日历. [03:24.28]It has long been know that the hunting scenes depicted on walls [03:27.31]大家早就知道,画在墙上的狩猎图景 [03:30.34]were not simply a form of artistic expression. [03:32.68]并不是单纯的艺术表现形式, [03:35.01]They had a definite meaning, [03:37.05]它们有着一定的含义, [03:39.09]for they were as near as early man could get to writing. [03:41.66]因为它们已接近古代人的文字形式. [03:44.24]It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings [03:47.51]这些图画之间可能有着一定的关系 [03:50.79]and the markings that sometimes accompany them. [03:53.27]与墙壁上伴随它们的刻痕存在着一定的联系. [03:55.76]It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons [03:59.03]看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了