新概念英语第四册自学导读：第一课发现化石人(上)

Lesson 1 Finding fossil man
第一课发现化石人

by ROBIN PLACE
from Finding fossil man

1-1. We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.

【译文】我们能读到五千年前近东发生之事，那里的人最先学会了书写。

【单词和短语】

read：此处为不及物动词，意为“读到，获悉”（to find out information from books，newspapers etc.），后接of或about，

例如：
He reads about the war. 他读到关于战争的消息。

Did you read of their accident in the newspapers?
你在报上看到他们遭遇意外事故的消息了么？

5,000 years：五千年。另学习millennium，意为“一千年”，复数为millennia。5,000 years即为5 millennia。

the Near East：近东，指地中海东部沿岸地区，包括亚洲西南部和非洲东北部，有时还包括巴尔干半岛。

1-2. But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.

【译文】但时至今日世上某些地方的人还不会书写。

【单词和短语】

even now：此处意为“甚至到现在”，

例如：
Even now he won’t believe me. 他甚至到现在还不相信我。
even now另有两解，一为“就在此刻”，例如：
Perhaps even now the time has arrived.也许正是此刻时机来到了。

另一为“尽管这样，虽然情况如此”（in spite of what has happened），

例如：
I have explained everything，but even now she doesn’t understand.
我什么都解释了，但是尽管如此她还是不明白。

1-3. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas－legends handed down from one generation of story-tellers to another.

【译文】他们能够保存历史的唯一方法是将历史当传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地口授传奇故事。

【讲解】

to recount it as…another是动词不定式短语，作表语，说明主语way的内容，it指history。句中破折号引出同位语。handed down … another是过去分词短语，作legends的定语。another后省略了generation of story-tellers。

【单词和短语】

preserve：保存，保留（to make sth. continue without changing）。

例如：
preserve an old house as a museum 保存一幢老房子用作陈列馆
preserve sb.’s right to do sth. 保留某人对某事物的权利
Few of his early poems are preserved. 他早期的诗没有几首留存下来。

recount：详细叙述，描述，说明（to tell someone a story or describe a series of events），

例如：
recount a story with real wit 妙趣横生地讲故事
The explorer recounted his adventures in a number of books.
探险家在好几本书中描述自己的冒险经历。

saga：英雄传奇（a long story about events that happened over the years）
hand down：把……传下去（to give or leave sth. to people who will live after you），

例如：
This custom is handed down from the past. 这个习惯是过去传下来的。
The gold watch has been handed down in his family. 那块金表是他家祖传的。

1-4. These legends are useful because they can tell us something about migrations of people who lived long ago, but none could write down what they did.

【译文】

这些传说有用，因为它们能告诉我们一些人迁徙之事。这些人生活在远古，但没人能记录他们的所作所为。

【讲解】

none可指可数名词，亦可指不可数名词。指前者时动词用单数或复数，指后者时动词用单数。

【单词和短语】

migration：迁徙，移居（when large numbers of people go to live in another area or country，especially in order to find work），动词形式为migrate，

例如：
migrate to another country 移居他国