新概念英語第四冊自學導讀:第一課發(fā)現(xiàn)化石人(下)

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1-5. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from.
    【譯文】人類學家過去不清楚如今生活在太平洋諸島的波利尼西亞各民族的遠祖來自何方。
    【講解】now living in the Pacific Islands是現(xiàn)在分詞短語,作peoples的定語。
    【單詞和短語】
    anthropologist:人類學家。anthropology意為“人類學”(the scientific study of people,their societies ,cultures,etc.)。相關詞匯有sociology(社會學)和ethnology(人種學,民族學)。
    remote ancestor:遠祖(someone related to you,who lived a long time ago)。形容詞remote的常用意為“遙遠的,久遠的”(far from towns or other places where people live),
    例如:
    the remotest corners of the earth 天涯海角
    a custom of remote antiquity 遠古遺風
    remote亦可作名詞,常用意為“遙控器”(remote controller)。
    people:people作“一國人民,民族”(the people who belong to a particular country,race,or area)解時為可數(shù)名詞單數(shù),復數(shù)為peoples或people。參照上下文,文中people譯為“民族”。
    另舉例如下:
    the peoples of the world 世界各國人民
    a hardworking people 勤勞的民族
    the Jewish people *民族
    Each people builds a culture adapted to its particular needs. 各民族都建立起一種適應其獨特需要的文化。
    1-6. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
    【譯文】當?shù)厝说姆N種傳說向世人解釋了其中一些民族約在兩千年前遷自印度尼西亞。
    【單詞和短語】
    saga:傳說(a long story about events that happen over many year)。
    1-7. But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten.
    【譯文】但是,和我們相似的原始人生活的年代太久遠了,因此有關他們的傳說,即使存在,如今也失傳了。
    1-8. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first 'modern men' came from.
    【譯文】于是,考古學家既無歷史記載,亦無口頭傳說來幫助他們弄清首批“現(xiàn)代人”來自何方。
    【單詞和短語】
    legend:傳說(an old,well-known story,often about brave people, adventures, or magical events)。形容詞為legendary。
    1-9. Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds.
    【譯文】然而,幸運的是,遠古人用制作石器,特別是燧石器,因為燧石比其他石頭更易成形。
    【講解】other kinds后面省略了of stones。
    【單詞和短語】
    flint:燧石(a type of smooth hard stone that makes a small flame when you hit it with steel)。
    1-10. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away.
    【譯文】他們也可能用過木頭和獸皮,但這兩類東西早已腐爛殆盡。
    【講解】may also have used意為“可能使用過”,may+完成時結構表示對過去情況的推測。these指wood and skins。
    【單詞和短語】
    rot: 腐敗,腐爛(to decay by a gradual natural process, or to make something to do this)。
    1-11. Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.
    【譯文】石頭不會腐爛。因此,雖然制造這些工具的人的骨頭早已蕩然無存,但遠古時代的石器卻保存至今。
    【講解】
    when even the bones … trace相當于讓步從句,when意即“雖然,盡管”,又如:
    We sometimes expect gratitude when we are not entitled to it.
    有時雖然我們不值得感激,我們卻期望別人感激。
    While he has a house of his own, his brother lives in a flat.
    盡管他有自己的房子,他弟弟卻住在公寓里。