Lesson 38 The first calender
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.What is the importance of the dots, lines, and symbols engraved on some, bones and ivory?Future historians will be in a unique position when they come to record the history of our own times. They will hardly know which facts to select from the great mass of evidence that steadily accumulates. What is more, they will not have to rely solely on the written word. Films, videos, CDs and CD-ROMS are just some of the bewildering amount of information they will have. They will be able, as it were, to see and hear us in action. But the historian attempting to reconstruct the distant past is always faced with a difficult task. He has to deduce what he can from the few scanty clues available. Even seemingly insignificant remains can shed interesting light on the history of early man.
Up to now, historians have assumed that calendars came into being with the advent of agriculture, for then man was faced with a real need to understand something about the seasons. Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate that this assumption is incorrect.
Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusks of mammoths. The nomads who made these markings lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age which began about 35,000 B.C. and ended about 10,000 B.C. By correlating markings made in various parts of the world, historians have been able to read this difficult code. They have found that it is connected with the passage of days and the phases of the moon. It is, in fact, a primitive type of calendar. It has long been known that the hunting scenes depicted on walls were not simply a form of artistic expression. They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing. It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings and the markings that sometimes accompany them. It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.
New words and expressions生词和短语
solely [ˈsoʊlli] adv. 唯一地She was motivated solely by self-interest.bewilder [bɪˈwɪldər] v. 令人眼花缭乱She was totally bewildered by his sudden change of mood.deduce [dɪˈduːs] v. 推断，推理de 向下 + duc 引导；带来 + e → 向下引出 → 推论We can deduce a lot from what people choose to buy.scanty [ˈskænti] adj. 不足的，贫乏的Details of his life are scanty.insignificant [ˌɪnsɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt] adj. 不重要的significant [sɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt] adj.重要的sign记号 + i + fic 具有某种性质的 + ant形容词后缀 → 有意义的The levels of chemicals in the river are not insignificant.advent [ˈædvent] n. 出现，到来，来临根据基督教的教义，耶稣基督一共两次降临世界，第一次是诞生之时，以自己的生命为人 类赎罪。第二次是在世界末日来临之前，他将再度降临世界。为了纪念耶稣基督的降临，在圣诞节前四个星期，从第一个周日到圣诞夜，基督教徒将这段时间称为 “耶稣降临节”（Advent），用于筹备庆祝耶稣的降临。英语单词advent在基督教中有特殊含义，表示“耶稣的降临”。它来自拉丁语 adventus，由ad（to）+venire（come）组合演变而成。后来，该词逐渐应用与其他领域，用来表示不同寻常的人或事物的来临或发生。英 语单词adventure（冒险）与此同源，来自拉丁语adventurus，是adventus的未来式，本意是“即将发生的事情，运气”。adventure：[əd'ventʃə]n.冒险，冒险精神，投机活动v.冒险the advent of new technologyassumption [əˈsʌmpʃn] n. 假定，设想as 表加强 + sumpt 拿，取 + ion 名词后缀，assume 的名词 → 假设；承担We need to challenge some of the basic assumptions of Western philosophy.The silver cup was engraved with his name.mammoth [ˈmæməθ] n. （古）长毛象 adj. 庞大的a financial crisis of mammoth proportionsthe nomadic life of a foreign correspondentcorrelate [ˈkɔːrələt , ˈkɔːrəleɪt] v. 使相互联系cor 共同 + relate 联系 → 共同联系 → 相互关联Researchers are trying to correlate the two sets of figures.primitive [ˈprɪmətɪv] adj. 原始的prime 最初，原始 + itive 复合形容词后缀 → 原始的The methods of communication used during the war were primitive by today's standards.depict [dɪˈpɪkt] v. 描画，描绘de 使… + pict 画，描绘 → 描述，描绘The artist had depicted her lying on a bed.参考译文
未来的历史学家在写我们这一段历史的时候会别具一格。对于逐渐积累起来的庞大材料，他们几乎不知道选取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依赖文字材料。电影、录像、光盘和光盘驱动器只是能为他们提供令人眼花缭乱的大量信息的几种手段。他们能够身临其境般地观看我们做事，倾听我们讲话。但是，历史学家企图重现遥远的过去可是一项艰巨的任务，他们必须根据现有的不充分的线索进行推理。即使看起来微不足道的遗物，也可能揭示人类早期历史的一些有趣的内容。历史学家迄今认为日历是随农业的问世而出现的，因为当时人们面临着了解四季的实际需要，但近期科学研究发现，好像这种假设是不正确的。长期以来，历史学家一直对雕刻在墙壁上、骨头上、古代长毛象的象牙上的点、线和形形色色的符号感到困惑不解。这些痕迹是游牧人留下的，他们生活在从公元前约35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩猎、捕鱼为生。历史学家通过把世界各地留下的这种痕迹放在一起研究，终于弄懂了这种费解的代码。他们发现代码与昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关，事实上是一种最原始的日历。大家早就知道，画在墙上的狩猎图景并不是单纯的艺术表现形式，它们有着一定的含义，因为它们已接近古代人的文字形式。有时，这种图画与墙壁上的刻痕共存，它们之间可能有一定的联系。看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了，比人们想像的要早20,000年。
Journey to the West（西游记）全108集
往期回顾
《新概念英语》第二册全集
Lesson 30 The death of a ghost
Lesson 31 A lovable eccentric
Lesson 32 A lost ship
Lesson 33 A day to remember
Lesson 34 A happy discovery
Lesson 35 Justice was done
Lesson 36 A chance in a million