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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。 |
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