---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/38-the-first-calender.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：The First Calender。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 38 · 最早的日历

### 第1段

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.

中文理解：未来的历史学家在记录我们这个时代时，将拥有一种独特的优势。史料不断积累，数量如此庞大，他们恐怕反而不知道该选取哪些事实。更何况，他们不必只依赖文字。电影、录像、CD和只读光盘，都只是那海量资料中的一小部分。可以说，他们能够亲眼看见、亲耳听见我们的活动。可历史学家若想重现遥远的过去，面对的总是一项艰巨任务：只能从少得可怜的线索中尽量推断。不过，即使是看起来微不足道的遗存，也可能为了解早期人类的历史提供有趣的线索。
一直以来，历史学家都认为，日历是随着农业出现才产生的，因为到了那个时候，人们才真正需要了解四季变化。最近的科学证据却似乎表明，这个推测并不正确。
墙壁、骨头和猛犸象牙上刻下的点、线与符号，长期以来一直困扰着历史学家。这些标记出自最后一次冰河时代的游牧者之手，他们以狩猎和捕鱼为生；那次冰河时代大约始于公元前35,000年，结束于公元前10,000年。历史学家把世界各地的标记联系起来比较，终于逐渐读懂了这套难解的符号，发现它与日子的推移和月相变化有关，实际上就是一种原始日历。人们早已知道，墙上描绘的狩猎场景不只是艺术表达，它们有明确的含义，是早期人类最接近文字的一种表达方式。这些图画与有时伴随出现的标记之间，可能存在明确联系。看来，人类为理解季节变化而付出的努力，比人们原先设想的还要早两万年。

* **a unique position**：独特的处境；有利地位；be in a position to do 说具备条件，不只指站立的位置。

* **What is more**：而且；更有甚者；补出第二层理由或问题，语气比简单 and 更突出。

* **rely solely on**：仅仅依赖；solely 限定唯一，不能复述成完全不依赖。

* **as it were**：可以说；仿佛；插入语，提醒后面是比喻而非字面事实。

* **is always faced with**：总是面临……；be faced with + 问题；face something 为主动。

* **scanty clues**：少得可怜的线索；scanty 强调不足，证据少时结论更需保留限度。

* **shed interesting light on**：为……提供有趣线索；light 是帮助理解的比喻，不是真正照明。

* **Up to now**：直到现在；明确当前为截止点，适合回顾尚未解决的认识或问题。

* **came into being**：形成；产生；说明出现过程，不是开始使用。

* **seems to indicate**：似乎表明；seem 降低断言强度，不能复述成已经证明。

* **been puzzled by**：一直对……感到困惑；be puzzled by + 难以解释的对象，不是故意给别人谜题。

* **been able to**：能够；成功做到；说明能力或某次实际做到；was / were able to 常用于过去成功完成的事。

* **is connected with**：与……有联系；仅表联系时，不要擅自加强为导致。

* **a definite meaning**：明确的含义；have a meaning，definite 不等于已经完全被现代人破译。

* **was making a real effort**：确实在努力；make an effort to do，real 表明努力不是敷衍。

#### 原文注释 · Future historians will be in a unique position when they come to record the history of our own times.

注释：①record = write down。②select = choose。③great mass of evidence = large number of facts。④accumulates = collects, builds up。⑤solely = only。⑥bewildering = confusing。⑦insignificant = unimportant。

\[语法符号讲解] \[1]本句有一个what he can 三个词组成的宾语从句，处于句中，前后均没有标点符号，于是我们照例先在引导词what 的wh 下画横线，表示宾语从句的开始，再在can 的n 下面画横线，稍微伸到空格处，表示从句的结束。

#### 原文注释 · 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.

注释：①assumed = supposed。②indicate = suggest。

#### 原文注释 · Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusks of mammoths.

注释：①engraved = carved。②重点句型：make an effort to do sth.。\[1]本句的句型it be possible (for sb.) to + verb.是更为常用的用法，而it be possible that 也是可以用的。

\[语法符号讲解] \[1]本句是it is that 结构，it 是先行主语，作形式主语，that 从句为真正的主语，故我们在标记时，将主语从句的结尾单词them 也做了标记。

#### Summary 摘要

Historians have long been puzzled by prehistoric markings on walls, bones and tusks. The people who made the markings were nomads during the last Ice Age. Finally historians have managed to read this difficult code and realized that they depict the passing of the days and phases of the moon. They are in fact a primitive calendar. There is a connection between the pictures of hunting scenes and the markings with them. (71 words)

#### Composition 作文 Studying the Past 研究过去

\[1]Future historians will have plenty of sources from which to learn about twentieth-century man. Not only will they have the written word, they will also have films, videos, audio cassettes, CDs and CD-ROMs. In fact, they will have so much source material that they will hardly know where to start!

\[2]If they study all the material available, they will be able to build up a complete social and political history of our time. They will know exactly how we dressed, what we ate in every different country and they will know exactly what our homes were like. They will know what our towns and cities were like and what forms of entertainment we enjoyed. In fact, they will not only learn about our forms of entertainment, they will be able to enjoy a lot of them, too—our music, plays, musical shows, video games, our art, our literature,… And they will be able to read and see the news day by day as it happened.

\[3]They will learn in detail the way we fought our wars—the way we used jet fighters, helicopters, ships and tanks. They will be able to learn every detail of great moments in history, and everything about leading figures of the time as well as the lives of ordinary men and women.

\[4]In future, the study of history will provide interest and excitement for a lot of people, the past will be brought to life and history will no longer be boring. (249 words)

## 学完这一课

用 not know which… to… 表达一次选择困难，并说明原因。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第125—128页，2022年2月第3版。*