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1、1新概念四新概念四 Lesson 1 Finding fossil man 发现化石人发现化石人We can readreadread ofofof things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write.But there are some parts of the world where eveneveneven nownownow people cannot write. The only way that they can preserve their hist
2、ory is to recount it as sagas-legends handedhandedhanded downdowndown from one generation of story-tellers to another. 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. Anthropologists wondered where th
3、e remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands camecamecame fromfromfrom. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.But thethethe firstfirstfirst peoplepeoplepeople who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even
4、 their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to findfindfind outoutout where the firstmodern men came from.Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds. They
5、may also have used wood and skins, but these have rottedrottedrotted awayawayaway. 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 withoutwithoutwithout tracetracetrace.我们从书籍中可以读到 5000 年前近东发生的事情，那里的人最早学会了写字。但直到现在，世界上仍然有些地
6、方；人们还不会书写。他们保存历史的唯一办法是将历史当作传说讲述，由讲述人一代接一代地将史实描述为传奇故事口传下来。这些传说是很有用的，因为它们能告诉我们以往人们迁居的情况。但是；没有人能把他们当时做的事情记载下来。人类学家过去不清楚如今生活在太平洋诸岛上的波利尼西亚人的祖先来自何方，当地人的传说却告诉了人们：其中有一部分是约在 2000 年前从印度尼西亚迁来的。但是，和我们相似的原始人生活的年代太久远了；因此，有关他们的传说即使有如今也失传了。于是，考古学家们既缺乏历史记载，又无口头传说来帮助他们弄清最早的“现代人”是从哪里来的。然而，幸运的是，远古人用石头制作了工具，特别是用燧石，因力燧石较
7、之其他石头更易成形。他们也可能用过木头和兽皮，但这类东西早已腐烂殆尽。石头是不会腐烂的。因此，尽管制造这些工具的人的骨头早已荡然无存；但远古时代的石头工具却保存了下来。Lesson 2 Spare that spider 不要伤害蜘蛛不要伤害蜘蛛Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our friends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the humanhumanhuman raceraceraceIns
8、ects would makemakemake it it it impossibleimpossibleimpossible forforfor ususus tototo livelivelive in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if if if it it it werewerewere notnotnot forforfor the protection we get from insect-eating animalsWe owe a lot to the bir
9、ds and beasts who eat insects but all of them putputput togethertogethertogether kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spidersMoreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never dododo thethethe leastleastleast harmharmharm tototo us or our belongings.Spiders are not insects, a
10、s many people think, nor even nearly relatedrelatedrelated tototo themOne can telltelltell thethethe differencedifferencedifference almost atatat a a a glanceglanceglance, for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never more than six.How many spiders are engagedengagedengaged ininin this work
11、 on our behalf? One authority on spiders mademademade a a a censuscensuscensus ofofof the spiders in a grass field in the south of England, and he estimated that there were moremoremore thanthanthan 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitc
12、hSpiders are busybusybusy forforfor at least half the year in killing insectsIt is impossible to make more than the wildest guess at how many they kill, but they are hungry creatures, not content with only three meals a dayIt has been estimated that the weight of all the insects destroyed by spiders
13、 in Britain in one year would be greater than the total weight of all the human beings in the country.2你可能会觉得奇怪，蜘蛛怎么会是我们的朋友呢？因为它们能消灭那么多的昆虫，其中包括一些人类的大敌。要不是人类受一些食虫动物的保护，昆虫就会使我们无法在地球上生活下去，昆虫会吞食我们的全部庄稼，杀死我们的成群的牛羊。我们要十分感谢那些吃昆虫的鸟和兽，然而把它们所杀死的昆虫全部加在一起也只相当于蜘蛛所消灭的一小部分。此外，蜘蛛不同于其他食虫动物，它们丝毫不危害我们和我们的财物。许多人认为蜘蛛是昆虫
14、，但它们不是昆虫，甚至与昆虫毫无关系。人们几乎一眼就能看出二者的差异，因为蜘蛛都是 8 条腿，而昆虫的腿从不超过 6 条。有多少蜘蛛在为我们效力呢？一位研究蜘蛛的权威对英国南部一块草坪上的蜘蛛作了一次调查。他估计每英亩草坪里有 225 万多只蜘蛛。这就是说，在一个足球场上约有 600 万只不同种类的蜘蛛。蜘蛛至少有半年忙于吃昆虫。它们一年中消灭了多少昆虫，我们简直无法猜测，它们是吃不饱的动物，不满意一日三餐。据估计，在英国蜘蛛一年里所消灭昆虫的重量超过了这个国家人口的总重量。Lesson 3 Matterhorn man 马特霍恩山区人马特霍恩山区人Modern alpinists try t
15、o climb mountains by a route which will give them good sport, andandand thethethe moremoremore difficultdifficultdifficult it it it is,is,is, thethethe moremoremore highlyhighlyhighly it it it is is is regardedregardedregardedInInIn thethethe pioneeringpioneeringpioneering daysdaysdays, however, thi
16、s was not the case atatat allallallThe early climbers were lookinglookinglooking forforfor the easiest way to the top, because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it had never been attained beforeIt It It is is is truetruetrue thatthatthat during their explorations they often faced difficulties and dangers of the most perilous nature, equipped ininin
