The first calendar 最早的日歷
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 tusk 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.
16.It has long been known that the hunting scenes depicted on walls were not simply a form of artistic expression.
大家早就知道，畫在墻上的狩獵圖景并不是單純的藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)形式。
語言點1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:It has long been known that…是一個固定句式，表示“大家早就知道…”，it充當(dāng)形式主語，that引導(dǎo)的內(nèi)容才是真正的主語。
語言點2:depicted on walls為過去分詞短語，作hunting scenes的后置定語。
語言點3:be not simply a form of的意思是“并不是一種簡單的…形式”。
17.They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing.
它們有著一定的含義，因為它們已接近古代人的文字形式。
語言點1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:for引導(dǎo)原因狀語從句，交代“有含義”的理由。
語言點2:they指代上文中所說the hunting scenes depicted on walls。
18.It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings and the markings that sometimes accompany them.
有時，這種圖畫與墻壁上的刻痕共存，它們之間可能有一定的聯(lián)系。
語言點:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:第一個that引導(dǎo)的部分是真正的主語，it是形式主語，第二個that引導(dǎo)定語從句，修飾markings.
19.It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.
看來人類早就致力于探索四季變遷了，比人們想像的要早20,000年。
語言點:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:that引導(dǎo)表語從句；在這個從句中，than引導(dǎo)定語從句，在該定語從句中，than作主語，這是定語從句中的特別現(xiàn)象。
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 tusk 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.
16.It has long been known that the hunting scenes depicted on walls were not simply a form of artistic expression.
大家早就知道，畫在墻上的狩獵圖景并不是單純的藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)形式。
語言點1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:It has long been known that…是一個固定句式，表示“大家早就知道…”，it充當(dāng)形式主語，that引導(dǎo)的內(nèi)容才是真正的主語。
語言點2:depicted on walls為過去分詞短語，作hunting scenes的后置定語。
語言點3:be not simply a form of的意思是“并不是一種簡單的…形式”。
17.They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing.
它們有著一定的含義，因為它們已接近古代人的文字形式。
語言點1:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:for引導(dǎo)原因狀語從句，交代“有含義”的理由。
語言點2:they指代上文中所說the hunting scenes depicted on walls。
18.It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings and the markings that sometimes accompany them.
有時，這種圖畫與墻壁上的刻痕共存，它們之間可能有一定的聯(lián)系。
語言點:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:第一個that引導(dǎo)的部分是真正的主語，it是形式主語，第二個that引導(dǎo)定語從句，修飾markings.
19.It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.
看來人類早就致力于探索四季變遷了，比人們想像的要早20,000年。
語言點:句子結(jié)構(gòu)分析:that引導(dǎo)表語從句；在這個從句中，than引導(dǎo)定語從句，在該定語從句中，than作主語，這是定語從句中的特別現(xiàn)象。