新概念英语第4册课文（中英文对照） Lesson1 Finding fossil man发现化石人 We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East,where people first learned to write. But there are some parts of the word where even now people cannot write.The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas --legends handed down from one generation of 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 the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from.The sagas of these people explain that some of them came fromIndonesiaabout 2,000 years ago. But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas,if they had any,are forgotten.So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first'modern men'came from. Fortunately,however,ancient men made tools of stone,especially flint,because this is easier to shape than other kinds.They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away.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 without trace. 参考译文 我们从书籍中可读到5,000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 界上有些地方，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米。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人们：其中一部分是约在2,000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，有关他们的传说既使有如今也失传 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，因为燧石较之其他石头更容易 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。 Lesson2 Spare that spider不要伤旾蜘蛛 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 human race. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world;they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds,if it were not for the protection we get from insect-eating animals.We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a fraction of the number destroyed by spiders.Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters,spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings. Spiders are not insects,as many people think,nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the difference almost at a glance,for a spider always has eight legs and insect never more than six. How many spiders are engaged in this work no our behalf?One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south ofEngland,and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre;that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of different kinds on a football pitch.Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects.It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess新概念英语第 4 册课文(中英文对照) Lesson 1 Finding fossil man 发现化石人 We can read of things that happened 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where people first learned to write. But there are some parts of the word where even now people cannot write. The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas -- legends handed down f rom one generation of 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 the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came f rom. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came f romIndonesiaabout 2,000 years ago. But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first 'modern men' came f rom. Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away. 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 without trace. 参考译文 我们从书籍中可读到 5,000 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 界上有些地方，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。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人们：其中一部分是约在 2,000 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，有关他们的传说既使有如今也失传 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，因为燧石较之其他石头更容易 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 Why, you may wonder, should spiders be our f riends? Because they destroy so many insects, and insects include some of the greatest enemies of the human race. Insects would make it impossible for us to live in the world; they would devour all our crops and kill our flocks and herds, if it were not for the protection we get f rom insect-eating animals. We owe a lot to the birds and beasts who eat insects but all of them put together kill only a f raction of the number destroyed by spiders. Moreover, unlike some of the other insect eaters, spiders never do the harm to us or our belongings. Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. One can tell the dif ference almost at a glance, for a spider always has eight legs and insect never more than six. How many spiders are engaged in this work no our behalf ? One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in grass field in the south ofEngland, and he estimated that there were more than 2,250,000 in one acre; that is something like 6,000,000 spiders of dif ferent kinds on a football pitch. Spiders are busy for at least half the year in killing insects. It is impossible to make more than the wildest guess