新概念英语第三册逐句精讲语言点第38课(4)

新概念英语第三册逐句精讲语言点第38课(4)

The first calendar 最早的日历

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.

10. Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate that this assumption is incorrect.

但近期科学研究发现，好像这种假设是不准确的。

语言点1：句子结构分析：that引导宾语从句，交代indicate的内容。

语言点2：indicate的本意是“指出”，在此引申为“发现”。 11. Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusk of mammoths.

长期以来，历史学家一直对雕刻在墙壁上、骨头上、古代长毛象的象牙上的点、线和形形色色的符号感到困惑不解。

语言点1：句子结构分析：这句话的核心结构是sb.be puzzled by sth.（某人对某事感到困惑不解）。Which引导定语从句，修饰dots,lines and symbols。

语言点2：engrave on的意思是“在…上雕刻”。

12. 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.

这些痕迹是游牧人留下的，他们生活在从公元前约35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩猎、捕鱼为生。

语言点1：句子结构分析：who引导定语从句，修饰nomads。Which引导定语从句，修饰the last Ice Age。

语言点2：lived by hunting and fishing的意思是“靠狩猎和捕鱼为生”。