2　我們最早的祖先

對于第一個“真正的”人，我們知之甚少。我們從沒見過他們的圖片。我們有時會在遠古泥土深層找到他們的骸骨，這些骨頭與其他動物的殘骸埋在一起——那些早已從地球上消失的動物。人類學家（是博學的科學家，他們致力于人類的研究，并把人看作動物王國中的一員）用拿到的這些骨骼，比較準確地再現了我們最早的祖先。

人類的曾曾祖父是奇丑無比、不招人愛的哺乳動物。他身材矮小，比現代人小得多。太陽的灼熱，再加上刺骨的寒風，把他的皮膚變成了暗棕色。他的頭頂、身體的大部分及四肢都長滿了長長的粗毛。他有纖細卻有力的手指，這讓他的手看起來像猴子的爪子。他的前額很低，下顎長得像野獸的下顎，可以讓牙齒既當刀用又當叉用。他赤身裸體。除了火山噴發的隆隆的火焰，他沒見過其他火光（火山噴發時，地面被濃煙和巖漿所籠罩）。

他生活在潮濕的茂林中，就像今天非洲的俾格米人居住的環境一樣，餓了就生吃植物的葉子和根。有時，他也從鳥兒那里搶蛋來喂自己的孩子，招來鳥兒的氣憤。經過漫長的演變，他也可以通過苦苦的追逐之后，偶爾抓到一只麻雀、小野

These he would eat raw for he had never discovered that food tasted better when it was cooked.

During the hours of day, this primitive human being prowled about looking for things to eat.

When night descended upon the earth, he hid his wife and his children in a hollow tree or behind some heavy boulders, for he was surrounded on all sides by ferocious animals and when it was dark these animals began to prowl about, looking for something to eat for their mates and their own young, and they liked the taste of human beings. It was a world where you must either eat or be eaten, and life was very unhappy because it was full of fear and misery.

In summer, man was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, and during the winter his children would freeze to death in his arms. When such a creature hurt itself，（and hunting animals are forever breaking their bones or spraining their ankles）he had no one to take care of him and he must die a horrible death.

Like many of the animals who fill the Zoo with their strange noises, early man liked to jabber. That is to say, he endlessly repeated the same unintelligible gibberish because it pleased him to hear the sound of his voice. In due time he learned that he could use this guttural noise to warn his fellow beings whenever danger threatened and he gave certain little shrieks which came to mean “there is a tiger!” or “here come five elephants.” Then the others grunted something back at him and their growl meant, “I see them,” or “let us run away and hide.” And this was probably the origin of all language.

But, as I have said before, of these beginnings we know so very little. Early man had no tools and he built himself no houses. He lived and died and left no trace of his existence

狗或兔子。他會生吃這些食物，因為他還不知道，煮熟的食物味道更鮮美。

白天，為了找到東西吃，被我們叫作原始人的他四處巡游。

夜幕降臨時，他把妻兒藏進樹洞或巨石后面，因為這時他周圍都是猛獸。天色變暗時，這些猛獸就會出來巡邏，為它們的妻兒尋找食物，而它們最喜歡原始人肉的味道。那是一個吃人或被吃的世界，生活是很不安定的，因為充滿了恐懼和悲痛。

夏季，人類無從躲避炙熱的陽光；冬季，孩子們會凍死在他的臂彎里。一旦他受了傷（捕獵時總是會折斷骨頭或扭傷腳踝），就沒有人照顧他，所以他會死得很慘。

和動物園許多動物會發出怪叫一樣，早期的人類也喜歡嘰嘰喳喳地說話。也就是說，他會不停地重復同一個不清不楚的聲音，這是因為他聽到自己的聲音會感覺愉悅。遇到危險時，他學會了用嗓音給同伴發警報。一個小小的尖叫，意思是“老虎來了”或“來了五頭大象”。然后，別人也會對他咕噥些什么，意思是“我看到了”或“快跑，藏起來”。這可能是人類語言的起源。

except a few collar-bones and a few pieces of his skull. These tell us that many thousands of years ago the world was inhabited by certain mammals who were quite different from all the other animals—who had probably developed from another unknown ape-like animal which had learned to walk on its hind-legs and use its fore-paws as hands—and who were most probably connected with the creatures who happen to be our own immediate ancestors.

It is little enough we know and the rest is darkness.

但是，正如我前面所說，我們對人類起源知道得太少。早期人類沒有工具，也不建造房屋。除了一些鎖骨和顱骨的碎片，他沒有留下丁點存在過的痕跡。這些骨頭告訴我們，成千上萬年前，世界上居住著某種哺乳動物，它們和所有其他動物截然不同。它們可能是由另一種未知的猿類進化而來，已學會用后肢行走，把前爪當作手。它們很可能與我們的直系祖先有關系。

我們了解的東西很不夠，其他的都是未解之謎。