Civilization, Past & Present  Longman, Inc., 2000.

《古今文明》，朗曼公司，2000年版。

Prologue

If the time span of our planet--now estimated at some 5 billion years--were telescoped into a single year, the first eight months would be devoid of any life. The next two months would be taken up with plant and very primitive animal forms, and not until well into December would any mammals appear.

前言

如果把我们星球的年岁──目前测定为约五十亿年──浓缩为一年，那前8个月里毫无生命迹象。接下来的两个月，见到的只是植物和极原始的动物形式。 进入12月很久以后，哺乳动物才露面。

In this "year", members of  "Homo erectus", our ancient predecessors, would mount the global stage only between 10 and 11 p.m. on December 31. And how has the human species spent that brief allotment? Most of it--the equivalent of mare than half a million years--has been given over to making tools out of stone.

在这“年”中，“直立人”的成员，我们的远古先辈，只是在12月31日夜里的10点和11点之间才活跃在地球舞台上。人类是怎样度过这一短暂时段的？绝大部分时间──相当于五十多万年──都花在制造石头工具上。  

The revolutionary changeover from food-hunting nomads to farmers who raised grain and domesticated animals would occur in the last 60 seconds.  And into that final minute would be crowded all of humanity's other accomplishments so far: the use of metal; the creation of civilizations; the mastery of the oceans; and the harnessing of steam, then gas, electricity, oil, and finally, nuclear energy.  Brief though it has been, humanity's time on the globe reveals a rich tapestry of science, industry, religion, and art. This accumulated experience of human species is our history.

从四处寻食的游牧人群到种植粮食、饲养畜禽的农民的革命性转变，到最后60秒才发生。在这最后一分钟里，还充盈着迄今为止人类取得的其它成就：金属的使用；多种文明的创立；对海洋的掌握；对蒸汽、然后是煤气、电力、石油，最后是核能的驾御。虽然短暂，地球上有人以来的时期展开了一幅丰富多彩的科学、工业、宗教和艺术的绣帷。 人类这一不断积累的经历就是我们的历史。

Past and Present

  As we read and learn about early societies and their members, we discover them to be very different from us and the world in which we live. Yet we are linked by more than curiosity to our ancient predecessors. Why? Because we are of the same species, and we share a fundamental commonality that connects present with past: the human-environment nexus. It is the dynamic interplay.

过去和现在

阅读和学习早期社会及其成员时，我们会发现他们与我们和我们生活于其中的世界是多么地不同。 但我们与先辈之间存在着联系，绝不仅仅是出于好奇。为什么？因为我们属于同一物种，而且我们分享着把过去和现在联系起来的根本共同点：人类──环境的联系。

Of environmental factors and human activities that accounts for the process known as history.    The biological continuity of our species, coupled with humanity's unflagging inventiveness, has enabled each generation to build on the experiences and contributions of its forebears so that continuity and change in human affairs proceed together.

正是环境因素与人类活动之间的强劲互动，才解释了称为历史的这一过程。 我们物种的生物延续，伴随着人类经久不衰的创造力，使每一代人得以在前人经验和贡献的基础上进行建设，从而使人类事务在延续和变化的共存中演进。