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How do you suppose I know about all these things that took place so long ago?
I don't.
I'm only guessing about them.
But there are different kinds of guesses. If I hold out my two closed hands and ask you to guess which one has the penny in it, that is one kind of a guess. Your guess might be right or it might be wrong. It would be just luck.
But there is another kind of guess. When there is snow on the ground and I see tracks of a boot in the snow, I guess that a person must have passed by, for boots don't usually walk without someone in them. That kind of guess is not just luck but common sense.
So we can guess about a great many things that have taken place long ago, even though there was no one there at the time to see them or tell about them.
We have dug down deep under the ground in different parts of the world and have found there—what do you suppose?
I don't believe you would ever guess.
We have found the heads of arrows and spears and hatchets.
The peculiar thing about these arrows and spears and hatchets is that they are not made of iron or steel, as you might expect, but of stone.
Now, we are sure that only human beings could have made and used such things, for birds and fish or other animals do not use hatchets or spears. We are also sure that these people must have lived long, long years ago before iron and steel were known, because it must have taken long, long years for these things to have become covered up so deep by dust and dirt. We have also found the bones of the people themselves, who died several million years ago, long before anyone began to write down history. The oldest bones we have ever found were in East Africa. We know that people long ago were working and playing, eating and fighting—doing many of the same things we are today—especially the fighting.
This time in the prehistory of the world, when people used such things made of stone, is therefore called the Stone Age.
Life was hard for Stone Age people. They didn't have all the things we are used to having today.
Some wild animals make houses. Foxes dig holes, beavers make houses of sticks and mud. These first people probably had no houses of any sort in which to live. They simply found any shelter they could. They found caves in the rocks or in the hillsides where they could get away from the cold and storms and wild animals. So men, women, and children of this time were called Cave People .
They spent their days hunting some animals and running and hiding from others. They caught animals by trapping them in a pit covered over with bushes, or they killed them with a club or a rock if they had a chance, or with stoneheaded arrows or hatchets. They even painted or cut pictures of these animals on the walls of their caves. Some of these pictures we can still see today.
They lived on berries and nuts and seeds. They robbed the nests of birds for the eggs, which they ate raw, for at first they had no fire with which to cook They liked to drink the warm blood of animals they killed, as you would a glass of milk.
They talked to each other by some sort of grunts or very simple words. They made clothes of skins of animals they killed, for there was no such thing as cloth.
These early people must have spent most of their time hunting for food or trying to get away from animals hunting them for food. They had no thick hide like an elephant to protect them; they did not grow a coat of fur like a bear to keep them warm; they could not run very fast, like a deer to escape their enemies; they were no match for an animal with sharp teeth and claws and strong muscles like a lion. It's a wonder any of them lived to grow up.
Stone Age people had two things that helped them more than sharp claws, or strong muscles, or tough skins. They had better brains than the animals. And they had hands instead of front feet. With their brains they could think . They could think of ways of doing things better.
With their brains they could think of using tools. With their hands they could make tools and use them. Instead of sharp teeth, men could use spears. In place of a furry skin to keep them warm, men could use the skins of animals.
Suppose you had been a boy or a girl in the Stone Age. I wonder how you would have liked the life.
When you woke up in the morning, you would not have bathed or even washed your hands and face or brushed your teeth or combed your hair.
You ate with your fingers, for there were no knives or forks or spoons or cups or saucers, only one bowl—which your mother had made out of mud and dried in the sun to hold water to drink—no dishes to wash and put away, no chairs, no tables, no table manners.
There were no books, no paper, no pencils.
There was no Saturday or Sunday, January or July. Except that one day was warm and sunny or another cold and rainy, they were all alike. There was no school to go to.
There was nothing to do all day long but make mud pies or pick berries or play tag with your brothers and sisters.
I wonder how you would like that kind of life!
“Fine!” do you think?—“a great life—just like camping out”?
But I have only told you part of the story.
The cave would have been cold and damp and dark, with only the bare ground or a pile of leaves for a bed. There would probably have been bats and big spiders sharing the cave with you.
You might have had on the skin of some animal your father had killed, but as this only covered part of your body and as there was no fire, you would have felt cold in winter, and when it got very cold you might have frozen to death.
For breakfast you might have had some dried berries or grass seed or a piece of raw meat, for lunch the same thing, for dinner still the same thing.
You would never have had any bread or cheese or griddlecakes with syrup, or oatmeal with sugar on it, or apple pie or ice cream.
There was nothing to do all day long but watch out for wild animals—bears and tigers; for there was no door with lock and key, and a tiger, if he found you out, could go wherever you went and “get you” even in your cave.
And then some day your father or brother, who had left the cave in the morning to go hunting, would not return, and you would know he had been torn to pieces by some wild beast, and you would wonder how long before your turn would come.
Do you think you would like to have lived then?
你猜我怎么会知道如此久远以前发生的事情呢？
我并不知道。
我只是猜测罢了。
可是猜测有很多种。如果我伸出两只握紧的拳头，让你猜猜哪只手里有硬币，这是一种猜想。你可能猜对，可能猜错，全凭运气。
可是，还有一种猜想。如果地上有雪，看到雪地上靴子的印迹，我就会猜：一定有个人从这经过，因为靴子通常不会自己走路。这种猜想不只是靠运气，而且靠常识。
所以，我们能猜出很久以前发生的很多事情，即使当时没人看到，也没人告诉我们什么。
我们在世界各地向地下挖了很多深坑，在那里发现了——你猜是什么？
我想你一定猜不出来。
我们发现了箭头、矛尖和斧头！
这些箭啊，矛啊，斧啊，有什么不同寻常的吗？你可能已经猜出来了，它们不是用铁或钢做的，而是用石头做的。
现在，我们确信，只有人才能制造、使用这些东西，因为鸟类、鱼类或其他动物不使用斧头或长矛。我们还确信，这些人一定生活在很多很多年以前，早在人们知道钢和铁以前，因为这些东西要深埋在尘土下一定需要很长的时间。后来，我们也发现了这些人的骨头，他们在几百万年前就死去了，那时候还没有人记载历史呢。最古老的人类化石发现于非洲东部。我们知道远古人类和现代人做的很多事情都是一样的——劳动、玩耍、吃饭、打仗，尤其是打仗。
人类使用石制工具的史前时期因此被称作“石器时代”。
对于石器时代的人类而言，生活是艰辛的，我们今天已经习以为常的东西他们一样也没有。
有些野生动物会做窝。狐狸会打洞，海狸用树枝和泥做窝。而早期的原始人可能没有任何一种房子居住，他们只要找个遮风避雨的地方就行了。他们在岩石上或山坡上找到洞穴，在里面既可以躲避严寒、暴风雨，又能躲避野兽。因此，这个时期的男人、女人和小孩被称为“穴居野人”。
他们整天不是捕猎一些动物，就是逃离和躲避另一些动物。他们在地上挖个陷阱，陷阱上面盖上树枝，以此来捕猎动物；如果有机会，就直接用棍棒、石头打死动物，或者用石制的箭或斧头猎杀动物。他们甚至在他们居住的洞穴墙上画上或刻上这些动物，有些图画至今还清晰可见。
他们以浆果、坚果和植物的种子为食，有时也从鸟窝里掏鸟蛋生吃，因为刚开始，他们还没有烧饭的火。他们喜欢喝刚刚猎杀的动物的热血，就像你们喜欢喝杯牛奶一样。
他们口中发出咕哝、咕哝的声音，或者用非常简单的词语交谈。他们用自己猎杀的动物的皮做衣服，因为当时还没有像布这样的东西。
早期的人一定把大部分时间都用来猎捕动物为食，或者躲避动物以免成为动物的猎物。他们没有大象那样的厚皮保护自己，他们没有熊身上的厚毛保暖，他们无法像鹿儿躲避敌人时那样快速地奔跑，他们更比不上像狮子那种有着尖牙、利爪和强健肌肉的动物。他们中任何人能活着长大就是一个奇迹了。
石器时代的人有两样东西帮助他们胜过利爪、强健肌肉和坚硬皮毛。他们有比动物聪明得多的头脑和替代了前掌的双手。有了头脑，他们就可以思考，就可以想出更好地做事的方法。
有了头脑，人就可以想到使用工具。有了双手，人就可以制造和使用工具。没有尖牙，人可以使用长矛。没长毛皮，人可以用动物的皮毛来保暖。
假设你就是一个生活在石器时代的男孩或女孩，我不知道你觉得这样的生活怎么样。
每天早晨起床，你都不洗澡，甚至不洗手、不洗脸、不刷牙、不梳头发。
你用手指抓东西吃，因为既没有刀叉，也没有勺子、茶杯或茶碟，只有一个碗 ——你妈妈用泥做的、放在阳光下晒干后用来盛水喝——也没有需要清洗和收拾的盘子，没有桌椅，更不需要餐桌礼仪了。
没有书，没有纸，没有铅笔。
没有周六、周日，也没有一月、七月，除了暖和的晴天、阴冷的雨天这样的区别，所有的日子都一个样。当然，也没有去上学的学校。
除了捏捏泥团，摘摘浆果，和你的兄弟姐妹玩玩捉迷藏，你会整天无事可做。
我很想知道你喜欢这样的生活吗！
“很好！”你这样想吗？——“真棒——就像露营一样”？
但是，我告诉你们的只是生活的一部分。
山洞又冷又湿又暗，仅有光秃秃的地面或一堆树叶作床，可能还有蝙蝠和巨型蜘蛛与你分享山洞。
你身上可能裹着你父亲猎杀的某种动物的毛皮，但因为它只遮住身体的一部分，也因为没有火，所以冬天你会觉得冷，天气特别寒冷时，你甚至会冻死。
早餐可能只是一些干果、草籽或一片生肉，午餐同样如此，晚餐还是同样如此。
你吃不到面包、奶酪、煎饼加果汁、加糖麦片、苹果派或冰激凌。
整天你都会无事可做，但时刻要提防野兽——熊啊，老虎啊；没有配了锁或钥匙的门，所以，如果一只老虎发现了你，就可能跟着你到任何地方，甚至就在你住的山洞里也能“把你逮到”。
说不定有一天，你的父亲或兄弟早晨出了山洞去狩猎，就再也没回来，你知道他是被某个野兽撕成了碎片，你不知道还有多久这样的厄运就会降临在你身上。
你还觉得你喜欢生活在那个时候吗？