下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
PREHISTORIC MAN BEGINS TO MAKE THINGS FOR HIMSELF
EARLY man did not know what time meant. He kept no records of birthdays or wedding anniversaries or the hour of death. He had no idea of days or weeks or even years. But in a general way he kept track of the seasons for he had noticed that the cold winter was invariably followed by the mild spring—that spring grew into the hot summer when fruits ripened and the wild ears of corn were ready to be eaten and that summer ended when sudden gusts of wind swept the leaves from the trees and a number of animals were getting ready for the long hibernal sleep.
But now, something unusual and rather frightening had happened. Something was the matter with the weather. The warm days of summer had come very late. The fruits had not ripened. The tops of the mountains which used to be covered with grass now lay deeply hidden underneath a heavy burden of snow.
Then, one morning, a number of wild people, different from the other creatures who lived in that neighbourhood, came wandering down from the region of the high peaks. They looked lean and appeared to be starving. They uttered sounds which no one could understand. They seemed to say that they were hungry. There was not food enough for both the old inhabitants and the newcomers. When they tried to stay more than a few days there was a terrible battle with claw-like hands and feet and whole families were killed. The others fled back to their mountain slopes and died in the next blizzard.
But the people in the forest were greatly frightened. All the time the days grew shorter and the nights grew colder than they ought to have been.
Finally, in a gap between two high hills, there appeared a tiny speck of greenish ice. Rapidly it increased in size. A gigantic glacier came sliding downhill. Huge stones were being pushed into the valley. With the noise of a dozen thunderstorms torrents of ice and mud and blocks of granite suddenly tumbled among the people of the forest and killed them while they slept. Century old trees were crushed into kindling wood. And then it began to snow.
PREHISTORIC EUROPE（有史前的欧洲）
It snowed for months and months. All the plants died and the animals fled in search of the southern sun. Man hoisted his young upon his back and followed them. But he could not travel as fast as the wilder creatures and he was forced to choose between quick thinking or quick dying. He seems to have preferred the former for he has managed to survive the terrible glacial periods which upon four different occasions threatened to kill every human being on the face of the earth.
In the first place it was necessary that man clothe himself lest he freeze to death. He learned how to dig holes and cover them with branches and leaves and in these traps he caught bears and hyenas, which he then killed with heavy stones and whose skins he used as coats for himself and his family.
Next came the housing problem. This was simple. Many animals were in the habit of sleeping in dark caves. Man now followed their example, drove the animals out of their warm homes and claimed them for his own.
Even so, the climate was too severe for most people and the old and the young died at a terrible rate. Then a genius bethought himself of the use of fire. Once, while out hunting, he had been caught in a forest-fire. He remembered that he had been almost roasted to death by the flames.Thus far fire had been an enemy. Now it became a friend. A dead tree was dragged into the cave and lighted by means of smouldering branches from a burning wood. This turned the cave into a cozy little room.
And then one evening a dead chicken fell into the fire. It was not rescueduntilhadbeenwellroasted.discoveredtastedthatManitmeatbetter when cooked and he then and there discarded one of the old habits which he had shared with the other animals and began to prepare his food.
In this way thousands of years passed. Only the people with the cleverest brains survived. They had to struggle day and night against cold and hunger. They were forced to invent tools. They learned how to sharpen stones into axes and how to make hammers. They were obliged to put up large stores of food for the endless days of the winter and they found that clay could be made into bowls and jars and hardened in the rays of the sun. And so the glacial period, which had threatened to destroy the human race, became its greatest teacher because it forced man to use his brain.
历史以前的人起始制造应用物品
原始人不知时间的意义。他的生日、婚期与死期都没有记录。他也没有日子、星期与年的观念。他只用一种大概方法以记春夏秋冬四季。他知道寒冬一过，接着就是温和的春季来了；春季又渐渐进行到炎热的夏季，那时候果子都成熟了，野麦也可以吃了；夏季之末，突然的疾风扫尽树头的枯叶，一部分的动物也要准备入蛰了。
但在这时，一件非常可怕的事情发生了。这是一件与天气有关系的事情。这一年热天来得很迟。果子都未成熟。原来长满青草的山顶此刻还是深深地掩埋在积雪之下。
于是一天早晨，从一个高山顶上来了一队与附近居民不同的野人。他们身上显着很瘦，仿佛是挨饿的样子。他们说的话无人能懂。他们好像说他们饿了。但是那地方的食物不够旧有与新来的两伙人吃。偏偏新来的人想在那里多住几天，于是双方发生了一场肉搏的恶战，结果新来的都是全家被杀死。剩下的几人逃回他们原来的山坡里，等到明年风雪时，一齐冻死了。
但是森林里的居民可受惊了。这些时白天渐渐短下去，夜里渐渐冷起来，冷到不应该如此冷法的。
后来在高山间的一个峡里，露出一小点绿色的冰来。这一小点冰扩大得很快，不久成为一个极大的冰河溜下山来，将大的石块都推到山谷里。突然像一阵急雷暴雨声，无数冰块、泥块、石块，纷纷滚入森林里，把酣睡的人们都给压死了。数百年的老树都被压成乌焦木材。于是又下起雪来了。
接连下了几个月雪。所有的植物都冻死了，动物都逃往南方去寻和暖的阳光。人也背起他的孩子跟着动物走。但是因为他走得没有野兽那样快，所以他不得不另筹善法；他若不能立刻想出活着的方法，便须束手以待毙。他似乎情愿选择前一样，因为在那四次可怕的可以灭尽地面上一切人类的冰河时代内，他居然设法活下来了。
第一，人必须穿衣服，不然，就得冻死。他知道怎样在地下挖洞，盖上树枝树叶，做成陷阱，捉到野熊或野狗，然后用大块石头砍死它们，剥它们的皮来给他自己与他家小做衣服穿。
第二，便是房屋问题。这倒是简单的。许多野兽都有睡在黑洞里的习惯。现在人也效法它们，将野兽逐出，自己占据它们暖和的窠。
虽然如此，天气实在冷得厉害，大部分的人还是忍受不了；那些老人与孩子都在一个极冷的时候冻死了。于是有一位天才想出用火的方法。他记得有一次打猎，曾被困在一个火烧的树林里，几乎被火焰烤死。火一向是他的仇人，现在却成为他的朋友了。他牵一棵死树到洞里，又从一棵着火的树上取下一条冒烟的树枝来，把它点着了。如此将这洞变成一间舒服的小屋子。
有一天晚上，一只死鸡适巧掉进火里，直到烤得很好了，才被救出来。人于是发现煮过的肉比生的味美。此后他便抛弃了与别的动物相同的旧习惯，开始料理他的食物了。
人在这种生活内过了几千年。只于脑筋聪明的人得以生存。他们日夜须与饥寒相奋斗。他们被逼到不得不发明器具了。他们学习如何把石块削成斧子，做成锤子。他们为那没有尽期的冬天，不得不储藏大宗的粮食，于是发明了用土作碗，做罐子，在阳光里晒干了，用来盛东西。从此看来，这个可以毁灭人类的冰河时代反给了人类极大的教训，强迫他去运用他的脑筋。
