---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/38-the-first-calender.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：The First Calender。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 最早的日历

## 课文学习台 {#study}

### 第1段

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.

中文理解：未来的历史学家在记述我们这个时代的历史时，将拥有独特的优势。对于逐渐积累起来的庞大材料，他们几乎不知道选取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依赖文字材料。电影、录像、光盘和只读光盘只是能为他们提供令人眼花缭乱的大量信息的几种手段。他们能够身临其境般地观看我们做事，倾听我们讲话。但是，历史学家企图重现遥远的过去将是一项艰巨的任务，他们必须根据现有的不充分的线索进行推理。即使看起来微不足道的遗物，也可能揭示人类早期历史的一些有趣的内容。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①record = write down。②select = choose。③great mass of evidence = large number of facts。④accumulates = collects, builds up。⑤solely = only。⑥bewildering = confusing。⑦insignificant = unimportant。

\[语法符号讲解] \[1]本句有一个what he can 三个词组成的宾语从句，处于句中，前后均没有标点符号，于是我们照例先在引导词what 的wh 下画横线，表示宾语从句的开始，再在can 的n 下面画横线，稍微伸到空格处，表示从句的结束。

### 第2段

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.

中文理解：历史学家迄今认为日历是随农业的出现而问世的，因为当时人们面临着了解四季的实际需要，但近期科学研究表明，好像这种假设是不正确的。

* **Up to now**：到目前为止 / 从那时起；它们常与完成时一起出现；回到原句看动作还是状态延续。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①assumed = supposed。②indicate = suggest。

### 第3段

Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusks 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.

中文理解：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。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年的最后一个冰期，以狩猎、捕鱼为生。历史学家通过把世界各地留下的这种痕迹放在一起研究，终于弄懂了这种费解的代码。他们发现代码与昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关，事实上是一种最原始的日历。大家早就知道，画在墙上的狩猎图景并不是单纯的艺术表现形式，它们有着一定的含义，因为它们已接近古代人的文字形式。有时，这种图画与墙壁上的刻痕共存，它们之间可能有一定的联系。看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了，比人们想像的要早 20,000年。

* **been able to**：能够 / 无法；结合时间判断是一般能力还是某次实际做到；unable 带否定。

* **is connected with**：与……相关；相关不自动等于因果，需要另外的证据支持。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①engraved = carved。②重点句型：make an effort to do sth.。\[1]本句的句型it be possible (for sb.) to + verb.是更为常用的用法，而it be possible that 也是可以用的。

\[语法符号讲解] \[1]本句是it is that 结构，it 是先行主语，作形式主语，that 从句为真正的主语，故我们在标记时，将主语从句的结尾单词them 也做了标记。

#### Summary 摘要

Historians have long been puzzled by prehistoric markings on walls, bones and tusks. The people who made the markings were nomads during the last Ice Age. Finally historians have managed to read this difficult code and realized that they depict the passing of the days and phases of the moon. They are in fact a primitive calendar. There is a connection between the pictures of hunting scenes and the markings with them. (71 words)

#### Composition 作文 Studying the Past 研究过去

\[1]Future historians will have plenty of sources from which to learn about twentieth-century man. Not only will they have the written word, they will also have films, videos, audio cassettes, CDs and CD-ROMs. In fact, they will have so much source material that they will hardly know where to start!

\[2]If they study all the material available, they will be able to build up a complete social and political history of our time. They will know exactly how we dressed, what we ate in every different country and they will know exactly what our homes were like. They will know what our towns and cities were like and what forms of entertainment we enjoyed. In fact, they will not only learn about our forms of entertainment, they will be able to enjoy a lot of them, too—our music, plays, musical shows, video games, our art, our literature,… And they will be able to read and see the news day by day as it happened.

\[3]They will learn in detail the way we fought our wars—the way we used jet fighters, helicopters, ships and tanks. They will be able to learn every detail of great moments in history, and everything about leading figures of the time as well as the lives of ordinary men and women.

\[4]In future, the study of history will provide interest and excitement for a lot of people, the past will be brought to life and history will no longer be boring. (249 words)

## 学完这一课

保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第125—128页，2022年2月第3版。*