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《人類簡(jiǎn)史：從動(dòng)物到上帝》（Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind）作者為以色列歷史學(xué)家、哲學(xué)家和暢銷書作家尤瓦爾·諾亞·赫拉利。赫拉利被稱為青年怪才，2002年獲得牛津大學(xué)博士學(xué)位，現(xiàn)任教于耶路撒冷希伯來大學(xué)。本書2014年出版，火遍全球，全球銷量超過2500萬冊(cè)，被翻譯成65種語(yǔ)言。書中將從石器時(shí)代至今天智人的演化歷史分為了四個(gè)階段：認(rèn)知革命（約公元前70000年，智人演化產(chǎn)生了想象力，出現(xiàn)能夠描述故事的語(yǔ)言）、農(nóng)業(yè)革命（約公元前12000年，農(nóng)業(yè)開始發(fā)展，智人開始馴化動(dòng)植物）、人類的融合統(tǒng)一（人類政治組織逐漸融合統(tǒng)一為一個(gè)“全球帝國(guó)”）、科學(xué)革命（約公元1500年至今，出現(xiàn)了現(xiàn)代科學(xué)）。今天為大家介紹的是譯者林俊宏的中譯本。 （朗讀：北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué) 蘇樂舟）
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 人類簡(jiǎn)史 About 13.5 billion years ago, matter, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics. 大約在140億年前，經(jīng)過所謂的“大爆炸”之后宇宙的物質(zhì)、能量、時(shí)間和空間才成了現(xiàn)在的樣子。宇宙的這些基本特征，就成了“物理學(xué)”。About 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy started to coalesce into complex structures, called atoms, which then combined into molecules. The story of atoms, molecules and their interactions is called chemistry.在這之后過了大約30萬年，物質(zhì)和能量開始形成復(fù)雜的結(jié)構(gòu)稱為“原子”，再進(jìn)一步構(gòu)成“分子”。至于這些原子和分子的故事以及它們?nèi)绾位?dòng)，就成了“化學(xué)”。About 3.8 billion years ago, on a planet called Earth, certain molecules combined to form particularly large and intricate structures called organisms. The story of organisms is called biology. 大約40億年前，在這顆叫作“地球”的行星上，有些分子結(jié)合起來，形成一種特別龐大而又精細(xì)的結(jié)構(gòu)，稱為“有機(jī)體”。有機(jī)體的故事，就成了“生物學(xué)”。About 70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species Homo sapiens started to form even more elaborate structures called cultures. The subsequent development of these human cultures is called history. 到了大約7萬年前，屬于“智人”這一物種的生物，開始創(chuàng)造出更復(fù)雜的架構(gòu)，稱為“文化”。而這些人類文化繼續(xù)發(fā)展，就成了“歷史學(xué)”。Three important revolutions shaped the course of history: the Cognitive Revolution kick-started history about 70,000 years ago. The Agricultural Revolution sped it up about 12,000 years ago. The Scientific Revolution, which got under way only 500 years ago, may well end history and start something completely different. This book tells the story of how these three revolutions have affected humans and their fellow organisms. 在歷史的路上，有三大重要革命：大約7萬年前，“認(rèn)知革命”讓歷史正式啟動(dòng)。大約12000年前，“農(nóng)業(yè)革命”讓歷史加速發(fā)展。而到了大約不過500年前，“科學(xué)革命”可以說是讓歷史畫下句號(hào)而另創(chuàng)新局。這本書，講述的就是這三大革命如何改變了人類和其他生物。There were humans long before there was history. Animals much like modern humans first appeared about 2.5 million years ago. But for countless generations they did not stand out from the myriad other organisms with which they shared their habitats.人類早在有歷史記錄之前就已存在。早在250萬年前，就已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了非常類似現(xiàn)代人類的動(dòng)物。然而，世世代代的繁衍生息，他們與棲息于地球的其他生物相比，并沒什么特別突出之處。  On a hike in East Africa 2 million years ago, you might well have encountered a familiar cast of human characters: anxious mothers cuddling their babies and clutches of carefree children playing in the mud; temperamental youths chafing against the dictates of society and weary elders who just wanted to be left in peace; chest-thumping machos trying to impress the local beauty and wise old matriarchs who had already seen it all. These archaic humans loved, played.formed close friendships and competed for status and power-but so did chimpanzees, baboons and elephants. There was nothing special about them. Nobody, least of all humans themselves, had any inkling that their descendants would one day walk on the moon, split the atom, fathom the genetic code and write history books. The most important thing to know about prehistoric humans is that they were insignificant animals with no more impact on their environment than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish.如果到200萬年前的東非逛一逛，你很可能會(huì)看到一群很像人類的生物。有些媽媽一邊哄著嬰兒，一邊還得把玩兒瘋的小孩抓回來，忙得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn)；有些年輕人對(duì)社會(huì)上的種種規(guī)范氣憤不滿，而垂垂老矣的老人家只想圖個(gè)清靜；有肌肉猛男捶著自己的胸膛，希望旁邊的美女能夠垂青，而年長(zhǎng)的充滿智慧的大家長(zhǎng)，對(duì)這一切早就習(xí)以為常。這些遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)期的人類已懂得愛和玩樂，能夠產(chǎn)生親密的友誼，也會(huì)爭(zhēng)地位、奪權(quán)力，不過，這些人和黑猩猩、狒狒、大象也沒什么不同。這些遠(yuǎn)古人類，和一般動(dòng)物比起來就是沒什么特別。他們?nèi)f萬沒有想到，他們的后代某一天竟能在月球上漫步、分裂原子、了解基因碼，還能寫寫歷史書。說到史前人類最重要的一件事，就是他們?cè)诋?dāng)時(shí)根本無足輕重，對(duì)環(huán)境的影響也不見得比大猩猩、螢火蟲或水母來得多。  Biologists classify organisms into species. Animals are said to belong to the same species if they tend to mate with each other, giving birth to fertile off spring Horses and donkeys have a recent common ancestor and share many physical traits. But they show little sexual interest in one another. They will mate if induced to do so - but their offspring, called mules, are sterile. Mutations in donkey DNA can therefore never cross over to horses, or vice versa. The two types of animals are consequently considered two distinct species, moving along separate evolutionary paths. By contrast, a bulldog and a spaniel may look very different, but they are members of the same species, sharing the same DNA pool. They will happily mate and their puppies will grow up to pair off with other dogs and produce more puppies. Species that evolved from a common ancestor are bunched together under the heading 'genus’(plural genera). Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars are different species within the genus Panthera. Biologists label organisms with a two-part Latin name, genus followed by species. Lions, for example, are called Panthera leo, the species leo of the genus Panthera. Presumably, everyone reading this book is a Homo sapiens - the species sapiens (wise) of the genus Homo (man).生物學(xué)家把所有生物劃分成不同的“物種”。而所謂屬于同一物種，就是它們會(huì)彼此交配，能夠產(chǎn)出具有生育能力的下一代。馬和驢雖然有共同的祖先，也有許多類似的身體特征，也能夠交配，但它們彼此卻缺少性趣，就算刻意讓它們交配，產(chǎn)出的下一代會(huì)是騾，而騾不具有生育能力。因此，驢的DNA突變就不可能傳給馬這個(gè)物種，馬也不會(huì)傳給驢。于是，我們認(rèn)定馬和驢屬于兩個(gè)不同的物種，有各自的演化路徑。相較之下，雖然斗牛犬和西班牙獵犬看來天差地別，卻屬于同一物種，有一樣的DNA庫(kù)。它們很愿意交配，而且它們的幼崽長(zhǎng)大后也能和其他狗交配，生出更多的幼犬從同一個(gè)祖先演化而來的不同物種，會(huì)屬于同一個(gè)“屬”。獅子、老虎、豹和美洲豹，雖然是不同物種，但都是“豹屬”。生物學(xué)家用拉丁文為生物命名，每個(gè)名字由兩個(gè)詞組成，第一個(gè)詞是屬名，第二個(gè)詞則是種名。例如獅子就稱為“Panthera leo”，指的是豹屬的獅種。而只要沒有意外，每一位在讀這本書的讀者應(yīng)該都是一個(gè)“Homo sapiens”：人屬的人種。Genera in their turn are grouped into families, such as the cats (lions, cheetahs house cats), the dogs (wolves, foxes, jackals) and the elephants (elephants, mammoths, mastodons). All members of a family trace their lineage back to a founding matriarch or patriarch. All cats, for example, from the smallest house kitten to the most ferocious lion, share a common feline ancestor who lived about 25 million years ago.許多屬還能再歸類為同一科，例如貓科（獅子、獵豹、家貓）、犬科（狼、狐貍、豺）、象科（大象、長(zhǎng)毛象、乳齒象）。同一科的所有成員，都能追溯到某個(gè)最早的雄性或雌性祖先。例如所有的貓科動(dòng)物，不管是家里喵喵叫的小貓還是草原上吼聲震天的獅子都是來自大約2500萬年前的某個(gè)祖先。Homo sapiens, too, belongs to a family. This banal fact used to be one of history’s most closely guarded secrets. Homo sapiens long preferred to view itself as set apart from animals, an orphan bereft of family, lacking siblings or cousins.and most importantly, without parents. But that’s just not the case. Like it or not we are members of a large and particularly noisy family called the great apes. Our closest living relatives include chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans. The chimpanzees are the closest. Just 6 million years ago, a single female ape had two daughters. One became the ancestor of all chimpanzees, the other is our own grandmother.至于智人，也是屬于某個(gè)科。雖然這件事看來再平凡不過，卻曾經(jīng)是整個(gè)歷史上最大的秘密。智人長(zhǎng)期以來一直認(rèn)為自己和其他動(dòng)物不同，仿佛整個(gè)科就只有自己的存在，沒有家庭，沒有遠(yuǎn)近親戚，而且最重要的是：沒有父母。但可惜這絕非事實(shí)。不論你是否接受，我們所屬的人科不僅成員眾多，而且還特別吵鬧，那就是一堆巨猿。與我們最近的親戚，就是黑猩猩、大猩猩和猩猩。其中，黑猩猩與我們最為接近。不過就在600萬年前，有一只母猿產(chǎn)下兩個(gè)女兒，一個(gè)成了所有黑猩猩的祖先，另一個(gè)則成了所有人類的祖奶奶。大連外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)高級(jí)翻譯學(xué)院實(shí)習(xí)生 徐榮臻 整理 
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