时差N小时 穴居人远比我们想象的聪明(下)

Archaeologists¹ have found Neanderthal tools dating from around 100,000 years ago on the Greek² islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos.

考古学家在希腊群岛中的凯利法尼亚岛和扎金索斯岛上发现了100,000年前尼安得特人使用的工具。

If Neanderthals were on those islands, scientists reason, they must have gotten there by boat.

科学家推断，如果尼安得特人曾在那些岛上生活，那么他们一定是乘船抵达的。

Now, it's possible that long ago those islands weren't islands, or that sea levels were low enough that Neanderthals could have crossed over to the islands by walking or even swimming.

当然，那些岛屿可能很久之前还不是岛屿，或者海平面很低，尼安得特人能够徒步或游到那些岛屿上。

But scientists have shown that the Mediterranean4 sea was at least 590 feet deep when Neanderthals lived in what's now modern Greece.

但是，科学家已经证实，尼安得特人居住在现代希腊的领土上时，地中海水深至少590英尺。

Plus, scientists have found pre-historic tools on the island of Crete that predate even Neanderthals.

此外，科学家已经在克里特岛上发现早于尼安得特人的史前工具。

So it seems that even more ancient proto-human species³ knew how to sail.

似乎更为早期的原始人类已经知道如何航海了。

In any case, although it's impossible to know for sure, it seems likely that Neanderthals were sailors long before modern humans built their first sea faring vessels⁴.

无论如何，虽然无法确定，不过尼安得特人很可能早在现代人造出第一艘船之前就已经开始航海出行了。

1 archaeologists   

n.考古学家( archaeologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• Archaeologists have worked for years to piece together the huge mosaic. 考古学家经年累月拼组这幅巨大的马赛克。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 Greek   

adj.希腊(人)的，希腊语的；n.希腊人；希腊语

参考例句：

• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。
• Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.δ是希腊字母中的第四个字母。

3 species   

n.物种，种群

参考例句：

• Are we the only thinking species in the whole of creation?我们是万物中惟一有思想的物种吗？
• This species of bird now exists only in Africa.这种鸟现在只存在于非洲。

4 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》