人类历史舞台的形成（Part 1）

2017年3月20日晚上9:00，我在产房外焦急的等待着。曾经猜想过很多在此时此刻面临的心情，其中认为最有可能的，应该是我会冷静的等待着这个家庭新成员的到来。此时的我，虽然外表冷酷的踱着步子，但内心澎湃，一股喜悦、激动甚至略带恐惧的心情在心中跳动。也即是这个时候，脑海中出现了这个节目——子墨夜读。 最开始的想法是，我不希望他将来为了英语这件如此简单的事情，花上10多年的时间，被学校折磨、被社会折磨。与其以后花费大量的时间，还不如就在他语言形成期就帮他打下双语基础，汉语英语切换自如。所以就有了这款节目的诞生。 这款节目是送给我新生儿的礼物，也是送给大家的礼物。愿每一个儿童都有一个快乐成长的童年，也愿每一个英语学习者都能用英语获得另一个看世界的视角。 今天是我们节目的第一期。 人类历史舞台的形成（《子墨夜读》第一辑） THE SETTING OF THE STAGE. WE live under the shadow of a gigantic question mark. Who are we? Where do we come from? Whither are we bound? Slowly, but with persistent courage, we have been pushing this question mark further and further towards that distant line, beyond the horizon, where we hope to find our answer. We have not gone very far. We still know very little but we have reached the point where (with a fair degree of accuracy) we can guess at many things. In this chapter I shall tell you how (according to our best belief) the stage was set for the first appearance of man. If we represent the time during which it has been possible for animal life to exist upon our planet by a line of this length, then the tiny line just below indicates the age during which man (or a creature more or less resembling man) has lived upon this earth. Man was the last to come but the first to use his brain for the purpose of conquering the forces of nature. That is the reason why we are going to study him, rather than cats or dogs or horses or any of the other animals, who, all in their own way, have a very interesting historical development behind them. In the beginning,the planet upon which we live was (as far as we now know) a large ball off laming matter, a tiny cloud of smoke in the endless ocean of space. Gradually,in the course of millions of years, the surface burned itself out, and was covered with a thin layer of rocks. Upon these lifeless rocks the rain descended in endless torrents, wearing out the hard granite and carrying the dust to the valleys that lay hidden between the high cliffs of the steaming earth. Finally the hour came when the sun broke through the clouds and saw how this little planet was covered with a few small puddles which were to develop into the mighty oceans of the eastern and western hemispheres. Then one day the great wonder happened. What had been dead, gave birth to life. The first living cell floated upon the waters of the sea. For millions of years it drifted aimlessly with the currents. But during all that time it was developing certain habits that it might survive more easily upon the inhospitable earth. Some of these cells were happiest in the dark depths of the lakes and the pools. They took root in the slimy sediments which had been carried down from the tops of the hills and they became plants. Others preferred to move about and they grew strange jointed legs, like scorpions and began to crawl along the bottom of the sea amidst the plants and the pale green things that looked like jelly-fishes. Still others (covered with scales)depended upon a swimming motion to go from place to place in their search for food, and gradually they populated the ocean with myriads of fishes. Meanwhile the plants had increased in number and they had to search for new dwelling places. There was no more room for them at the bottom of the sea. Reluctantly they left the water and made a new home in the marshes and on the mud- banks that lay at the foot of the mountains. Twice a day the tides of the ocean covered them with their brine. For the rest of the time, the plants made the best of their uncomfortable situation and tried to survive in the thin air which surrounded the surface of the planet. After centuries of training, they learned how to live as comfortably in the air as they had done in the water. They increased in size and became shrubs and trees and at last they learned how to grow lovely flowers which attracted the attention of the busy big bumble-bees and the birds who carried the seeds far and wide until the whole earth had become covered with green pastures, or lay dark under the shadow of the big trees.