新概念早讀英語初中版 第26期:很久以前的火

Fires Long Ago

很久以前的火

We don't know how the first fire was made.

我們不知道第一束火是怎樣來的。

Early fires on the earth were certainly caused bynature,not by man.

但地球上早期的火是由大自然產(chǎn)生的，不是人發(fā)明的。

Some were caused by lightning in a storm,

有些火是由雷電造成，

others,perhaps by one hot material which came outof a volcano.

有的也許是由火山噴發(fā)出的熱物質(zhì)造成的。

Quite possibly,at times,

也許更多的是

the heat of the sun set light to some dry grass or leaves.

太陽的熱量燃燒了干燥草和樹葉。

At first,man,like other animals,was probably afraid of fire.

起初，人像其他動物一樣怕火。

He saw that fire could destroy a forest;

他看到火燒毀整片森林

he knew that fire could hit his body.

他知道火會燒傷他的身體。

So great was the power of fire that he feared it and worshipped it.

火的力量如此強大，他懼怕它，崇拜它。

Gradually,however, with his better powers of thinking, he overcame his fear

漸漸的，隨著他思考的越多，他克服了這種恐懼。

Probably he overcame most of his fear

或許他克服了大部分的恐懼，

when he discovered how to make fire for himself,

在他發(fā)現(xiàn)怎樣自己生火時，

but,undoubtedly,

但是，毋庸置疑，

he learned some of the uses of fire

他學會了一些火的用途

before he could make one when and where he wished.

在他隨時隨地能夠生火前。

Throughout the ages he has learned more about fire,how to control it,

隨著歲月的推移，他對火了解得更多了，知道如何控制它，

and how to use it in many ways.

如何用不同的方式用它

Now fire is no longer a master or a god,it is a servant.

現(xiàn)在火不再是主人或上帝，而是人類的仆人。

Again,at some early date,

又如，早期，

Man found how fire could be used to make certain metals from rocks.

人發(fā)現(xiàn)了怎樣用火把某些金屬從巖石里弄出來

Some time later,he found out how to make the metal which we now call bronze.

后來，他想出了如何生產(chǎn)我們稱之為青銅的金屬，

This is a mixture of copper and tin. Bronze was a very useful metal.

它是銅和錫的混合物，青銅的實用性強。

It was hard and tough,

盡管它很堅硬，

but he could shape it by hammering(probably with heavy stones).

但是人能夠用錘子把它分開(也許是用很沉的石頭)。

It isn't so easy to get iron from its ore

從礦石中提煉出鐵不是件容易的事，

and this metal was probably not discovered until very much later.

所以很多年之后，人們才發(fā)現(xiàn)這種金屬。