2018年英語專業八級真題聽力Mini lecture原文(1)
Language and Humanity
語言和人類
Good morning, everyone.
大家早上好。
In today's lecture, we're going to discuss the relationship between language and humanity. As we all know, language is very powerful.
在今天的課上，我們將討論語言和人類之間的關係。衆所周知，語言是非常強大的。
It allows you to put a thought from your mind directly in someone else's mind.
它可以讓你把你的想法直接放在別人的大腦裏。
Languages are like genes talking, getting things they want.
語言就像會說話的基因，得到他們想要的東西。
And you just imagine the sense of wonder in a baby when it first discovers that, merely by uttering a sound, it can get objects to move across a room as if by magic, and maybe even into its mouth.
你可以想象，當一個嬰兒第一次發現，僅僅通過發出一個聲音，它就能讓物體像中了魔法一樣在房間裏移動，甚至可能進入它的嘴裏。
Now we need to explain how and why this remarkable trait, you know, human's ability to do things with language, has evolved, and why did this trait evolve only in our species?
現在我們需要解釋這個顯著的特徵，也就是人類用語言做事的能力，是如何進化的，爲什麼進化，爲什麼這個特徵只在我們人類身上進化？
In order to get an answer to the question, we have to go to tool use in the chimpanzees.
爲了得到這個問題的答案，我們必須研究黑猩猩的工具使用。
Chimpanzees can use tools, and we take that phenomenon as a sign of their intelligence.
黑猩猩可以使用工具，我們把這種現象作爲它們智力的標誌。
But if they really were intelligent, why would they crack open nuts with a rock?
但如果他們真的聰明，他們爲什麼要用石頭砸開堅果呢？
Why wouldn't they just go to a shop and buy a bag of nuts that somebody else had already cracked open for them?
他們爲什麼不去商店買一袋別人已經打開的堅果呢？
Why not? I mean, that's what we do.
爲什麼不呢？我是說，我們就是這麼做的。
