It is not known precisely when or where Homo sapiens, the biological species of conscious, thinking creatures, emerged. As the search for our prehistoric origins continues, the early innovations of our ancestors have been pushed back further in time. It is believed that we evolved from a species that lived in the southern part of Africa. These early hominids ventured out onto the grassy plains and into caves as the forests in that part of the world slowly disappeared. In the tall grass, the hominids began to stand erect. Perhaps this adaptation was a result of the need to watch for predators, to help discourage enemies by increasing the hominids’ apparent size, or to hold branches as weapons.
生词注解：
- thinking creature 能思考的物种 |人种
- Homo sapiens 智人
- It is believed that 据说 普遍认为……
- ventured out 冒着危险出来
- predator 食肉动物 肉食动物
- watch for 密切注意;戒备;提防 If you watch for something or watch out for it, you pay attention so that you notice it, either because you do not want to miss it or because you want to avoid it.
- hominids 人种；人科
智人这种有意识能思考的人种是在哪里在何时出现的我们还不明确。随着我们对史前历史起源的继续研究，我们祖先早期的一些创造发明的时间就会进一步的提前。普遍认为我们是从非洲南部的人种演化而来 。由于这些人居住的森林正在慢慢的消失，他们不得不铤而走险的来到草原上和洞穴内。在草比较高的地方，他们就开始直立行走。大概这种对环境的适应性是提防食肉动物攻击需要的结果,可能是直立行走明显看起来身材变大以来震慑敌人，亦或者是为了拿起树枝来当作武器。
PS：discourage 这个词在这翻译为“震慑”好像不太准确，大神们有没更好的？
In any event, the hand developed an ability to carry food and hold objects. Found near Lake Turkana in Kenya, a nearly three-million-year-old stone that had been sharpened into an implement proves the thoughtful and deliberate development of a technology—a tool. Early shaped stones may have been used to dig for roots or to cut away flesh from dead animals for food. While we can only speculate about the use of early tools, we know that they mark a major step in the human species’ immense journey from primitive origins toward a civilized state.
生词注解：
thoughtful
- 沉思的;默想的;认真思考的 If you are thoughtful, you are quiet and serious because you are thinking about something.
- 体贴入微的;考虑周到的 If you describe someone as thoughtful, you approve of them because they remember what other people want, need, or feel, and try not to upset them.
- (书籍、电影、讲话等)严肃的，思想性强的 If you describe something such as a book, film, or speech as thoughtful, you mean that it is serious and well thought out.
deliberate
- 故意的;蓄意的;早有计划的
- 从容的;不慌不忙的;审慎的;小心翼翼的 If a movement or action is deliberate, it is done slowly and carefully
- （尤指作出重大决定前）慎重考虑，仔细思考 If you deliberate, you think about something carefully, especially before making a very important decision.
Lake Turkana 图尔卡纳湖(Lake Turkana)位于肯尼亚北部，与埃塞俄比亚边境相连。它是东非大裂谷和肯尼亚最大的内陆湖，也是世界上最大的碱性湖泊。东非第四大湖泊。
不管怎么说，人类的手进化成一种可以搬运食物和握住物体的能力。在肯尼亚的图尔卡纳湖附近发现了一种工具—— 一块接近300万年前的石头，它被一种打磨成一种锋利的工具，这证明人类经过思考和计划性技术的进步（就是说人的一些行为已经具有了目的性和计划性并不不是盲目的在干一件事情）。早期的一些石头可能是用来刨植物的根或者是从动物的身上切割肉来获得食物。我知道，从人类起源到迈入文明国度，他们印证了人类旅程上的重大一步，虽然我们对于他们早期工具的使用仅仅是推测而已。
A number of quantum leaps provided the capacity to organize a community and gain some measure of control over human destiny. Speech—the ability to make sounds in order to communicate—was an early skill developed by the species on the long evolutionary trail from its archaic beginnings. Writing is the visual counterpart of speech. Marks, symbols, pictures, or letters drawn or written upon a surface or substrate became a graphic counterpart of the spoken word or unspoken thought. The limitations of speech include the fallibility of human memory and an immediacy of expression that cannot transcend time and place. Until the electronic age, spoken words vanished without a trace, while written words remained. The invention of writing brought people the luster of civilization and made it possible to preserve hard-won knowledge, experiences, and thoughts.
生词注解：
quantum leap n.量子跃迁，<喻>跃进，巨大突破
measure 措施 方法
archaic 古代的 原始的
primitive communes 原始社会
fallibility 易错的 不可靠 可能会出错的
luster 光泽 荣耀
许多巨大的突破使人们具有能够成立一个部落的能力，通过一些手段和措施使人类能自己掌握自己的命运
说话—— 一种用来交流的能力，这种早期技能自古代伊始就在人类漫长的进化中发展起来了，书写是与说话对等的视觉表达。标记、符号、图片、字母画、物体表面或者底层的书写符号成为口语和没有言明想法的视觉符号的对等物（我理解的意思就是这些视觉符号与口语和其思想是一个对等物）。包括诸如人类记忆的不可靠以及表达的及时性等在内的语言表达的限制使我们无法超越时间和地点的限制。直到电器时代，口语消失的无影无踪，而书写却保留了下来。书写的发明给人类带来了文明的光辉和使保持来之不易的知识、经验和思想成为可能。
The development of writing and visible language had its earliest origins in simple pictures, for a close connection exists between the drawing of pictures and the marking of writing. Both are natural ways of communicating ideas, and early people used pictures as an elementary way to record and transmit information.
visible language 可见的语言；视觉文字，
因为图形的绘制与书写的标记之间存在着密切的联系，所以书写与视觉文字的发展最早起源于简单的图形。交流想法的自然方式和早期人们用图形作为记录和传递信息的基本方法这两种方法。
所谓的nature way是指什么？
This made writing easier ,and it made the pictographs less literal
literal 照字面意思的 原意的 逐字的 n.. [印]错排，文字上的错误
pictographs 象形文字
- the characters were now composed of a series of wedgeshaped strokes rather than a continous line drawing this innovation radically altered the nature of the writing .pictographs evolved into an abstract sign writing called cuneiform(from the Latin for wedgeshaped)
生词注解：
wedgeshaped 楔形
cuneiform 楔形
be composed of 由……构成
character 性格 品行 文字 汉字
radically =totally完全地 彻底地
scribe 抄写员（在印刷术发明之前的抄写员）
Code of Hammurabi 汉谟拉比法典
inscription 题词 碑文
- Writing enabled society to stabilize itself under the rule of law . measurements and weights were standardized and guranteed by writen inscription
