英国语文第六册(双语):人类和工业艺术(4)
Man may be defined as the only animal that can strike alight, —the solitary creature that knows how to kindle a fire. This is a very fragmentary definition of the "Paragon of animals," but it is enough to make him the conqueror of all the rest. The most degraded savage has discovered how to rub two sticks together, or whirl the point of one in a socket in the other till the wood is kindled.
人类被界定为唯一一种懂得用火进行攻击的生物，也是唯一一种懂得如何造火的生物。这只是“万物之灵”拥有的极小一部分才艺，但已经足够使其成为万物之主。落后的野蛮人已经懂得通过摩擦两根木棍或者将一根木棍的尖端放在一个凹槽里来回旋转来进行生火。
And civilized man, as much as his savage brother, is a fire-worshipper in his practical doings. The great conquering peoples of the world have been those who knew best how to deal with fire. The most wealthy of the active nations are those which dwell in countries richly provided with fuel. No inventions have changed the entire world more than steam and gunpowder. We are what we are, largely because we are the ministers and masters of Fire.
智化的人类和其野蛮兄弟一样，他们在实践活动中都对火有着近乎一致的迷恋。只有懂得如何对抗火才能成为世界上最牛气哄哄的征服者，只有占据燃料充足的领土才能成为最富裕的国家，也只有蒸汽和火药是唯一改变了世界的两种发明。人类之所以能成为万物之主，很大程度上是因为人类是火的主人并懂得如何驭火。
Clothe-less creatures by birth, we are also tool-less ones. Every other animal is by nature fully equipped and caparisoned for its work; its tools are ready for use, and it is ready to use them. We have first to invent our tools, then to fashion them, and then to learn how to handle them. Two-thirds at least of our industrial doings are thus preliminary. Before two rags can be sewed together, we require a needle, which embodies the inventiveness of a hundred ingenious brains; and a hand, which only a hundred botchings and failures have, in the lapse of years, taught to use the instrument with skill.
人类无天生的毛皮护体、无天生的工具可用，而其他的生物则自生来就拥有足够的装备和毛皮供自己使用和生存。所以人类生来就要先发明工具，然后改造工具，最后学会使用工具。所以说，人类自一开始的实践活动就包含了至少三分之二的工业化行为。人类懂得需要用一根针将两块布缝到一起，，此举便体现了一百个天才大脑的创造力。而人类的双手也是在时间的不停流逝中进行了无数次的修修补补、经历了无数次的坎坷失败才最终做到了熟练使用工具。
