新概念早读英语初中版 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.

我们不知道第一束火是怎样来的。

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产生的，不是人发明的。

Some were caused by lightning in a storm,

有些火是由雷电造成，

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

有的也许是由火山喷发出的热物质造成的。

Quite possibly,at times,

也许更多的是

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

太阳的热量燃烧了干燥草和树叶。

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

起初，人像其他动物一样怕火。

He saw that fire could destroy a forest;

他看到火烧毁整片森林

he knew that fire could hit his body.

他知道火会烧伤他的身体。

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

火的力量如此强大，他惧怕它，崇拜它。

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

渐渐的，随着他思考的越多，他克服了这种恐惧。

Probably he overcame most of his fear

或许他克服了大部分的恐惧，

when he discovered how to make fire for himself,

在他发现怎样自己生火时，

but,undoubtedly,

但是，毋庸置疑，

he learned some of the uses of fire

他学会了一些火的用途

before he could make one when and where he wished.

在他随时随地能够生火前。

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

随着岁月的推移，他对火了解得更多了，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.

现在火不再是主人或上帝，而是人类的仆人。

Again,at some early date,

又如，早期，

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

人发现了怎样用火把某些金属从岩石里弄出来

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

后来，他想出了如何生产我们称之为青铜的金属，

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

它是铜和锡的混合物，青铜的实用性强。

It was hard and tough,

尽管它很坚硬，

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

但是人能够用锤子把它分开(也许是用很沉的石头)。

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

从矿石中提炼出铁不是件容易的事，

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

所以很多年之后，人们才发现这种金属。