评论
打印
Oh, hi there! Squeaks and I were just checking our e-mail,
噢，嘿，大家好！我和吱吱刚刚在查看电子邮件，
and it looks like you have a message from your sister.
看来你有一封你妹妹的来信。
Hm, I wonder what it is...Oooh, it's your family tree!
嗯，我好奇这是什么，噢，这是你的家谱！
There are his grandparents, and that's his parents in the middle,
上面有他的祖父母，中间是他的父母，
and then their kids, including Squeaks and his sister!
然后是他们的孩子，包括吱吱和他的妹妹！
Your family is pretty great! I have my own family tree, too.
你的家庭很棒！我也有自己的家谱。
Everybody does, and it can be arranged in all kinds of different ways
每个人都有，它可以以各种不同的方式排列，
depending on the people that make up your family.
这取决于你的家人。
And people, all people, make up one branch on a really big, complicated family tree.
每个人或者所有的人都是复杂大家谱上的一个分支。
We're related to all the other animals on earth.
我们与地球上的所有其他动物都有关系。
And each type of animal or species, has its own special scientific name.
而每一种动物或物种，都有其特殊的学名。
Our species is called "Homo sapiens", which just means "wise people."
我们的物种叫做智人，意思就是“聪明人”。
Human beings, all 7 billion people on earth, are all members of Homo sapiens.
地球上的70亿人都是智人。
And we Homo sapiens have a lot of relatives!
我们智人有很多亲戚！
Of the animals that are alive today,
在现存的动物中，
we're most closely related to the great apes, like chimpanzees and bonobos,
我们与类人猿的关系最为密切，比如黑猩猩和倭黑猩猩，
but our families went their separate ways millions of years ago.
但是我们的家族在数百万年前就分道扬镳了。
These days, we're the only living species that's considered human.
如今，我们是人类的唯一现存物种。
But we weren't always the only species of humans.
但我们并不总是人类的唯一物种。
There were others, like the Neanderthals!
我们还有其他人种，比如尼安德特人！
See, over thousands or millions of years,
过去的几千或数百万年间，
the earth's weather changes a lot, from hot to cold and back again.
地球的气候发生了很大变化，从热到冷再到热。
Sometimes food is easy to find,
有时食物很容易找到，
but sometimes animals and people need special talents and tricks to find food and survive.
但有时动物和人类需要特殊的才能和技巧来寻找食物和生存。
If a new species came along while the earth was going through a change,
如果一个新物种在地球经历变化时出现，
and if it had some special talents to help it survive,
并且它有一些特殊的天赋来帮助它生存，
that species might last through a really cold or really warm period, while some other species wouldn't.
那么这个物种可能会度过一个非常寒冷或非常温暖的时期，而其他一些物种则挨不过去。
And that's what happened to the other types of humans,
这事曾发生在其他人种身上，
when things changed, they weren't able to survive.
当事情变化时，他们生存不了。
Some of them were our ancestors, meaning that we come from them.
他们中的一些人是我们的祖先，这意味着我们源自他们。
Other species are more like our distant cousins,
其他物种更像我们的远亲，
but a lot of them died out before any Homo sapiens ever got to meet them. Some didn't, though!
但是很多物种在智人出现之前就已经灭绝了。不过有些没有！
A few other species of humans lived on earth at the same time as early Homo sapiens,
地球上的一些其他人种曾与早期的智人生活在同一时期，
including the Neanderthals.
包括尼安德特人。
Neanderthals weren't people in the exact same way Homo sapiens are,
尼安德特人并不和智人完全一样，
but they acted a lot like the humans we know!
但他们的行为很像我们熟悉的人类！
They lived in families and took care of each other when they got sick;
他们以家庭为单位生活，生病时互相照顾；
they used fire; they wore clothes; and they had big brains.
他们用火、穿衣服；他们的头很大。
And we know they existed because we have the fossil record.
我们知道它们存在是因为我们有化石记录。
Fossils are any preserved remains we find of species that used to be alive.
化石是我们发现曾经存活的物种的遗迹。
Like dinosaur bones! Or the remains of a meal, or footprints.
比如恐龙骨骼化石！或者一顿饭的残迹，或是脚印。
Scientists have found thousands of fossils of our early human relatives from other species.
科学家们已经发现了数千块来自早期人类亲属的其他物种的化石。
And we sometimes find evidence of things those early humans made, like tools and art.
我们有时还能找到早期人类制造东西的证据，比如工具和艺术品。
Some species have only left us a few clues.
有些物种只给我们留下了几个线索。
But even just from a fossil or two, we can make a pretty good guess about a species:
但即使只有一两块化石，我们也能对一个物种有个很好的猜测：
whether they walked upright like us, what they ate, how big they grew up to be,
它们是否像我们一样直立行走，它们吃什么，它们成年的体型，
and whether their species would have survived better in a hot or cold climate.
或者他们的物种是否能在炎热或寒冷的气候中生存得更好。
The Neanderthals had smaller bodies that looked a lot like Homo sapiens, but were better for the cold.
尼安德特人的身材更小巧，看起来很像智人，但更适应寒冷。
They had big noses that could heat up the cold air they breathed.
他们的鼻子很大，可以把他们呼吸的冷空气加热。
And their bodies were stronger and broader than ours, with wider shoulders and hips, and shorter arms and legs.
而且他们的身材比我们的更强壮更魁梧，肩膀和臀部更宽，手臂和腿也更短。
That kept them from losing too much heat,
这样能让他们避免损失太多热量，
which was perfect for surviving the freezing cold weather during the time they lived.
这对于他们在寒冷时期的生存非常完美。
They also invented tools that helped them become super talented at hunting the enormous animals that were around back then.
他们还发明了工具，帮助自己在狩猎当时的大型动物方面变得超级有天赋。
But then things changed a lot, and the Neanderthals weren't able to adjust.
但随后事情发生了很大变化，尼安德特人无法适应。
When the types of animals they ate started to die out, or go extinct, there was less food for the Neanderthals.
当他们吃的动物开始灭绝时，尼安德特人的食物就少了。
And when Homo sapiens spread out across Europe, where Neanderthals lived,
当智人遍布尼安德特人生活的欧洲时，
it's possible that Neanderthals couldn't compete with them for food and shelter.
尼安德特人可能无法与他们竞争食物和住所。
Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago.
尼安德特人大约在4万年前灭绝。
So we don't have any living Neanderthals around today, but we still have their fossils,
所以我们现在没有任何现存的尼安德特人，但我们有他们的化石，
along with some of the tools they made, to help us learn about how they lived.
以及他们制作的一些工具来帮助我们了解他们是如何生活的。
Relationships with family sure are complicated!
和家人的关系真的很复杂！
If Homo sapiens are the only human species we've got,
如果智人是我们仅有的人类物种，
I guess we need to make sure we're really good at getting along!
我想我们得确保我们相处得很好！
Thanks for joining us!
感谢您的收看！
If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks and me, hit the subscribe button,
如果你想继续学习，与我和吱吱共度美好时光，就点击订阅吧，
and we'll see you next time, here at the Fort!
我们下周见，沃斯堡等你哦！
