[by:可可英语～www.utensil-race.com]
[00:00.54]Of course today I am actually standing on a beach, but the coast 500,000-600,000 years ago wouldve been several miles further out. 
当然如今这里已经成为海滩，然后远在很多很多以前，海岸线还要向前延伸出几英里远。
[00:08.39]And if youd walked along that ancient coastline, you would have arrived in what nowadays we call The Netherlands, in the heart of central Europe.
假如你沿着这此古老的海岸线走下去，你将会最终抵达如今我们称之为荷兰的地区，欧洲中部的心脏地位。
[00:15.30]At this time there was a major land bridge connecting Britain to mainland Europe. 
在当时，英国与欧洲大陆之间有一条主要的大陆桥连接着。
[00:20.42]We dont really know why humans colonised Britain at this time, 
我们真不知道人类当时为什么在英国土地上生息繁衍，
[00:24.11]but perhaps it was due to the effectiveness of this new technology that we call the handaxe.
然而大概也是因为手斧这种有效的新兴技术吧。”
[00:33.22]The stone handaxe was made essentially in the same way and in the same shape for over a million years, 
本质上而言，在超过一百万年的时光里，石斧都是按同一种工艺制作，保持同一种形状，
[00:39.46]and it must be the most successful piece of human technology in history. 
所以它真不亚于人类历史最最成功的技术成果了。
[00:43.46]But is there one last secret in the stone? Our handaxe is just a bit too large to use easily.
然而这块石头中究竟还蕴藏着哪一个终级秘密呢？我们这块手斧就是个头有点过大点儿，使用不方便。
[00:51.08]Why would you make it like that? I showed it to an expert in ergonomic design, the inventor Sir James Dyson:
但究竟为何要制作成这样呢？我就些咨询了一位人体工程学设计上的专家、发明家詹斯·戴森爵士：
[00:58.34]What interests me about this is that its not really very practical. Its double-sided, it has a sharp edge both sides, 
“让我颇感兴趣的倒是它并不十分实用这一点。它有双面，两侧边缘都很锋利，
[01:06.27]and its symmetrical. Its almost as though its an object of beauty rather than a practical object. 
而且相当对称。它看上去简直就像是一件颇俱美感的物品，而不仅仅具有实用性。
[01:12.47]So I wonder actually if its a decorative thing, or even something like a ceremonial sword to make you look brave, powerful, and maybe to pull women.
所以我在思考其实它是否本身是一件装饰品，甚至像一把象征性很强的剑之类的，能衬托出你的勇气与力量，或者用来引吸女士的注意力呢。”
[01:23.21]It doesnt look to me like a practical tool, it looks to me more like a show object, a decorative object, than a practical object, 
“反正在我看来它不像是一件实用工具，倒像是一样炫耀品、装饰品，没带多少实用性；
[01:31.30]because I can only see that whatever I do with it Im gonna hurt my hand. So I think its a beautiful object, 
因为我能看到无论我怎么使用它，总会弄伤自己的手。因此，我就认为这是一个美丽精致的物品，
[01:37.44]but I dont believe it has any intent - serious intent - behind it.
不过我倒不觉得其身上蕴含着任何特殊的含意。”
[01:42.35]Of course it is still a practical object, but I think its nonetheless worth speculating, 
当然，事实上它仍旧是一件实用的物品，但我想它还满值得认真思考的，
[01:48.13]as Sir James Dyson does, whether our handaxe was made a bit too big for easy use, in order to show that it was made for somebody important. 
正如詹姆斯·戴森爵士那样说，是否我们这手斧被“制造”得有点过大不便使用，只为了能突显出它所有人的重要性？
[01:57.29]Are we looking here at one of the oldest of all status symbols; the expression of a social pecking order?
我们是否正面对着人类最古老的地位象征物品之一？代表着一个社会的尊卑秩序？
[02:04.28]And then the handaxe is so pleasing to the eye as well as to the hand, 
然而这手斧是看上去多么的赏心悦目，拿到手上又多么的玲珑精致，
[02:08.43]that its hard not to ask if it wasnt to some extent made quite intentionally to be a thing of beauty. 
使得我们不由而然地思考是否在某程度上，它是为了呈现美感而制作的。
[02:14.41]Is this the beginning of the long story of art and, indeed, the long story of art being pressed into the service of power?
这是否是人类漫长艺术史的开端呢？
[02:22.31]Or are we just projecting back on to these distant ancestors our own ways of thinking about beauty and status?
是否意味着艺术服务于权威的开始呢？又或许我们在一厢情愿地以我们自己对美感与地位的认知，来揣测我们那些遥远时光的祖先们？
[02:28.43]In the next programme were going to be unquestionably in the realm of art - 
接下来的节目里，我们将毫无疑问地迈进艺术的领域。
[02:38.45]Im going to be looking at a masterpiece of Ice Age sculpture, carved in the tusk of a mammoth.
我将要去寻找一件冰河时期雕刻在猛犸象牙上的不朽杰作。