One, set forth by Aristotle in the fourth century B.C., sees humans as naturally imitative—as taking pleasure in imitating persons, things, and actions and in seeing such imitations.(亞里士多德在公元前4世紀提出的一個理論認為，人是天生的模仿者——即從模仿他人、事物和行為和觀看這些模仿中獲得樂趣。)

He believes that as far back as 30,000 B.C., hunters may have used a system of notation, engraved on bone and stone, to mark phases of the Moon.(他認為，遠在公元前30,000年以前，獵人可能會用一套刻在骨頭和石頭上的符號系統(tǒng)來標(biāo)記月相。)

The earliest ceramics were fired to earthenware temperatures, but as early as the fifteenth century B.C., high-temperature stonewares were being made with glazed surfaces.(最早的陶瓷制品是在制陶的溫度下燒制的，但是早在公元前15世紀，（人們）已經(jīng)用高溫?zé)票砻嫔嫌缘撵缕鳌?

The Sahara is a highly diverse, albeit dry, region that has undergone major climatic changes since 10,000 B.C.(撒哈拉沙漠雖然干燥，但卻是一個高度多樣化的地區(qū)，自公元前10000年以來經(jīng)歷了重大的氣候變化。)

For example, Aristotle once had a research library in the third century B.C..(例如，亞里斯多德在公元前三世紀曾有一個研究型圖書館。)

My vote for the most important cities in the world in the period leading up to 2000 B.C. would be Ur, Iraq.(我認為在公元前2000年之前的世界上最重要的城市是伊拉克的烏爾。)

The device appears to have evolved no later than the fifth century B.C., perhaps independently in different regions of the Middle and the Far East.(這種設(shè)備在公元前15世紀就可能獨立地出現(xiàn)在中東和遠東的一些地區(qū)了。)

Perhaps the most striking sign of mobility is the fact that by the third millennium B.C., most pastoralists in this huge region spoke related languages ancestral to the modern Indo-European languages.(可能在人口流動性方面最具說服力的標(biāo)志是，公元前3000年，在這片廣袤的土地上大部分牧民講的相關(guān)語言，現(xiàn)代印歐語系就從中發(fā)展而來。)

Rock paintings in the Sahara indicate that horses and chariots were used to traverse the desert and that by 300-200 B.C., there were trade routes across the Sahara.(撒哈拉地區(qū)的巖畫顯示，人們曾利用馬匹和馬車來橫穿沙漠；并且，在公元前300年至公元前200年間，有一些可以穿越撒哈拉地區(qū)的貿(mào)易路線。)

By the late fourth millennium B.C., there is already evidence of large culture zones reaching from Eastern Europe to the western borders of Mongolia.(到公元前4000年末已有證據(jù)表明，存在著從東歐延伸到蒙古西邊境的大文化圈。)