音乐：Chopin Nocturnes played by Fu Cong (傅聪)
课文： The Discovery Of Europe And The Story Of People Who Live In That Part Of The World
There are twice as many people in Europe as there are in North and South America together. There are more people within the confines of that small continent than in America, Africa and Australia together. Only Asia has a greater number of inhabitants than Europe. These figures are more or less accurate for they were gathered by the International Statistical Institution connected with the League of Nations, a gathering of learned men who are able to consider such matters with a cool and detached eye and who are under no obligation to doctor the returns to please the local pride of any particular country.
欧洲的人口是南美洲和北美洲人口之和的两倍。这个小洲的人口竟比美洲、非洲以及澳洲的人口总数还要多。只有亚洲的人口远远超出了欧洲。这些统计是大抵精确地，因为它们是由国际统计联合会收集的。这个组织由学术专家们组成，这些人能够一一种平静与公正的目光看待各种事务，他们没有义务篡改报告以取悦任何特殊国家的自豪感。
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The question that faces us here is the following: where did these early settlers of the European continent, who were to play such a great role in history, come from, and were they the first to arrive upon the scene? The answer, I regret to say, must be exceedingly vague. Those people probably came from Asia and they probably entered Europe through the gap between the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea and they probably found that earlier races of immigrants and older forms of civilization had preceded them. But until the anthropologists shall have gathered many more data than are now at their disposal, the story of those pre-pre-historic invaders is still too vague to be incorporated in a popular handbook of geography and we must stick to the later arrivals.
摆在我们面前的问题是，在历史上扮演了举足轻重的地位的欧洲大陆的早期定居者们是从哪儿来？他们是最早出现在历史场景中的人吗？对于这个问题的答案，我不得不遗憾的说，是十分模糊地。这些人可能来自亚洲，他们也许是通过乌拉尔山和里海来到欧洲的，他们也许发现了更早的移民以及领先于他们的古老文明。但是人类学家还没有掌握到比手头材料更多的数据，而关于这些史前入侵者的故事又太过含糊，不能被纳入地理学的大众读物中，因此我们只能紧跟这些后来者。
Why did they come? For the same reason that made over a hundred million people move from the Old to the New World during the last hundred years -- because they were hungry and the lands toward the west offered them a better chance to survive.
为什么他们会来到欧洲？是同样的理由--饥饿，使得过去的一百年间数以亿计的人们从旧世界迁移到了新大陆，因为西方大陆能为他们提供更好的生存机会。
These immigrants scrambled all over Europe, as the immigrants of a later day were to scatter all over the great American plains. And in the mad rush for land and for lakes(in those days, a lake was even more valuable than a piece of land) all traces of "pure racial stock" were speedily lost. Here and there along the more inaccessible parts of the Atlantic sea - shore or in the hidden depths of some obscure mountain valley, a few of the weaker tribes continued to vegetate, proud of their purity of race, but having little else to console them for the loss of touch with the outside world. And therefore when we speak of "race", today, we have given up all idea of absolute ethnological purity.
这些移民散步至整个欧洲，就像后来的移民散布于美洲大平原的各个角落一样，在寻求陆地和湖泊（在人类早期，湖泊比陆地更有价值）的过程中，“纯粹种族”的印记迅速消失。在大西洋海湾或是隐蔽偏僻的山谷中，一些弱小的部落在那里继续过着单调的生活，他们为其种族的纯洁性而自豪，但却失去了与外界的联系，这不是其他东西所能弥补的。因此，当我们谈到人种时，我们已经不在执着于人种的绝对纯粹性。
According to this notion of race there are three great racial groups in the Europe of today and half a dozen smaller ones.
There are, first of all, the Germanic races, such as the English, the Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Flemish and part of the Swiss. Then the Latin race, including the French, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Roumanians. Finally the Slavic races, consisting mainly of the Russians and the Poles, the C zechs, the Serbians and Bulgarians. Together they account for about 93% of the total population.
根据以上关于人种的观点，今天的欧洲共有三大人种以及六个更小的人种。首先是日耳曼人种，包括英国人，瑞典人，挪威人，丹麦人，荷兰人，佛兰德斯人和部分瑞士人。其次是拉丁人种，包括法国人，意大利人，西班牙人，葡萄牙人，罗马尼亚人。最后是斯拉夫人种，主要是俄罗斯人，波兰人，捷克人，塞尔维亚人，保加利亚人。他们一共占据了欧洲93%的人口。
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So much for the people who populated both mountains and plains of the old continent. Now we see what they made of their geographical background and what that background in turn, made of them. For out of that struggle grew our modern world. Without it, we would still be like the beasts of the fields.
对于定居于旧大陆的山脉和平原上的人们就说这么多了。现在我们来看看他们是如何改造他们的地理环境的，以及地理环境是如何改造他们的。这种斗争生长出了我们现在的世界。没有这斗争，我们仍会是荒野之中的兽群。
词汇与短语：
n. Confines 境界，限度，范围，区域 within the ~ of / beyond, outside the ~ of
原文例句：There are more people within the confines of that small continent than in America, Africa and Australia together.
新例句：I don't merely want to stay within the confines of my own culture. I would like to experience things outside the confines of it.
Adj. accurate 准确的，精准的，逼真的
原文例句：These figures are more or less accurate for they were gathered by the International Statistical Institution.
新例句：To be professional means to be accurate about the details.
Adj. detached 超然的，公正的，远离的
原文例句：Learned men who are able to consider such matters with a cool and detached eye.
新例句：Never be involved into office Politics. Stay/remain detached from what was going on.
Adj. vague 不明确的，不清楚的, 含糊的，模糊的
原文例句：The question that faces us here is the following: where did these early settlers of the European continent, who were to play such a great role in history, come from, and were they the first to arrive upon the scene? The answer, I regret to say, must be exceedingly vague.
新例句：I really don't have a clear idea towards my career. It is still rather vague.
V. vegetate 无所事事地过活,过单调生活, 植物似地生长
原文例句：a few of the weaker tribes continued to vegetate, proud of their purity of race, but having little else to console them for the loss of touch with the outside world.
新例句：It is weekend, don't vegetate home! Come with us to go sailing!
at one’s disposal 供某人支配, 供某人调遣
原文例句：But until the anthropologists shall have gathered many more data than are now at their disposal, the story of those pre-pre-historic invaders is still too vague to be incorporated in a popular handbook of geography.
新例句：We are always at your disposal.
I had no time at my own disposal.
under no obligation to do sth 没有义务去做某事
原文例句：of learned men who are able to consider such matters with a cool and detached eye and who are under no obligation to doctor the returns to please the local pride of any particular country.
新例句：I'm under no obligation to do it.
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