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Could eating meat really have caused us to evolve?
难道真是食肉让我们得以进化
About 2.3 million years ago,
大约230万年以前
Homo habilis - the first ancestor we THINK ate meat - appeared.
出现了我们认为最先开始食肉的祖先——能人
There had been an amazing change.
他们一定有过惊人的演变
Though habilis stood no more than a metre tall,
尽管能人站立身高不到1米
fossils show it had a bigger skull
从化石来看他们的颅骨却比南方古猿大
and a brain 30% larger than Australopithecus.
而且脑部比南方古猿大30%
And, crucially, scientists have speculated that
至关重要的是 科学家推测
this upright, big-brained chimpanzee
这种直立行走 脑大的猩猩
evolved as a result of eating meat.
本身就是因食肉而进化的结果
The Australopiths' brain size remained stable.
南方古猿的大脑稳步发育
Then meat-eating came in, and then the brains got bigger,
而后它们开始食肉 大脑就发育得更大
and that set everything off in the director of modern humans.
从而确定了进化成当代人类的主要演变趋势

重点解释

Though habilis stood no more than a metre tall,尽管能人站立身高不到1米

no more than不过； 仅仅

It will take no more than five days to read the book.

不到五天，我就会把这本书读完。

Though they think it takes no more than three days to fulfill the mission, I believe it takes not

less than six days.

虽然他们认为完成这任务只需三天，但我却认为至少需要六天。

and that set everything off in the director of modern humans.从而确定了进化成当代人类的主要演变趋势

set off点燃；引起

Do be careful with those fireworks; the slightest spark could set them off.

这些烟火要格外小心，稍有火星就能引起爆炸。

Could eating meat really have caused us to evolve?难道真是食肉让我们得以进化

cause to导致,造成,带来

The bad weather conspire with some other unpleasant cause to ruin our picnic.

坏天气加上其他一些不愉快原因使我们的野餐令人大为扫兴。