These were our ancestors who may have already been using stones as tools more than 150,000 years ago.

这是我们的祖先，他们也许在15万年前就已经开始用石头当工具了。

They were very different from the Neanderthal people who appeared about 70,000 years earlier and inhabited the earth for about 200,000 years.

他们与出现于7万年以前并在地球上居住了将近20万年之久的尼安德特人不同。

And I owe the Neanderthal people an apology, for despite their low foreheads, their brains were no smaller than those of most people today.

有些事我得请尼安德特人原谅，因为，尽管他们的额头很低，但他们的大脑却不比今天大多数人的小。

But all these "about"s, with no names and no dates ... this isn't history!you say,

但是所有这些没有名字和没有精确年代数字的"大约"...... 并不是历史嘛！

and you are right. It comes before history.

你肯定会这样说,你说得对。这是在史前时期。

That is why we call it 'prehistory', because we only have a rough idea of when it all happened.

所以人们称之为史前史，因为人们只是模糊地知道这是在什么时候发生的事。

But we still know something about the people whom we call prehistoric.

不过我们还知道一些被我们称之为史前人类的情况。

At the time when real history begins – and we will come to that in the next chapter

就在真正的历史起始的时候——这件事将在本书下一章提及

– people already had all the things we have today: clothes, houses and tools, plows to plow with, grains to make bread with,

——人类已经有了一切我们今天有的东西：衣服，房屋和工具，犁，烤面包的粮食，

cows for milking, sheep for shearing, dogs for hunting and for company, bows and arrows for shooting and helmets and shields for protection.

用来挤奶的奶牛，用来剪羊毛的绵羊，狩猎的和当作人类朋友的狗，用来射击的箭、弓和用来防身的盔和盾。