It won't surprise you to learn that children have been amusing themselves with toys and games since . . . well, as long as there have been children. However, it might be a shock to learn that some of our favorite toys and games have been around for a lot longer than we might think possible. After all, consider . . .
世界上一有孩子的出现，他们就开始摆弄玩具、玩游戏，自娱自乐，这个事实并不足为奇。然而，让我们大吃一惊的是，有些最受我们喜爱的玩具和游戏出现的时间，比我们预想可能出现的年代要久远得多。毕竟，试想一下……

10.The Yo-Yo
10.溜溜球

The yo-yo is undoubtedly one of 20th century's most iconic toys—a fact you can thank Pedro Flores for. While working as a bellhop in a Santa Barbara hotel, he was inspired to adapt the yo-yo (a traditional toy from his homeland, the Philippines) for the mass toy market. After opening the imaginatively named Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company in 1928, he then went on to produce over 100,000 before selling his company to the larger toy manufacturer Donald Duncan Yo-Yo Company, which then catapulted the yo-yo into popularity.
毋庸置疑，溜溜球是20世纪最具代表性的玩具之一，这要感谢一个人——佩德罗·弗洛勒斯。他在美国圣巴巴拉市的一家酒店当服务员时，受到启发，把溜溜球（这种来自他的家乡菲律宾的传统玩具）经过改良后，投放到需求量巨大的玩具市场。1928年，他成立了溜溜球制造公司。后来，在公司产量超过100000个的时候，他把公司出售给当时规模较大的玩具制造公司——唐纳德·邓肯溜溜球公司，这家公司让溜溜球火了起来。
But if you're a lover of Ancient Greek archaeology (and who isn't?), you'll know that the yo-yo has been around for so much longer. In dig sites across the Mediterranean, archaeologists found examples of Greek yo-yos made from materials such as bronze and terracotta. Indeed, one example held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art is made from terracotta and dates to between 460 and 450 B.C.. In addition, several ancient vases—such as this example which dates to 440 B.C.—depict children and adults playing with yo-yos.
如果你对古希腊考古学感兴趣的话（没有人不感兴趣吧？），就会了解到溜溜球的出现其实由来已久。考古学家在很多地中海地区的挖掘点发现了青铜和赤陶为原料的古希腊溜溜球。事实上，美国大都市艺术博物馆展出的一个赤陶溜溜球的年代，可以追溯到公元前460至450年间。另外，许多古代花瓶都描绘了大人和小孩一起玩溜溜球的情景，比如这个公元前440年的花瓶。

9.Roller Skates
9.旱冰鞋

To many, roller skates are synonymous with the 1970s. After all, this was the age of roller disco, a curious sport which attempted to combine the high-stakes world of disco with the unpredictability that comes from wearing shoes attached to wheels.
对于很多人而言，旱冰鞋就是20世纪70年代的代名词。要知道，当时可是旱冰迪斯科的时代。旱冰迪斯科是一种奇特的运动，它试图将迪斯科舞蹈世界的　速度与穿旱冰鞋时的刺激结合起来。
Actually, the first roller skates were invented in the 1770s by a Belgian named John Joseph Merlin. He was so impressed by his invention that he felt confident enough to unveil it in the most flamboyant way imaginable: at a high society ball, while simultaneously skating around the room and playing a violin. While no evidence remains as to the precise design of his skates, we do know that they were designed without brakes, since this demonstration ended with him skating (at a reportedly high speed) into a mirror.
事实上，世界上首双旱冰鞋是比利时人约翰·乔瑟夫·马林于18世纪70年代发明的。他对自己的发明非常满意，信心十足地以他能想到的最引人注目的方式公布了他的发明：在一次上流社会舞会上，他一边滑着冰，一边拉着小提琴。虽然没有现存的证据表明他的旱冰鞋的精确设计，我们能够知道的是这款旱冰鞋没有刹车，因为这场展示是以他在滑的过程中（据说速度很快）撞到一面镜子结束的。

8.Pen-And-Paper RPGs
8.纸笔角色扮演游戏

If we asked you to name the first role-playing game that utilized a scaled gaming board, a gamemaster, and a complex set of rules that governed how players moved and attacked foes, there's no doubt that you'd say “Dungeons & Dragons” (created in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson).
如果有人让你说出第一款角色扮演游戏的名称，要求这款游戏应用了缩小游戏界面，有一名游戏管理员，有一套规定玩家如何移动和进攻敌人的复杂规则，你肯定会说《龙与地下城》（由加里·吉盖克斯和戴夫·阿纳森于1974年创造）。
You'd be wrong, though: enter Kriegsspeil (or “Instructions for the Representation of Tactical Maneuvers under the Guise of a Wargame”). Invented in 1812, it was used by the Prussian Army to teach military tactics to officers-in-training. Players were pitted against each other on a D&D-esque gridded gaming board, which itself was lined with dozens of removable modular tiles that simulated landscapes such as rivers and hills in order to allow the creation of a near-unlimited number of practice battlefields. Game pieces were used that represented not individual soldiers, but entire military formations (such as companies and divisions). Meanwhile, a gamemaster oversaw the process and enforced the game's litany of rules, as well as ensuring that (since each game was based on an actual real-life battle) the player stuck to these scenarios throughout.
你可能就没有答对，但是请记住Kriegsspeil（或《对于解读野战游戏战术动作的说明》）。这款游戏发明于1812年，当时的普鲁士军队用这款游戏来给接受训练的军官教授军事战术。在2D平面网格游戏界面上，双方进行对抗。游戏本身带有几十个可擦掉的模式方块，这些方块可以假定为地理景观，比如河流和山川，以便创造尽可能多的实际战场情况。游戏棋子代表的是整个军队队形（比如连队或分队），而不是某一个士兵。与此同时，游戏管理员不但要确保（由于这种游戏是基于真实战场）在整个游戏过程中，玩家都在这个游戏界面内，而且还要监督游戏过程并确保解释游戏规则。

7.Remote-Control Toys
7.遥控玩具

It's generally assumed the first remote-control toys were produced in the 1960s, after the Italian toy company Elettronica Giocattoli produced the first remote-control car (a 1:12 scale model of a Ferrari 250LM) in 1966.
人们普遍认为，首批遥控玩具出现于20世纪60年代，也就是在1966年意大利玩具公司Elettronica Giocattoli制造出首款遥控车（一款法拉利250LM的1:12比例缩小的模型）后。
However, the first remote-control toy was actually invented in the late 1890s by—and this might not come as a huge shock to some people—famed inventor and Edison punchbag Nikola Tesla. At the 1898 Electrical Exhibition in Madison Square Garden, Tesla unveiled a remote-control boat outfitted with functioning lights, rudders, and a propeller.
但实际上，首个遥控玩具在19世纪90年代末就出现了，由著名发明家兼爱迪生的受气包——尼古拉·特斯拉发明的，这对于有些人来说其实是意料之中的事。1898年在麦德逊广场花园举办的电动设备展览上，特拉斯公布了一艘遥控小船，这艘船配备有可以正常使用的电灯、船舵和一个螺旋桨。

6.The Sims
6.模拟人生

The Sims (2000) is the classic video game where your only task is guiding your personalized character through a life fraught with love, career changes, infinite amounts of decorating, inexplicable house fires, and mysteriously disappearing pool ladders.
《模拟人生》（2000）是一款经典的电子游戏，游戏中唯一的任务就是操作拟人化的角色处理游戏中的各种问题：感情问题、职业转变问题、没完没了的装饰需要、无故房屋起火事件、神秘消失的泳池梯子。
With the exception of the latter two, those were also the objectives of the 1985 video game Little Computer People. Like The Sims, players had the ability to customize their houses and command their characters to perform actions (like watching TV, reading, playing poker, etc). You also had the ability to communicate with your character directly; for instance, you could order them to play a specific song on the piano, play a board game with you (because they heard you like games), or send you messages.
除了房屋起火和泳池梯子消失事件外，1985年的电子游戏《小小电脑人》的目标和《模拟人生》基本一致。玩家可以自己定制房子，命令游戏角色进行各种活动（如看电视、看书、玩牌等），还可以直接同自己的游戏角色进行互动；比如，可以让它用钢琴演奏某首曲子，和你玩棋牌游戏（因为它们知道你喜欢游戏），或者给你留言。

翻译:梦娜 来源：前十网