1 INTRODUCTION

How HUMANS TOOK OVER THE WORLD

人类是如何统治世界的

TIMELINE OF HISTORY 6 million years ago Last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. 2.5 million years ago Humans evolve in Africa. use of stone tools. 2 million years ago Evolution of different kinds of humans. 1.5 million years ago Earliest use of fire. 400,000 years ago Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East. 300,000 years ago Sapiens evolve in Africa. 70,000 years ago Emergence of storytelling. Sapiens leave Africa in large numbers 50,000 years ago Sapiens spread across Australia. Extinction of the big Australian animals. 40,000 years ago Development of Art. 35,000 years ago Extinction of Neanderthals. Sapiens are the last surviving kind of human. 15,000 years ago Sapiens spread across the Americas. Extinction of the big American animals.

历史时间轴600万年前人类和黑猩猩最后的共同祖先。 250万年前，人类在非洲进化。 使用石器。200万年前不同人种的进化。 150万年前最早使用火。 40万年前，尼安德特人在欧洲和中东进化。 30万年前，智人在非洲进化。 7万年前故事的出现。 智人大批离开非洲5万年前，智人遍布澳大利亚。 澳大利亚大型动物的灭绝。 4万年前艺术的发展。 35000年前，尼安德特人灭绝。 智人是最后幸存的人类。 一万五千年前，智人遍布美洲。 美洲大型动物的灭绝。

WHAT ARE HUMANS ALL ABOUT? GROWING UP IS HARD WORK. NOT JUST FOR YOU AND YOUR friends, but for everybody, including animals. For lion cubs to grow up, they need to learn how to run and hunt zebras. A young dolphin must learn how to swim and catch fish. An eagle chick needs to learn how to fly and build a nest. And none of that's easy. But growing up is even harder for humans because we're not sure what we need to learn. Lions run and hunt zebras, dolphins swim and catch fish, eagles fly and build nests — what do humans do? When you grow up, you might drive a racing car faster than any lion can run. You might sail a ship farther than any dolphin can swim. You might pilot an aeroplane higher than any eagle can fly. You might do a million other things that animals can hardly even imagine, like invent a computer game, discover a new kind of

人类到底是什么？ 成长是一项艰苦的工作。不仅仅是为了你和你的朋友，而是为了所有人，包括动物。 幼狮要长大，就得学会奔跑和捕猎斑马。 小海豚必须学会游泳和捕鱼。 雏鹰需要学习飞翔和筑巢。 这一切都不容易。但对于人类来说，成长更加困难，因为我们不确定我们需要学习什么。 狮子奔跑和捕猎斑马，海豚游泳和捕鱼，鹰飞翔和筑巢——人类在做什么？ 当你长大了，你可能会开一辆比狮子跑得还快的赛车。 你驾船的距离可能比海豚游得更远。 你驾驶的飞机可能比任何鹰都飞得高。 你可能会做很多其他动物几乎无法想象的事情，比如发明一种电脑游戏，发现一种新的动物

medicine, lead an expedition to Mars or sit at home all day and watch TV. Humans have so many options! That's why being a human is really confusing. But no matter what you end up doing, it's good to know why humans have so many options in the first place. It's because we rule planet Earth. Planet Earth was once ruled by many different animals. Lions, bears and elephants ruled the land. Dolphins, whales and sharks ruled the sea. Eagles, owls and vultures ruled the sky. But now we humans rule everything: the land, the sea and the sky. Wherever we go in our cars, ships and aeroplanes, the lions, dolphins and eagles need to move aside — and fast! Animals can't stop us from building roads through their forests. They can't stop us from building dams across their rivers. And they can't stop us from polluting the oceans and skies. In fact, we humans are now so powerful that the fate of all other animals depends on us. The only reason lions, dolphins and eagles still exist is because we allow them to. If humans wanted to get rid of all the lions, dolphins and eagles in the world, we could make it happen by next year. That's a lot of power, and it can be used in good ways or bad ways. To be a good human being, you need to understand the power you have and what to do with it. And for that, you need to know how we got our power in the first place. We humans aren't strong like lions, we don't swim as well as dolphins and we definitely don't have wings! So how did we end up ruling the planet? The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. AND it's a true story.

医学，带领探险队去火星或者整天坐在家里看电视。 人类有这么多选择！这就是为什么作为一个人真的很困惑。 但无论你最终做了什么，首先知道为什么人类有这么多选择是很好的。 因为我们统治着地球。 地球曾经由许多不同的动物统治。 狮子、熊和大象统治着这片土地。 海豚、鲸鱼和鲨鱼统治着海洋。 鹰、猫头鹰和秃鹫统治着天空。 但现在我们人类统治着一切：陆地、海洋和天空。 无论我们开着汽车、轮船和飞机走到哪里，狮子、海豚和老鹰都需要靠边站——而且要快！动物不能阻止我们在它们的森林里修路。 他们不能阻止我们在他们的河流上修建水坝。 他们不能阻止我们污染海洋和天空。 事实上，我们人类现在是如此强大，以至于所有其他动物的命运都取决于我们。 狮子、海豚和鹰仍然存在的唯一原因是我们允许它们存在。 如果人类想消灭世界上所有的狮子、海豚和鹰，我们可以在明年实现这一目标。 这是很大的力量，它可以用在好的方面，也可以用在坏的方面。 要成为一个好人，你需要了解你拥有的力量以及如何使用它。 为此，你首先要知道我们是怎么得到力量的。 我们人类不像狮子那么强壮，我们不像海豚那样会游泳，我们也绝对没有翅膀！那么我们是如何统治地球的呢？ 这个问题的答案是你听过的最奇怪的故事之一。 这是一个真实的故事。