4 HOW OUR ANCESTORS LIVED

3 HOW OUR ANCESTORS LIVED

我们的祖先是如何生活的

FOOD MEMORIES THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, OUR ANCESTORS lived very differently from us. But the way they lived has shaped how we behave today. When you're frightened of monsters in the night, that's a memory from your ancestors. Similarly, when you get up in the morning, eat breakfast and play with friends, you often follow habits that were formed by our Stone Age ancestors on the savannahs of Africa. For example, have you ever wondered why people want to eat things that are bad for their health, such as too much ice cream and chocolate cake? Why does all the bad stuff taste so good? The answer is that our bodies think we're still living in the Stone Age, and back then it made perfect sense to binge on sweet and

几千年前，我们的祖先和我们的生活方式截然不同。 但他们的生活方式塑造了我们今天的行为方式。 当你在夜里害怕怪物时，那是你祖先的记忆。 同样，当你早上起床，吃早餐，和朋友一起玩的时候，你经常会遵循我们石器时代的祖先在非洲大草原上形成的习惯。 例如，你有没有想过为什么人们喜欢吃对健康有害的东西，比如太多的冰淇淋和巧克力蛋糕？ 为什么所有不好的东西都这么好吃？ 答案是，我们的身体认为我们仍然生活在石器时代，在那个时代，吃甜食和巧克力是完全合理的

fatty food. Our ancestors didn't have supermarkets and fridges. When they were hungry, they walked through the woods and along rivers looking for something to eat. And they never came across an ice-cream tree or a fizzy-drink river! The only sweet food available then was ripe fruit or honey. When they found sweet fruit, the smart thing to do was to eat as much of it as possible, as fast as possible. Suppose a group of Stone Age gatherers went looking for food and came across a fig tree full of sweet ripe figs. Some gatherers ate only a few figs and then said, 'That's enough for us. We're watching our figures'. The other gatherers couldn't say anything because their mouths were so full of figs. They ate and ate and ate until they almost burst. The next day, everybody came back to the tree, but there were no figs left because a group of baboons had found the tree and eaten them all. The people who'd eaten lots of

高脂肪的食物。我们的祖先没有超市和冰箱。 当他们饿的时候，他们穿过树林，沿着河流寻找吃的东西。 他们从来没有遇到过冰淇淋树或碳酸饮料河！当时唯一的甜食是成熟的水果或蜂蜜。 当他们发现甜的水果时，明智的做法是尽可能多地吃，越快越好。 假设一群石器时代的采集者去寻找食物，偶然发现一棵无花果树，树上结满了成熟的无花果。 有的人只吃了几颗无花果，就说：‘我们够了。 我们在关注我们的数据。” 其他的采集者说不出话来，因为他们的嘴里塞满了无花果。 他们吃啊吃啊吃，直到肚子快要撑破了。 第二天，每个人都回到树上，但是没有无花果了，因为一群狒狒发现了这棵树，把它们都吃光了。 那些吃了很多

figs were still feeling a little full, but those who'd eaten just a few were now very hungry. Archaeologists have found many statues from those times, and a lot of them are of full-figured women. The archaeologists named one particularly beautiful statue the Venus of Willendorf. (This wasn't her real name, of course. We don't know what people called her 30,000 years ago.) In Venus's day, body fat was a sign of health and success. Most people in the Stone Age didn't look like Venus, just as most people today don't look like the models in adverts. But everybody knew they should eat as many sweet things as possible. It was good for you! A Stone Age parent might have scolded their child, saying, 'Stop munching those floppy lettuce leaves right now and come eat your sweets!' We've inherited this tendency to eat sweet things from our Stone Age ancestors. In the DNA instruction book inside our bodies, it says in big bold letters, 'If you find something sweet, eat as much as possible as quickly as you can!' Many things have changed since the days of the Venus of Willendorf. Most people these days don't have to walk across the savannah for hours looking for something to eat. Instead, when we're hungry, we take ten steps to the kitchen, open the fridge, and look inside. But when we see a chocolate cake in there, we still react in the same way Stone Age gatherers reacted to a fig tree. Our body reads its instruction book and starts shouting, 'Hey, we found something sweet! Wonderful! Let's gobble up all of it immediately! Hurry! If we wait, the baboons next door will eat it all first!' The instruction book is outdated, but our bodies don't know that we now live in villages and cities rather than on the savannah. Our bodies don't know that there are such things as fridges and chocolate cake. Our bodies don't know that there are no baboons next door. So we eat the whole chocolate cake and the next day, we go to the supermarket and buy another cake. And when we open the fridge door, our body just can't believe its luck and starts shouting again, 'Unbelievable! Something sweet! Eat it all up!' No matter how many times we open the fridge and find a chocolate cake

无花果仍然觉得有点饱，但那些只吃了几颗的人现在非常饿。 考古学家发现了许多那个时代的雕像，其中很多都是全身像的女性。 考古学家将其中一尊特别美丽的雕像命名为“威伦多夫的维纳斯”。 (当然，这不是她的真名。 我们不知道3万年前人们怎么称呼她。)在维纳斯的时代，身体脂肪是健康和成功的标志。 石器时代的大多数人都不像维纳斯，就像今天的大多数人都不像广告里的模特一样。 但是每个人都知道他们应该尽可能多吃甜食。 这对你有好处！石器时代的父母可能会责备他们的孩子，说：“别再嚼那些松软的生菜叶子了，快来吃你的糖果！”我们从石器时代的祖先那里继承了吃甜食的习惯。 在我们体内的DNA说明书上，用粗体字写着：“如果你发现了甜的东西，就尽可能多地吃，越快越好！”自威伦多夫的维纳斯时代以来，许多事情都发生了变化。 如今，大多数人不必花几个小时在大草原上寻找吃的东西。 相反，当我们饿的时候，我们走十步到厨房，打开冰箱，看看里面。 但当我们看到巧克力蛋糕时，我们的反应仍然和石器时代的采集者对无花果树的反应一样。 我们的身体读着说明书，开始大喊：“嘿，我们找到了甜蜜的东西！”太棒了!让我们马上把它吃光吧！快点!如果我们等着，隔壁的狒狒会先把它们吃光的！”说明书已经过时了，但我们的身体并不知道我们现在生活在乡村和城市，而不是大草原上。 我们的身体不知道有冰箱和巧克力蛋糕这样的东西。 我们的身体不知道隔壁没有狒狒。 所以我们吃了整个巧克力蛋糕，第二天，我们去超市买了另一个蛋糕。 当我们打开冰箱门的时候，我们的身体简直不敢相信自己的运气，又开始大喊：“难以置信！一些甜的东西!全吃了吧！”不管我们多少次打开冰箱发现巧克力蛋糕