3　火！火！火！

凡属“第一”的东西，通常都是最有意思的，比如第一个宝宝、第一颗牙齿、迈出的第一步、第一次说话、第一次打屁股，等等。这本书，主要讲述的就是这种属于“第一”的事物的历史。至于那些属于第二、第三、第四或者第五位的东西，你们可以日后再去阅读和学习。

原始人起初并不知道火是什么东西。他们没有火柴，也没有其他什么办法点灯或者生火。他们晚上没有灯火。他们没有火来给自己取暖。他们没有火来烧饭。但在某个地点、在某个时间，虽说我们并不确切地知道究竟是什么时候、用的是什么方式，他们还是发现了生火和用火的办法。

假如你们合拢双掌，迅速摩擦，双手就会暖和起来。试一试吧。假如摩擦得更快，你们的双手便会变热。同样，如果将两根棍子挨在一起迅速摩擦的话，它们也会变暖。如果将两根棍子摩擦得更快的话，它们就会变热。倘若你们将两根棍子摩擦得非常、非常、非常快，它们就会变得很热；而倘若摩擦的时间够久、速度够快的话，它们最终便会着火。美洲的印第安人和童子军就是这样，用一根棍子对着另一根棍子旋转来生火的。

这就是人类最初的发明之一，并且这一发明对当时的人类意义极其重大，就像发明电灯对我们这个时代意义非凡那样。

People of the Stone Age had hair and beards that were never cut,because they had nothing to cut them with,even had they wanted them short,which they probably didn't.

They had no clothes made of cloth,for they had no cloth and nothing with which to cut and sew cloth if they had.

They had no saws to cut boards,no hammer or nails to fasten them together to make houses or furniture.

They had no forks nor spoons；no pots nor pans；no buckets nor shovels,no needles nor pins.

The people of the Stone Age had never seen or heard of such a thing as iron or steel or tin or brass or anything made of these metals. For thousands and thousands of years primitive people got along without any of the things that are made of metal.

Then one day a Stone Age man found out something by accident；a discovery we call it.

He was making a fire；and a fire,which is to us such a common,everyday thing,was still to him very wonderful.Round his fire he placed some rocks to make a sort of campfire stove.Now,it happened that this particular rock was not ordinary rock but what we now call“ore”，

石器时代的人类，头发和胡须从来都是不剃的；因为即便是想要剃短一点儿，他们也没有理发工具，更何况他们很可能也并不想将头发和胡须剃短呢。

他们没有用布料制成的衣物，因为他们根本就没有布料；而就算有了布料，他们也没有裁剪和缝纫布料的工具啊。

他们没有锯子来锯开木板，没有锤子或钉子将木板钉合在一起来建造房屋或者制作家具。

他们没有叉子和汤匙之类的餐具，没有壶、锅等炊具，没有水桶、铲子，也没有针线或者别针这样的东西。

石器时代的人类，根本就没有见过或者听说过铁、钢、锡、黄铜之类的东西，也没有见过或听说过由这些金属制成的物品。几千年里，原始人一直都过着没有任何金属制品的生活。

接下来，有一天，一名石器时代的男子无意中找到了某种东西；我们将这种过程称之为“发现”。

当时，这名男子正在生火；对于我们来说，火已经是一种司空见惯、每天都会见到的东西，但对他来说，却仍然显得非常神奇。他在火堆周围堆了一些石头，想做成一个有点儿像是营火那样的炉灶。注意，他所用的那种石头，恰巧并不是普通

for it had copper in it. The heat of the fire melted some of the copper out of the rock,and it ran out on the ground.

What were those bright,shining drops?

He examined them.

How pretty they were！

He heated some more of the same rock and got some more copper.

Thus was the first metal discovered.

At first people used the copper for beads and ornaments,for it was so bright and shiny. But they soon found out that copper could be pounded into sharp blades and points,which were much better than the stone knives and arrow-heads they had used before.

Notice that it was not iron they discovered first；it was copper.

We think people next discovered tin in somewhat the same way. Then,after that,they found out that tin when mixed with copper made a still harder and better metal than either alone.This metal,made of tin and copper together,we now call bronze；and for two or three thousand years people made their tools and weapons out of bronze.We call the time when men used bronze tools,and bronze weapons for hunting and fighting the Bronze Age.

At last somebody discovered iron,and soon people saw that iron was better for most useful things than either copper or bronze. The Iron Age lasted three thousand years.

People who lived in the Bronze and Iron Ages were able,after the discovery of metal，

的石头，而是我们所称的“矿石”，因为其中含有铜。火堆的温度很高，让石头中的一部分铜熔化出来，流淌到了地上。

那些亮晶晶、一滴一滴地闪烁着光泽的东西是什么呢？

他仔细地研究了一会儿。

它们看上去是多么的漂亮啊！

他又多烧了一些这样的石头，得到了更多的熔化的铜。

这样，人类就发现了第一种金属。

起初，人们用铜来做小珠子和装饰品，因为铜亮晶晶的，闪闪发光。不过，他们很快就发现，铜可以被锤打成锋利的刀片和箭头，比他们原来所用的石刀和石制箭头要好得多呢。

但我们要注意，他们首先发现的不是铁，而是铜。

我们认为，人类接着又用差不多相同的方式发现了锡。此后他们又发现，将锡和铜混合起来制成的金属，要比单用锡或者单用铜制成的金属更硬，质量也更好。由锡和铜混合而成的这种金属，我们如今称之为“青铜”；在两三千年的时间里，人类都是用这种青铜来制造工具和武器的。因此，我们将人类用青铜工具和青铜武器来狩猎、打仗的这一时期，称为青铜器时代。

最后，又有人发现了铁；而人们很快就发现，铁比铜或青铜都要更适合于制造大部分用具。这个铁器时代，持续了三千年的时间。

发现金属之后，生活在青铜器时代和铁器时代里的人类，便能够做到以前只用

to do many things they could not possibly have done before with only stone.

You may have heard in your mythology or fairy tales of a Golden Age also,but by this is meant something quite different. The Golden Age means a time when everything was beautiful and lovely and everybody wise and good.There have been times in the world's history which have been called the Golden Age for this reason.

But I am afraid there never has been really a Golden Age—only in fairy tales.

石器时不可能做到的许多事情了。

你们可能在神话故事中还听到过“黄金时代”的说法；但这种说法的意思却与字面完全不同。所谓的“黄金时代”，是指一切事物都非常美好、可爱，所有的人都很聪明且心地善良的一个时期。正是出于这个原因，世界历史上才有多个被称为“黄金时代”的时期。

可我却觉得，历史上恐怕并没有什么真正的“黄金时代”，只是神话故事里才有哩。