现代史是由征服而形成的 Modern history has been shaped by conquest
欧洲人征服世界 the conquest of the world by Europeans.
西班牙征服者带头 The Conquistadors led the way.
几百人来到新大陆，屠杀当地居民 A few hundred men came to the New World and decimated the native population.
他们成功的秘密？ The secret of their success?
枪炮 Guns,
病菌 Germs
和钢铁 and Steel.
从从此，欧洲血统的人主宰全球， Ever since, people of European origin have dominated the globe,
伴随着军事力量，也带来了 with the same combination of military power,
致命微生物 lethal microbes
和先进的技术 and advanced technology.
但他们最初是如何发展这些优势的呢？ But how did they develop these advantages in the first place?
为什么世界变得如此不平等？ Why did the world ever become so unequal?
贾里德·戴蒙德教授提出了这些问题 These are questions that Professor Jared Diamond
他花了30多年试图回答 has spent more than 30 years trying to answer.
作为当代最独立的一位思想家， One of the most original thinkers of our age,
戴蒙德周游世界寻找线索。 Diamond has traveled the world looking for clues.
他给自己定下了一项艰巨的任务， He set himself a daunting task
要把历史层层剥开， to peel back the layers of the past,
探索现代世界强权的根源。 and explore the very roots of power in the modern world.
无论我的余生从事什么工作， Whatever I work on for the rest of my life,
都没有"枪炮、病菌和钢铁"问题让人着迷， I can never work on questions as fascinating as the questions of guns,
因为它们是人类历史上最大的问题。 germs and steel, because they are the biggest questions of human history.
是什么分化了穷富？ What separates the haves from the have nots?
枪炮、病菌和钢铁 How have guns, germs and steel
是如何塑造世界历史的？ shaped the history of the world?
第一部：出伊甸园 Titles: Episode 1: Out of Eden
在巴布亚新几内亚的雨林，贾里德·戴蒙德 Jared Diamond request to uncover the roots of inequality began
开始寻求不平等的根源 in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea.
戴蒙德是加州大学洛杉矶分校的教授。 Diamond is a professor at UCLA in Los Angeles.
他是生物学家，专长人类生理学。 He's a biologist by training, a specialist in human physiology.
但他真正热爱的是研究鸟类。 But his real passion has always been the study of birds.
我喜欢在这里观看鸟。 I love watching birds in this place.
我在美国七岁时就开始观鸟了。 I began watching birds when I was seven years old in the United States.
然后就是要识别它们 Then it was just a matter of identifying them.
我26岁的时候来到新几内亚， I came here when I was 26 years old,
一见就钟情这里了。 to New Guinea, and it was love at first sight.
从那以后，戴蒙德一直定期来新几内亚… Diamond has been making regular trips to New Guinea ever since...
现在是岛上鸟类生活的权威专家。 and is now a leading expert on the bird life of the island.
但在他的实地工作过程中， But in the course of his field work
他对新几内亚人产生了好奇。 he's become just as curious about the people of New Guinea.
多年来，我逐渐认识了数千新几内亚人 Over the years I've gotten to know and like thousands of New Guineans.
我学会了几种语言 I've learned several of the languages,
我对岛上鸟类的知识很多就来自于他们。 and much of what I know about birds I picked up from them.
新几内亚人类至少生活了4万年… There have been people living in New Guinea for at least 40,000 years...
比北美和南美大陆要长得多 much longer than on the continents of North and South America.
他们是最具文化多样性的，以及适应力最强的人。 They'e among the most culturally, diverse and adaptable people in the world.
那么，为什么他们比现代美国人穷得多呢？ So why are they so much poorer than modern Americans?
亚利对戴蒙德直接提出了这个问题， The question was put to Diamond Bluntly by a man called Yali,
他们30多年前在海滩上相遇。 whom he met on a beach more than 30 years ago.
为什么白人有这么多货物，而新几内亚人却很少？ Why you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?
亚利的问题真让我吃惊。 Yali's question really threw me.
它看起来如此简单明了， It seemed so simple and obvious,
我想它一定有简单明了的答案， and I thought it must have a simple and obvious answer,
但当他问我时，我不知道答案是什么。 but when he asked me, I had no idea what that answer was.
为什么白人的货物这么多，而新几内亚人却很少？ Why you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?
新几内亚人用“货物”这个词来形容， New Guineans use the word cargo to describe the material goods
那些由西方人首先带过来的实物商品。 first brought to their country by Westerners.
许多人认为货物是白人强大的证据。 Cargo was regarded by many as evidence of the white man's power.
它受到了近乎宗教般的崇敬。 It was treated with an almost religious reverence.
西方殖民者通常认为强弱是由种族决定的。 For their part, Western colonials typically believed that power was determined by race.
他们认为自己在基因上优于当地人。 They saw themselves as genetically superior to the native population.
对他们很自然，他们有这么多货物， To them, it was only natural that they should have so much cargo
而新几内亚人却很少 and New Guineans so little.
对我来说，任何基于种族的解释都是荒谬的。 To me, any explanation based on race is absurd.
我认识太多聪明的新几内亚人 I know too many really smart New Guineans to believe
他们不存在任何遗传上的缺陷。 there's anything genetically inferior about them.
他们的聪明才智，学思敏捷一直让我印象深刻。 It's their ingenuity and their quickness to learn that have always impressed me.
他们可以赤手空拳进入地球上最困难的环境， They can go empty-handed into some of the most difficult environments on earth,
在几个小时内建立庇护所并生存下来。 knock up a shelter in a few hours and survive.
而我不知道从哪里开始 I wouldn't know where to start.
在这种环境下，没有他们我很无助。 In this environment I'd be helpless without them.
为什么这些聪明人没有发明金属工具， So why didn't these ingenious people invent metal tools,
或者建造伟大的城市 or build great cities,
或者发展现代文明的其他特征？ or develop any of the other trappings of modern civilization?
我所处的世界是如此不同。 The world that I'm from is so different.
现代美国是全球最富有、最强大的国家。 The modern U.S. is the richest, most powerful state on earth.
其货物之多，新几内亚人无法想象 It's crammed with more cargo than most New Guineans could ever imagine.
但为什么呢？这就是亚利想知道的。 But why? That's what Yali wanted to know.
我们的世界怎么会变得如此不同？ How did our worlds ever come so different?
戴蒙德意识到亚利的问题 Diamond realized that Yali's question
比最初看起来要大得多，复杂得多。 was far bigger and more complex than it first appeared.
其实这是关于不平等的根源， It was really about the roots of inequality,
一个和人类历史一样古老的问题。 a question as old as human history itself.
为什么自古以来，有些社会的进步比其他的快？ Why, since ancient times, have some societies progressed faster than others?
是什么让埃及人建造了大金字塔？ What allowed the Egyptians to build great pyramids while most of the world
而当时世界上大多数人还在勉强维持生计 was still scratching out a living?
希腊人是如何发展出如此先进的文明的？ How did the Greeks ever develop such an advanced civilization?
还有罗马人？还有玛雅人？ Or the Romans? Or the Maya?
所有伟大的文明都有一些共同点，先进的技术、 All great civilizations have had some things in common, advanced technology,
庞大的人口和组织良好的劳动力。 large populations, and well-organized workforce.
如果能理解这些是如何形成的， If I could understand how those things came into existence,
那么就能理解在历史进程中， then I'd understand why some people marched faster than others
有些社会比其他走得更快。 during the course of history.
戴蒙德开始探索世界的贫富分化。 Diamond set out to explore the division of the world into haves and have nots.
这是很少有学者敢接受的巨大挑战。 It was a massive challenge that few scholars would have dared take on.
他是科学家，不是历史学家。 He was a scientist, not a historian.
他怎么可能解开人类历史上的巨大难题呢？ How could he possibly solve the great puzzles of human history?
要了解不平等的来源， To understand where inequality came from,
戴蒙德需要确定不平等发生的时间， Diamond needed to identify a time before inequality,
当时世界的生活方式或多或少都是相同的。 when people across the world were living more or less the same way.
他不得不回到几千年前第一代文明之前 He had to turn back the clock thousands of years, back before the first civilizations.
回到史前时代 Back into prehistory.
一万三千年前，上一次冰河时代已经结束。 13,000 years ago, the ravages of the last Ice Age were over.
世界变得越来越温暖和湿润 The world was becoming warmer and wetter.
中东是人类繁衍生息的地区之一。 One area where humans were thriving was the Middle East.
一万三千年前， 13,000 years ago,
中东远没有今天那么干旱，有更多的森林、树木和植物。 the Middle East was far less arid than today, with more forests, trees and plants.
在这个时期，这里和各地的人们都一样， People here lived like people everywhere at this time
以小型、流动的群体为主，进行狩猎或采集。 as hunter/gatherers in small, mobile groups.
他们经常迁移，在能找到动物狩猎 They were frequently on the move, making shelters
或植物采集的地方搭建庇护所。 wherever they could find animals to hunt or plants to gather.
他们会在庇护所里一次住上几周或几个月， They'd live in these shelters for weeks or months at a time,
只要能继续养活自己。 as long as they could keep feeding themselves.
但随着季节的变化，他们会跟随动物迁徙， But as seasons changed and animals migrated, they'd move on,
到下一个山谷或山脊，寻找新的食物来源。 to the next valley or ridge, looking for new sources of food.
仍可发现地球上为数不多的几个狩猎场， One of the few places on earth where it's still possible to find people hunting
聚集在巴布亚新几内亚的雨林中。 and gathering is the rainforest of Papua New Guinea.
不只是在考古书中读到这种生活方式， Instead of just reading about this lifestyle in archaeological books,
我有幸亲眼目睹了它， I've been lucky enough to witness it first hand,
亲眼目睹了一万三千年前我们是如何生活的， to see for myself how we all lived 13,000 years ago,
以及是如何寻找食物的。 and how we found food.
捕捉动物需要技巧、悄无声息， To catch an animal requires skill, stealth,
和关于数百种动物的渊博知识。 and encyclopedic knowledge about hundreds of animal species.
你必须非常聪明才能成为猎人。 You have to be pretty smart to be a hunter.
一万三千年前，中东的人们也曾以同样的方式狩猎， 13,000 years ago, people in the Middle East hunted in the same way,
追踪他们能发现的任何蛛丝马迹。 tracking down whatever game they could find.
但狩猎的根本问题是，它从来都不是 But the fundamental problem with hunting
一种能得到足够食物的有效方式。 is that it's never been a productive way to find enough food.
追踪动物耗时巨大 It takes time to track each animal.
即便有了弓箭，狩猎的结局也不确定。 And with a bow and arrow, there's no certainty of how the hunt will end.
因为狩猎是如此不可预测， Because hunting is so unpredictable,
传统社会通常更依赖于采集。 traditional societies have usually relied more on gathering.
在巴布亚新几内亚，采集由妇女完成。 In this part of Papua New Guinea, the gathering is done by women.
最重要的食物来源是野生西米 An important source of food here is wild sago.
剥开西米树，就能在中间找到果肉， By stripping a sago tree they can get to the pulp at the centre,
可以制成面团然后煮熟 which can be turned into dough and then cooked.
获取食物虽然比较辛苦，耗费体力， Although it's physically harder work,
但通常来说，采集比狩猎获更有效率 gathering is generally a more productive way of finding food than hunting.
但仍然不能提供足够的卡路里来养活众多的人口。 But it still doesn't provide enough calories to support a large population.
我们周围的这片丛林，你认为是聚宝盆，但它不是。 This jungle around us, you might think it's a cornucopia, but it isn't.
绝大多数的丛林树木都没有产出，无法提供可食用的东西。 Most of these trees in the jungle don't yield, don't give us anything edible.
除了几棵西米树外， There were just a few sago trees,
其余的树种均不可食用。 and the rest of these trees don't yield anything that we could eat.
而且西米也很有限 And then sago itself has got limitations.
一棵树只能产大约70磅(32kg)的西米。 One tree yields only maybe about 70 pounds of sago.
加工需要三四天的时间 It takes them three or four days to process that tree,
所以获取这点食物有点得不偿失， so it's a lot of work really for not a great deal of food,
再加上西米的蛋白质含量低， plus the sago starch is low on protein,
而且西米也不能长期储存。 and also the sago can't be stored for a long time.
这就是为什么狩猎/采集区人口稀疏 And that's why hunter/gatherer populations are so sparse.
要养活更多的人，要有不同的食物来源， you've got to find a different food supply, If you want to feed a lot of people,
必须找到一种高效的生产方式， you've got to find a really productive environment,
而不是难以承载人口之重的西米树。 and it's not going to be a sago swamp.
在中东，可采集很多不同的植物果实。 In the Middle East, there were very different plants to gather.
树间野生着两种谷物，大麦和小麦。 Growing wild between the trees were two cereal grasses, barley and wheat.
远比西米营养丰富，且多产。 Far more plentiful and nutritious than sago.
这些简单的谷物将产生深远的影响， These simple grasses would have a profound impact,
使人类走上现代文明的道路。 setting humanity on the course towards modern civilization.
但在这之前，气候发生了灾难性变化。 But it would take a catastrophic change in the climate before this would happen.
12500年前，世界气候变得极不稳定。 12,500 years ago, the world's climate became highly volatile.
上一个冰河期结束的长期解冻 The long-term thaw that had brought about the end of the last ice age
突然逆转了 suddenly went into reverse.
全球气温下降，冰河重现 Global temperatures dropped,and ice age conditions returned.
世界变得越来越寒冷和干燥 The world became colder and drier.
中东的生存环境恶化 The Middle East suffered an environmental collapse.
动物群灭绝 Animal herds died off.
许多树木和植物也是如此 So did many trees and plants.
干旱持续了一千多年 The drought lasted for more than 1,000 years.
人们被迫走得更远，更努力地寻找食物来源。 People were forced to travel farther and look much harder for any source of food.
尽管如此还是生存下来了，甚至繁荣昌盛。 But despite the conditions, they would somehow survive, even prosper.
在中东将诞生出全新的生活方式， Here in the Middle East, a new way of life would come into being,
它将改变地球的面貌 one that would change the face of the earth.
伊恩·奎特是一位加拿大考古学家 Ian Kuijt is a Canadian archaeologist
专门研究中东石器时代的历史 who specializes in the Stone Age history of the Middle East.
他的工作集中在约旦河谷某处， His work has focused on a site in the Jordan Valley,
靠近死海，一个叫德拉的地方 near the Dead Sea, a place known as Dhra
奎特是该发掘项目的联合主管， Kuijt is a co-director of the dig,
与一个国际考古学家团队合作。 and works with an international team of archaeologists.
他们发现了古代住宅遗迹 They've uncovered the remains of ancient dwellings
比任何狩猎/采集庇护所都要复杂得多 that were clearly more sophisticated than any hunter/gatherer shelters.
他们认为这是一个小村庄， They believe this was a small village,
世界上最早的永久性定居点之一 one of the earliest permanent villages anywhere in the world.
人类开始在这里扎根了 People were starting to put down roots.
这里有一个村庄，我不太确定， this village of, I don't know, What we would have had is
应该有40，50人居住在同一地方 40, 50 people, living in the same place.
一连串椭圆形的小屋， We would have had a series of oval huts
小屋的一部分深入地下， that would have been partially cut into the ground,
这很可能是人类首次安顿下来， and these would have been very much the, the first time people settled down
真正意义上的社区性群居生活。 and lived in communities in a really extensive way.
用碳14测定地点的年代， When they radiocarbon dated the site,
发现村庄最先出现在11500年前 they discovered that the village first emerged 11,500 years ago
是中东干旱期的结束之时 at the same time as the end of the drought in the Middle East.
但如果条件这么艰难，怎么可能养活整个村子呢？ But how was it possible to feed an entire village if times were so hard?
在德拉发掘了四年，考古学家们相信得到了答案。 After four years of digging at Dhra, the archaeologists believe they have an answer.
它位于这个独特的建筑里 It lies in this unique structure.
这里能看到围起来的泥墙轮廓， What you can see here is the outline of a mud wall coming all the way round here,
内部有直立着的石头， and then inside we have a series of upright stones that have been chipped
它们被凿成这样，你可以看到上面有一个凹口， in such a way where you can see a notch on them,
顶上架有一系列的横梁， and there would have been a series of beams over the top of that,
有一层地板穿过，基本上形成了一个干燥， with a floor across it, and basically you would have had a dry,
湿度受控的环境，可以存放谷物， humidity-controlled environment, where they could take grain,
可以放任何植物，把它们晾干， they could take any plants, they could dry them out,
储存在这里，能防止昆虫的侵害， put them in here, protect them from insects, protect them from moisture,
防止潮气和渗水 protect them from water percolating through.
从我们的角度来看， What that ends up being from our perspective
这可能是世界上第一个粮仓， is probably the world's first granary in some form
在这个特定的位置 a place where they were able to store food
他们能够全年储存食物 at a particular location on a year-round basis.
德拉的团队认为，粮仓是椭圆形的泥墙建筑， The team at Dhra believes the granary was an oval-shaped mud wall
位于村庄的中心 building at the centre of the village;
可以集中储存采集的粮食 a place where grain could be stored collectively.
储存的谷物主要是小麦和大麦 And the grains that were being stored were primarily wheat and barley.
没有其他植物可食用的时候， While other plants were no longer available,
这些谷类和牧草足够生存， these cereal grasses were hardy enough to survive,
并且可以保存数年。 and durable enough to be stored for years.
但如果这是粮食短缺的时期，怎么会有谷物装满粮仓呢？ But if this was a time of scarcity, how was there enough grain to fi ll a granary?
答案暗示人类的行为发生了根本性的转变。 The answer suggests a radical shift in human behavior.
在中东干旱的某个时候， At some point during the drought in the Middle East,
人们开始种植自己的粮食。 people started growing their own food.
由于无法维持流动的生活方式， Unable to maintain a mobile way of life,
他们住在附近能找到的水源的地点， they would have stayed close to any source of water they could find,
并在周围种植小麦和大麦田。 and planted new fields of wheat and barley around them.
不是跟着食物来源迁徙， Rather than just following food sources around different locations,
这是人们第一次开始 for the first time what people start to do
把这些资源带回到身边。 is that they bring these resources back to them.
不仅仅是食物的收获，而是作为种子， they'e bringing them as seeds, Not just as harvested food, but
把它们种在村子旁边， and they'e growing them next to their village,
这是第一次， and that's the first time,
在世界上看到这种情况。 really this is the first time we see this anywhere in the world.
石器时代的中东人正在成为农民， The Stone Age people of the Middle East were becoming farmers,
世界上第一批农民。 the first farmers in the world.
在无意识中， Without realizing it,
这些新农民正在改变周围农作物的性质。 these new farmers were changing the very nature of the crops around them.
随着每一轮的种植和收获， With every round of planting and harvesting,
他们喜欢的小麦和大麦的麦穗 they'd favor ears of wheat and barley whose seeds were the biggest,
种子最大、最美味，优先被收获。 tastiest or easiest to harvest.
带有无用性状的野生植物，在人类的培育下繁衍。 Traits that were useless to the plant in the wild thrived under human cultivation.
他们打断了循环。 They interrupted the cycle.
中断了正常的环境循环， They interrupted the normal environmental cycle
开始选择个别的植物， and started to select these individual plants
就是奖励对他们最有利的植物， and basically rewarding those that were going to be most profitable to them,
所以即使这是偶然的， and so even though it was accidental,
一旦整个过程开始，人们就开始控制自然。 once that whole process started, people were starting to control nature.
人为干扰改变农作物被称为驯化。 The way crops are changed by human interference is known as domestication.
如今它发生在研究实验室里， Today it happens in research labs,
科学家们选择基因和育种作物， with scientists selecting genes and breeding crops
以使其对人类更加有用。 to be ever more useful to humans.
这是一个非常精确、慎重的过程 It's a very precise, deliberate process.
但与几千年前在中东的第一次 But not so different from what the first farmers were doing unconsciously,
无意识所做的事情没有太大区别。 thousands of years ago in the Middle East.
向农业过渡显然是人类历史上决定性的转折点。 The transition to farming was clearly a decisive turning point in human history.
那些仍然保持狩猎/采集的人 People who remained hunter/gatherers
不能产出与农民一样多的食物， couldn't produce anywhere near as much food as farmers,
也不能产出多余的食物去储存。 and also couldn't produce much food that could be stored.
他们总是处于长期的劣势。 They were always going to be at a chronic disadvantage.
现在我需要去了解别处成为农民的古人。 Now I needed to know where else in the ancient world people had become farmers.
如果我能把农业传播 If I could establish links
和文明传播之间建立起联系， between the spread of farming and the spread of civilization,
我就能很好地回答亚利的问题。 I'd be well on my way to answering Yali's question.
古代世界只有少数几个地方独立发展了农业。 There are only a few parts of the ancient world that developed farming independently.
中东之后不久是中国 Not long after the Middle East came China,
人们种植另一种高产谷草： where people grew another high yield cereal grass:
大米 rice.
美洲也出现了以玉米、南瓜和豆子 Pockets of farming also emerged in the Americas,
为基础的农业区。 based on corn, squash and beans.
后来在非洲，人们种植高粱、小米和山药。 Later, in Africa, people farmed sorghum, millet and yams.
大多数出现农业的地方， And in most places where farming emerged,
一个相对庞大、先进的文明也随之而来。 a relatively large, advanced civilization followed.
但这个规律有个例外 But there was an exception to the rule.
农业没有带来同样好处的地区： An area where farming didn't bring the same benefits:
新几内亚高地 the highlands of New Guinea.
在西方人殖民新几内亚50年后， For 50 years after Westerners colonized New Guinea,
他们认为内陆的高原山谷无人居住。 they thought the highland valleys in the interior were uninhabited.
其实那是岛上人口最稠密的地区， In fact, they were the most densely populated part of the island,
拥有世界上最古老的农业系统 with one of the oldest systems of farming in the world.
考古学家认为他们已耕作长达一万年之久， Archaeologists now believe that people have been farming here for almost 10,000 years
几乎与中东地区的人一样长。 almost as long as the people of the Middle East.
很惊讶地想到，这些亚利的同族人， It's amazing to think that these people, Yali's people,
是世界上最早的一些农民 were some of the earliest farmers in the world.
但如果他们是农民， But if they were farmers,
为什么他们没有走上文明的道路呢， why weren't they propelled down the same path towards civilization
像中东、中国或中美洲的人民一样呢？ as the people of the Middle East or China or Central America?
他们为什么最终没产出自己货物呢？ Why didn't they end up producing their own cargo?
新几内亚农民本身的天赋肯定不亚于 New Guinea farmers themselves were surely no less talented
世界上其他地区的农民 than farmers anywhere else in the world.
那有什么区别呢？ So what was the difference?
高原农业是以像芋头这样的作物为基础的， Highland agriculture was based on crops like these taro roots,
它们与谷类作物有很大的不同 which are very different from cereal crops.
芋头需要更多的劳作。 Taro is much more work.
你得一个个地种， You've got to plant it one by one,
不像小麦，可以用手撒下种子， unlike wheat where you throw your hand and spread the seed,
这些新几内亚作物不能像小麦那样能储存多年， and these New Guinea crops can't be stored for years the way wheat can,
它们腐烂得很快，必须在短时间内吃掉 they rot quickly, they have to be eaten in a short time.
与小麦相比，它们的蛋白质含量低， They'e also low in protein compared to wheat,
因此新几内亚高地的农民因缺乏蛋白质受苦。 so these farmers of the New Guinea highlands suffered from protein deficiency.
新几内亚的其他作物也没有多少蛋白质。 There's not much protein to be gotten from New Guinea's other crops, either.
这里种植当地品种的香蕉， People here farm local varieties of bananas,
像芋头一样，蛋白质含量也很低。尽管富含淀粉和糖分， starch, like taro they'e low in protein. but although bananas are rich in sugar and
事实上，高原人的蛋白质很低， In fact, people in the highlands have so little protein
有时要吃巨型蜘蛛来补充饮食。 that sometimes they eat giant spiders to supplement their diet.
我意识到了 I'd reached a moment of realization.
农业显然对人类的不平等至关重要 Farming was clearly crucial to the story of human inequality.
但农业的类型也同样重要。 But, just as important was the type of farming.
世界各地有机会获得最高产作物的人 People around the world who had access to the most productive crops
成为最有产能的农民。 became the most productive farmers.
最终归结于地理上的运气。 Ultimately it came down to geographic luck.
这是一个大胆的想法， It's an audacious idea
世界上的不平等诞生于我们吃的农作物。 that the inequalities of the world were born from the crops we eat.
根据贾里德·戴蒙德的说法，美国人比新几内亚人更具优势， According to Jared Diamond, Americans have had an advantage over New Guineans
因为几个世纪以来，他们种植的作物更有营养和生产力。 because for centuries they've grown crops that are more nutritious and productive.
像小麦这样的作物，能提供所需卡路里的五分之一 Crops like wheat, which provides about a fifth of all the calories they eat.
现代美国的财富绝不可能靠芋头和香蕉来支撑。 The wealth of modern America could never have been sustained by taro and bananas.
但戴蒙德的想法似乎太简单了。 But Diamond's idea seems almost too simple.
植物本身真的有能力塑造人类历史的进程吗？ Could plants alone really have the power to shape the course of human history?
或者还有别的在起作用？ Or was there something else at play?
世界贫富分化另有原因？ Another reason for the division of the world into haves and have nots?
到9000年前，中东的第一批定居点 By 9,000 years ago, the first settlements in the Middle East
正在让位给更大的村庄。 were giving way to much larger villages.
农民的产量要更多，才能维持大规模的群居。 People were only able to live on this scale by becoming more productive farmers.
他们被驯化的小麦和大麦包围着， They were surrounded by fields of domesticated wheat and barley,
现在他们也有了另一种稳定的食物来源。 but by now they also had another steady source of food.
我们所看到的大约9000年前发生的 What we see happening about 9,000 years ago is a remarkable transformation
是人类与动物间关系的显着转变。 in the way that humans are interacting with animals.
我们开始看到动物驯化的过程， We begin to see a process of animal domestication,
就是人类控制着它们移动的地方， by which we mean humans were controlling where they were moving,
控制着它们的喂养，控制着它们的繁殖。 they were controlling their feeding, and they were controlling their breeding.
不必外出打猎，就有可靠的畜肉供应 Instead of having to go out to hunt, you have a dependable meat supply on the hoof,
在居住地周围，一年四季都有， year-round, around your site,
不像狩猎，会受季节变化的影响。 rather than being subject to seasonal variations in wild game.
除了肉类，动物也可以产奶， As well as meat, animals could be used for their milk,
持续提供蛋白质的来源。 providing an ongoing source of protein.
动物皮毛可以用来制作温暖的衣服。 Their hair and skins could be used to make clothes for extra warmth.
随着时间的推移，家畜成为新的农业 Over time, domestic animals became an integral part
生活方式不可分割的部分。 of the new agricultural way of life.
我们知道，最初开始驯养家畜的社区 We know that the communities which first started to have domestic animals
已经有了谷类作物，所以他们是耕种者， already had cereal crops, so they were cultivators,
这些特定的动植物组合 and the combination of these particular animals and plants
成了极具吸引力的组合， becomes an extremely attractive package,
因为它们是互补的。 in that they'e complementary.
收获期过后，动物可能会放到田里， After the harvest period, animals could be turned out on the stubble,
它们可以吃掉谷物收获的剩余部分。 and they can actually eat the remains of the cereal crop harvest.
通过转换 In their turn,
动物粪便 animal dung
可以为谷类作物提供肥料 can be used to provide sort of a fertilizer for the cereal crops as well,
庄稼、动物、人类，整套组合， the crops, so the whole, the whole package,
看来是互惠互利的， you know, is seen to be mutually beneficial,
无论是对动物还是植物，当然也对人类有利。 both for the animals and the plants and of course for the humans.
山羊和绵羊是古代最早被驯养的动物， Goats and sheep were the first animals to be domesticated in the ancient world,
随后是今天的其他大型家畜 and were eventually followed by the other big farm animals of today.
最初都是用来做肉用的， All of them were used at first for their meat,
但在其他方面都被证明也是有用的， but they all prove useful in other ways,
特别是在发明犁的时候。 especially with the invention of the plough.
在工业革命之前， Before the industrial revolution,
负重动物是地球上最强大的机器。 beasts of burden were the most powerful machines on the planet.
一匹马或一头牛，套上犁具， A horse or an ox, harnessed to a plough,
可以改变土地的生产力， could transform the productivity of the land,
让农民种植更多的粮食，养活更多的人。 allowing farmers to grow more food and feed more people.
在新几内亚和世界上许多其他地方， In New Guinea and many other parts of the world,
人们从来不使用犁，因为没有动物拉犁。 people never used ploughs because they never had the animals to pull them.
新几内亚的唯一大型家畜是猪，不是本地的， was the pig, and it wasn't even native, The only big domestic animal in New Guinea
几千年前从亚洲传入， it came in from Asia a few thousand years ago,
欧洲和亚洲不仅有猪，还有牛 while Europe and Asia had not only pigs but also cows,
绵羊、山羊、马、水牛、骆驼等等。 sheep, goats, horses, buffalo, camels and so on.
猪能提供猪肉，但提供不了其他产品 Now pigs do give you meat, but pigs don't give you the other products
那些欧洲和亚洲动物所能提供的产品。 that you get from those European and Asian animals.
猪提供不了奶制品、毛皮，更重要的是 Pigs don't give you milk, or wool, or leather or hides, and most important of all,
猪提供不了肌肉力量， pigs can't be used for muscle power,
猪不拉犁也不拉车。 pigs don't pull ploughs or pull carts.
新几内亚唯一的肌肉力量是人的肌肉力量。 The only muscle power in New Guinea was human muscle power.
即使在今天，新几内亚也没有负重的动物， Even today, there are no beasts of burden in New Guinea,
几乎所有的农活都是手工完成的。 and almost all of the farm work is still done by hand.
但如果家畜真的如此有用， But if farm animals were so useful,
为什么新几内亚人没有自己驯养呢？ why didn't New Guineans domesticate any of their own?
我决定统计世界上所有被驯养过的动物， I decided to add up all the animals in the world that have ever been domesticated,
我对自己的发现感到惊讶。 and I was amazed by what I found.
已知野生动物近200万种， There are nearly two million known species of wild animals,
但绝大多数从未被家养。 but the vast majority has never been farmed.
多数昆虫和啮齿动物对人类没有实际用途， Most insects and rodents are of no practical use to humans,
不值得养殖。 and not worth the effort of farming.
一些鸟类、鱼类和爬行动物已经被驯养， Some birds, fi sh and reptiles have been domesticated,
但大多数根本无法进行农作。 but most are simply impractical to farm.
大多数食肉动物也是，不是它们很危险， So are most carnivores, not because they'e dangerous
而是必须养其他动物再来喂养它们。 but because you'd have to grow other animals just to feed them.
最好的家畜是大型食草的哺乳动物。 The best animals to farm are large, plant-eating mammals.
多年以来， And over the years,
人类可能试图驯化所有这类动物，但通常不成功。 humans have probably tried to domesticate all of them, usually without success.
尽管一再努力，非洲人从未驯化大象。 Despite repeated efforts, Africans have never domesticated the elephant.
在南亚，一些大象被用作工作动物。 In South Asia, some elephants are used as work animals.
但从来没有为此而去家养。 But they'e not farmed for the purpose.
取而代之的是在野外捕获大象，然后驯服训练。 Instead, each elephant is caught in the wild and then tamed and trained.
因为没有经济意义，饲养一头大象要15年 It doesn't make economic sense to farm an animal that takes some 15 years to mature
才能到成熟繁殖的年龄 and reach an age where it can start reproducing.
适合驯养的动物 Animals which made suitable candidates for domestication
可以在1-2年开始繁育。 can start giving birth in their first or second years.
每年会有1-2个后代， They will have one or maybe two offspring a year,
所以他们的繁殖力实际上很高。 so they'e productivity is actually high.
从行为上讲，它们需要是群居动物， Behaviorally they need to be social animals,
也就是说，雄性、雌性和幼体共同群体生活， meaning that the males and the females and the young all live together as a group,
它们也有内部的社会等级， and they also have an internal social hierarchy,
这意味着如果人类能够控制头领， which means that if humans can control the leader,
也就获得对整畜群的控制。 then they will also gain control over the whole herd or whole flock.
对家畜还有另一个关键要求 There is another crucial requirement for a domestic animal.
它需要能与人相处。 It needs to get along with humans.
有些动物不具备家养的性格 Some animals don't have the temperament to live on a farm.
斑马可能是一种理想的家畜， A zebra could be an ideal domestic animal,
可能和马一样有用。 potentially as useful as a horse.
但斑马是在非洲大型掠食动物中进化而来的， But evolving in the midst of Africa's great predators,
它们已经成为快速、紧张的生物。 zebras have become flighty, nervous creatures.
它们有一种人类无法驯服的暴虐特性。 They have a vicious streak that humans have been unable to tame.
这也许就是为什么斑马从未耕作或作为战马的原因 That may be why zebras have never been harnessed to a plough or ridden into battle.
我统计了148种不同种类的野生食草的陆生哺乳动物， I counted up 148 different species of wild, plant-eating terrestrial mammals
体重超过100磅，但在这148种动物中， that weighed over 100 pounds, but of those 148,
成功驯养的只有14种。 the number that has ever been successfully farmed for any length of time is just 14.
山羊、绵羊、猪、牛、马、驴子、 Goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys,
巴德里安骆驼、阿拉伯骆驼、水牛、 Badrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo,
大羊驼、驯鹿、牦牛、白肢牛和巴里牛 llamas, reindeer, yaks, nithans, and bally cattle.
在一万年的驯养中，只有14种大型家畜 Just 14 large domestic animals in 10,000 years of domestication.
这些动物的祖先来自哪里？ And where did the ancestors of these animals come from?
没有一个来自新几内亚或澳大利亚。 None was from New Guinea, or Australia.
或者撒哈拉以南非洲，或者北美大陆。 Or Sub-Saharan Africa, or the whole continent of North America.
南美洲只有一种大型家畜的祖先：大羊驼。 South America had the ancestor of just one large domestic animal: the llama.
其他13种都来自亚洲、北非和欧洲。 The other 13 were all from Asia, North Africa and Europe.
其中四大牲畜，牛、猪、绵羊和山羊， And of these, the big four livestock animals; cows, pigs, sheep and goats,
原产于中东 were native to the Middle East.
世界上最好的农作物产地 The very same area that was home to some of the best crops in the world
也是最好的家畜产地 was also home to some of the best animals.
难怪这个地区被称为新月沃土 Little wonder that this area became known as the Fertile Crescent.
新月沃土上的人民得到地理上的祝福， The people of the Fertile Crescent were geographically blessed,
得到古代最好的农作物和牲畜。 with access to some of the best crops and farm animals in the ancient world.
这给了他们一个巨大的开端。 It gave them a huge head start.
从播种小麦和饲养山羊开始， What had begun with the sowing of wheat and the penning of goats
孕育出第一个人类文明 was leading towards the first human civilization.
约旦南部瓜尔的考古遗址已有9000年历史 The archaeological site of Guar in Southern Jordan is 9,000 years old.
它具有城镇的所有特征 But it has all the hallmarks of a town.
有几百人住在这里，一排排的房子是科技的奇迹。 A few hundred people lived here, in rows of houses that were a wonder of technology.
每次我来这里，我都对古人的作所感到着迷。 Every time I come here, I'm amazed by what those people were doing.
有些房子像有空调， Some of the houses have a kind of air conditioning,
这里，这个窗户 a, this window here is for,
是用来控制从街道进入室内的空气， to control the air coming from the street inside the house,
还有房子内部， and the houses,
至少房屋内部的墙壁和地板， the walls and the floors of the houses from the inside at least,
都覆盖着石膏。 were covered with plaster.
人们开始形成家庭的概念 So people were moving to a concept of homes.
它不仅仅是睡觉的地方，而是舒适的家， It's, it's not a place just to sleep, it is a proper home,
人们开始装饰室内， and people started to decorate the houses from the, from the inside,
人们开始投资他们的房子， and people were starting to invest in their homes,
正如我们提到的灰泥， because if we are talking about plaster,
它费时费力，房子涂刷石膏是很昂贵的。 it is time-consuming, it's effort-consuming, it's very expensive to have plastered house.
随着村庄越来越大，有更多的人在土地上劳作 As villages grew bigger, there were more people to work on the land.
更多的人可以生产更多的食物，更有效率， More people could produce more food, more efficiently,
足够养活社区内的工匠 enough to support specialists within the community.
摆脱了农业的负担， Freed from the burden of farming,
有人得以发展新技能，新技术。 some people were able to develop new skills, and new technologies.
用石灰石制做石膏是一项重大的技术突破 Making plaster from limestone was a major technological breakthrough.
石头必须一次加热好几天，温度要达到1000度。 The stones had to be heated for days at a time, at a temperature of 1,000 degrees.
今天看来似乎微不足道，但了解如何利用火 It may seem insignificant today, but understanding how to work with fire
是锻造钢铁的第一步，这项技术将改变世界。 was the first step towards forging steel, a technology that would transform the world.
相比之下，像新几内亚这样的地方从未开发出先进的技术 By contrast, places like New Guinea never developed advanced technology.
即使在今天，高原人的工作方式 Even today, some people in the highlands
几个世纪以来几乎没有改变。 are working in ways that have barely changed for centuries.
上世纪60年代我第一次来到新几内亚时， When I first came to New Guinea in the 1960s,
岛上还有人在使用石斧这样的石器， people were still using stone tools like this axe
在欧洲人到来之前， in parts of the island, and before European arrival,
新几内亚各地都在使用石器。 people were using stone tools everywhere in New Guinea.
那么，新几内亚为什么没开发出金属工具呢？ So why didn't New Guinea develop metal tools by itself?
最后我意识到，要让金属工匠 And eventually I realized that to have metalworking specialists
知道如何冶炼铜和铁， who can figure out how to smelt copper and iron,
就需要在农业社会里的其他人， requires that the rest of the people in the society who were farmers,
能够生产足够的粮食盈余来养活他们。 be able to generate enough food surpluses to feed them.
但是，新几内亚的农业生产力 But New Guinea agriculture was not productive enough
不足以产生这些粮食盈余， to generate those food surpluses,
其结果是没有专家，没有金属工匠，也就没有金属工具 and the result was no specialists, no metalworkers, and no metal tools.
新几内亚的生活方式是完全可行的。 The way of life in New Guinea was perfectly viable.
它完好无损地存活了几千年。 It had survived intact for thousands of years.
但据戴蒙德观点，没有技术上的进步， But according to Diamond, people didn't advance technologically
是需要花费太多的时间和精力养活自己 because they spent too much time and energy feeding themselves.
然后西方人来了，用他们的技术来殖民这个国家。 And then Westerners arrived, and used their technology to colonize the country.
然而虽有占有多种优势， Yet for all its advantages,
但新月沃土并没有成为现代世界的强国， the Fertile Crescent is not the powerhouse of the modern world,
也不再是曾经的面包篮。 nor is it the bread basket it once was.
它是怎么失去了领先地位的？ How did it lose its head start?
在出现的1000年内， Within 1,000 years of their emergence,
新月沃土的多数新村都被遗弃了 most of the new villages of the Fertile Crescent were abandoned.
具有讽刺意味的是，该地区有一个根本性的弱点 Ironically, the region had a fundamental weakness.
尽管有地球上最具营养的作物， Despite having some of the most nutritious crops on the planet,
但气候太干燥， its climate was too dry,
生态太脆弱，无法支持集约化农业的持续。 and its ecology too fragile, to support continuous intensive farming.
人们在破坏环境 People were destroying the environment.
水资源被过度开发，树木被砍伐， The waters had been over-exploited, the trees had been cut,
这就是这种时候，你，你，你面临着，终结 and this is what when, when, when you, when you face the, the end,
我的意思是，对面的这堵墙。 I mean you are facing the wall.
你最终看到这样的景观， You will end with landscape like that,
看到的是，树木稀少， mean with, with few trees,
没有草，水更少。 with no grass, and with less water.
所以我们今天看到的 So what we are looking at today
是过度开发环境的结果 is the outcome of over-exploiting the environment.
由于无法耕种土地，整个社区被迫搬迁。 Unable to farm their land, entire communities were forced to move on.
几个世纪驯化积累的优势可能已经丧失了。 The advantages they'd accrued from centuries of domestication might have been lost.
不过，地理因素再次神助。 But again, geography was on their side.
新月沃土位于巨大欧亚大陆的中央。 The Fertile Crescent is on the middle of a huge land mass, Eurasia.
有足够的地方可以耕种，最重要的是， There were plenty of places for farming to spread,
这类地方多数位于新月沃土的东部和西部， and crucially, many of those places were to the east and west of the Fertile Crescent,
纬度大致相同 at roughly the same line of latitude.
为什么这么重要？ Why's that so important?
因为地球上任何纬度相同的两个点 Because any two points of the globe that share the same latitude
都会享有相同的一天， automatically share the same length of day,
而且通常分享相似的气候和植被。 and they often share a similar climate and vegetation.
在新月沃土地带驯养的农作物或动物能沿着 Crops or animals domesticated in the Fertile Crescent
欧亚大陆东西轴的其他地方繁衍 were able to prosper at other places along the east-west axis of Eurasia.
小麦和大麦、绵羊和山羊、牛和猪都从新月沃土传播开 Wheat and barley, sheep and goats, cows and pigs all spread from the Fertile Crescent,
向东到印度，西到北非和欧洲。 east towards India and west towards North Africa and Europe.
所到之处都改变了人类社会 Wherever they went they transformed human societies.
新月沃土的庄稼和动物一到埃及， Once the crops and animals of the Fertile Crescent reached Egypt,
就引起了文明的爆炸 they caused an explosion of civilization.
突然有足够的食物来供养法老和将军， Suddenly there was enough food to feed the pharaohs and generals,
工程师和文士，以及建造金字塔所需的人民军队 the engineers and scribes, and the armies of people required to build the pyramids.
欧洲文明也是如此。 The same is true of European civilization.
从远古到文艺复兴时期， From ancient times until the Renaissance,
新月沃土的庄稼和动物 the crops and animals of the Fertile Crescent
养育着欧洲的艺术家、发明家和士兵 fed the artists, inventors and soldiers of Europe.
在16世纪， In the 16th century,
欧洲人把同样农作物和动物带到了新大陆 the same crops and animals were taken by Europeans to the New World.
当时在整个美洲没有一头牛或一粒麦子 At the time there was not a single cow or ear of wheat in all the Americas.
现在仅美国就有1亿头牛。 Now there are 100 million cattle in the US alone.
美国人每年消耗2000万吨小麦。 And Americans consume 20 million tons of wheat a year.
现代工业化的美国如果没有新月沃土的农业传播， Modern industrialised America would be unthinkable
那将是不可想象的 whitout the spread of farming from the Fertile Crescent.
有人认为贾里德·戴蒙德的论点过于简单， There are some who think Jared Diamond's argument is too neat and easy.
能把财富和权力的分配，最终归结到牛和小麦吗？ Can the distribution of wealth and power really be reduced to cattle and wheat?
文化、政治和宗教呢？ What about culture, politics and religion?
他们当然也一样重要 Surely they've been just as important
戴蒙德因过于武断而被批评， Diamond's been criticized for being too deterministic,
因为忽视了塑造自己命运的人类。 for ignoring the part people have played in shaping their own destiny.
我在新几内亚的岁月使我相信， My years in New Guinea have convinced me that people around the world
世界各地的人基本上是相似的。 are fundamentally similar.
到处都有聪明、机智、充满活力的人。 Wherever you go, you can fi nd people who are smart, resourceful and dynamic.
没有哪个社会能垄断这些特质 No society has a monopoly on those traits.
当然有巨大的文化差异， Of course there are huge cultural differences,
但它们主要是不平等的结果， but they'e mainly the result of inequality,
而不是根本原因 they'e not its root cause.
归根结底，更重要的是人们手里的底牌， Ultimately what's far more important is the hand that people have been dealt,
即他们拥有的原材料。 the raw materials they've had at their disposal.
新几内亚人从欧亚大陆获得猪，但没有牛、绵羊或山羊， New Guineans acquired pigs from Eurasia, but not cows or sheep or goats,
没有马、小麦或大麦。 or horses, or wheat or barley.
他们的发展道路与欧洲人和美洲人不同， They didn't develop in the same way as Europeans or Americans,
因为他们没有相同的原材料。 because they didn't have the same raw materials.
我并不是说世界上的那些分裂是一成不变的 I'm not saying that those divisions of the world are set in stone and can't be changed;
恰恰相反。 it's quite the opposite.
巴布亚新几内亚的城镇越来越大，越来越发达， The towns of Papua New Guinea are becoming bigger and more developed,
现代的新几内亚人试图跟上世界其他地方。 populated by modern New Guineans trying to keep up with the rest of the world.
不幸的是，他们仍有很大的差距需要克服。 Unfortunately for them, there's still a big gap to overcome.
为什么白人有这么多货物，而我们新几内亚人却很少？ Why you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?
三十年前，亚利让我大吃一惊。 Yali caught me by surprise 30 years ago.
那时我不知道，但现在我想我知道了答案。 I had no idea what to say to him then but now I think I know the answer.
亚利不缺乏创造力， Yali it wasn't for lack of ingenuity
而是你们的人民没有现代科技。 that your people didn't end up with modern technology.
他们巧妙地主宰了新几内亚的艰苦环境 They had the ingenuity to master these difficult New Guinea environments.
问题的全部答案就是地理 Instead the whole answer to your question was geography.
如果你们和我们享有同样的地理优势， If your people had enjoyed the same geographic advantages as my people,
你们会发明直升飞机。 your people would have been the ones to invent helicopters.
贾里德·戴蒙德开始探索 Jared Diamond set out to explore
世界的贫富分化。 the division of the world into haves and have nots.
他确信分化的蓝图就在土地本身 He's convinced the blueprint for that division lies within the land itself.
但是，他看待世界的方式 But can his way of seeing the world
真的能揭示人类历史的转折点吗？ really shed light on the turning points of human history?
它能解释为什么几百个欧洲人就征服了新世界， Can it explain how a few hundred Europeans conquered the New World,
并开创了一个统治时代吗？ and began an age of domination?
枪炮、病菌和钢铁的时代。 The age of guns, germs and steel.
Sunpiny 翻译