1-5. Anthropologists wondered where the remote ancestors of the Polynesian peoples now living in the Pacific Islands came from.
    【譯文】人類學(xué)家過去不清楚如今生活在太平洋諸島的波利尼西亞各民族的遠(yuǎn)祖來自何方。
    【講解】now living in the Pacific Islands是現(xiàn)在分詞短語，作peoples的定語。
    【單詞和短語】
    anthropologist：人類學(xué)家。anthropology意為“人類學(xué)”（the scientific study of people，their societies ，cultures，etc.）。相關(guān)詞匯有sociology（社會(huì)學(xué)）和ethnology（人種學(xué)，民族學(xué)）。
    remote ancestor：遠(yuǎn)祖（someone related to you，who lived a long time ago）。形容詞remote的常用意為“遙遠(yuǎn)的，久遠(yuǎn)的”（far from towns or other places where people live），
    例如：
    the remotest corners of the earth 天涯海角
    a custom of remote antiquity 遠(yuǎn)古遺風(fēng)
    remote亦可作名詞，常用意為“遙控器”（remote controller）。
    people：people作“一國人民，民族”（the people who belong to a particular country，race，or area）解時(shí)為可數(shù)名詞單數(shù)，復(fù)數(shù)為peoples或people。參照上下文，文中people譯為“民族”。
    另舉例如下：
    the peoples of the world 世界各國人民
    a hardworking people 勤勞的民族
    the Jewish people *民族
    Each people builds a culture adapted to its particular needs. 各民族都建立起一種適應(yīng)其獨(dú)特需要的文化。
    1-6. The sagas of these people explain that some of them came from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago.
    【譯文】當(dāng)?shù)厝说姆N種傳說向世人解釋了其中一些民族約在兩千年前遷自印度尼西亞。
    【單詞和短語】
    saga:傳說（a long story about events that happen over many year）。
    1-7. But the first people who were like ourselves lived so long ago that even their sagas, if they had any, are forgotten.
    【譯文】但是，和我們相似的原始人生活的年代太久遠(yuǎn)了，因此有關(guān)他們的傳說，即使存在，如今也失傳了。
    1-8. So archaeologists have neither history nor legends to help them to find out where the first 'modern men' came from.
    【譯文】于是，考古學(xué)家既無歷史記載，亦無口頭傳說來幫助他們弄清首批“現(xiàn)代人”來自何方。
    【單詞和短語】
    legend:傳說（an old，well-known story，often about brave people, adventures, or magical events）。形容詞為legendary。
    1-9. Fortunately, however, ancient men made tools of stone, especially flint, because this is easier to shape than other kinds.
    【譯文】然而，幸運(yùn)的是，遠(yuǎn)古人用制作石器，特別是燧石器，因?yàn)殪菔绕渌^更易成形。
    【講解】other kinds后面省略了of stones。
    【單詞和短語】
    flint：燧石（a type of smooth hard stone that makes a small flame when you hit it with steel）。
    1-10. They may also have used wood and skins, but these have rotted away.
    【譯文】他們也可能用過木頭和獸皮，但這兩類東西早已腐爛殆盡。
    【講解】may also have used意為“可能使用過”，may＋完成時(shí)結(jié)構(gòu)表示對(duì)過去情況的推測。these指wood and skins。
    【單詞和短語】
    rot: 腐敗，腐爛（to decay by a gradual natural process, or to make something to do this）。
    1-11. Stone does not decay, and so the tools of long ago have remained when even the bones of the men who made them have disappeared without trace.
    【譯文】石頭不會(huì)腐爛。因此，雖然制造這些工具的人的骨頭早已蕩然無存，但遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)代的石器卻保存至今。
    【講解】
    when even the bones … trace相當(dāng)于讓步從句，when意即“雖然，盡管”，又如：
    We sometimes expect gratitude when we are not entitled to it.
    有時(shí)雖然我們不值得感激，我們卻期望別人感激。
    While he has a house of his own, his brother lives in a flat.
    盡管他有自己的房子，他弟弟卻住在公寓里。