Future historians will be in a unique position when they come to record the history of our own times. They will hardly know which facts to select from the great mass of evidence that steadily accumulates.
    当未来的历史学家想要记录我们时代的历史时，他们会处在一个很独特的位置。他们将永不会知道在浩如烟海、稳步增长的证据中，哪些是真的。
    PS: unique position, 独特的位置、角度
    PS++: great mass of evidence, 浩如烟海的证据

    What’s more, they will not have to rely solely on the written word. Films, videos, CDs and CD-ROMs are just some of the bewildering amount of information they will have. They will be able, as it were, to see and hear us in action.
    而且，他们将依据不止文字一种媒介。电影、视频、CD和CD-ROM都是令人眼花缭乱的几种媒介。他们将，像我们一样，身临其境地感受我们的言行。
    PS: rely on, 依靠、依据
    PS++: bewildering amount of…, 令人眼花缭乱的东西
    PS++++: as it were, 虚拟语气，后人站在我们现在人的角度与我们身临其境，与现在事实相反，故用were
    也可以做插入语，译作”也可以说”

    But the historian attempting to reconstruct the distant past is always faced with a difficult task. He has to deduce what he can from the few scanty clues available. Even seemingly insignificant remains can shed interesting light on the history of early man.
    但是努力重构远古时代的历史学家们都会面临一个麻烦的问题。他们需要从有限可用的线索中做出决断。即使最微不足道的线索都有可能揭示古人的一些有趣的事情。
    PS: few scanty clues available, 可用的、有限的线索
    PS++: shed light on, 使…清楚地显示出来，揭示

    Up to now, historians have assumed that calendars came from being with the advent of agriculture, for then man was faced with a real need to understand something about the seasons. Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate that this assumption is incorrect.
    到现在为止，历史学家猜测日历是随着农业的到来而出现的，因为人们有一个明白季节变化的真实需求。近来的科学证据似乎表明了这个猜测是不对的。
    PS: being with, 伴随着…

    Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and ivory tusks of mammoths. The nomads who made these markings lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age which began with 35,000 B.C. and ended about 10,000B.C.
    历史学家们长期被刻在墙上、骨头上、猛犸象牙上的点、线、符号而困扰。这些记号是那些从公元前35000年到公元前10000年的冰河末期进行渔猎的游民留下的。
    PS: have long been puzzled, 被搞懵、疑惑
    PS++: hunting and fishing, 渔猎

    By correlating markings made in various parts of the world, historians have been able to read this difficult code. They have found that it is connected with the passage of days and the phases of the moon. It is, in fact, a primitive type of calendar.
    历史学家们通过把世界各地的符号进行关联，他们已经可以读懂这些复杂的代码了。他们发现这些符号跟昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关。而事实上，这就是日历的初级形式。

    It has long been known that the hunting scenes depicted on walls were not simply a form of artisitc expression. They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing.
    大家早有共识，画在墙上的游猎图并不仅仅是一种艺术表达。它们有着明确的含义，因为它们已经非常接近古人的文字。
    PS: as near as, 接近，相当于close to

    It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings and the markings that sometimes accompany them. It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.
    有时，这些图画与符号上的刻印共存，它们可能有明确的联系。似乎他们努力研究季节的时间比我们的认知还早了20000年。