Paragraph 10:
①Today’s nation-states are not an eternal part of human biology or psychology. ②There were no Italians, Russians or Turks 5,000 years ago. ③True, humans are social animals through and through, with group loyalty imprinted in our genes. ④However, for millions of years humans lived in small, intimate communities rather than in large nation-states. ⑤Homo sapiens eventually learned to use culture as a basis for large-scale cooperation, which is the key to our success as a species. ⑥But cultures are flexible. Unlike ants or chimpanzees, Sapiens can organise themselves in many different ways, none of which is “the natural way”. ⑦City-states are not more natural than empires, and nation-states are not more natural than tribes. ⑧They are different options on the Sapiens menu, and the choice between them depends on changing circumstances.
段落解析：
本段开始分析所谓的国家并不是人类生物或心理的永恒部分。5000年前，我们今天称之为国家的国家都还并不存在。虽然我们人类一直都是社会性动物，对群体的忠诚一直印刻在我们的基因之中，但是成千上万年我们人类也只是生活在小的紧密的社群而非大的国家之中。智人终究学会了用文化作为基石来进行大规模的合作，这是作为我们这个物种的成功所在。但是文化是非常变通的，人类组织的形式也可以有各式各样，并没有哪个更自然之说。城邦并不比帝国更自然，国家也并不比部落更自然，这些只不过是智人根据不同情形而做出的不同选择而已。
词句精读：
③True, humans are social animals through and through, with group loyalty imprinted in our genes.
through and through， 意思是“完全，彻底”，thoroughly or completely，in every way, manner, or aspect. 用这个表达除了表达完全彻底，还能感觉到是在起强调的作用。比如说想表达，我特别特别生气，我得坐一会儿恢复一下才能跟别人说话，就可以这样说：I was angry through and through, and I had to sit and recover before I could talk to anyone. 再比如说，如果你的心是清净的，你就能清澈通透地看穿他人，这就是纯真的力量，就可以说：If your heart is clean，you can see other persons clearly through and through.Innocence is such a powerful thing.
imprint，意思是“印刻”，mark or stamp with or as if with pressure，本文是说对群体的忠诚印刻在我们的基因之中。这是一个很好的表达，我们可以直接拿来仿写，比如想说，勤劳勇敢的品质印刻在我们中国人的基因之中，就可以说：The character of diligence and bravery has imprinted in our Chinese genes. 这个词还有引申含义“铭记在心，留在脑海里”，to become fixed in your mind or memory so that you never forget. 通常的搭配是“imprint sth on your mind/memory/brain etc”，比如我们想表达，“只因为在人群中多看了你一眼 再也没能忘掉你的容颜”，就可以说：The sight of her gorgeous image was imprinted on his mind forever. 其实，我第一次遇到imprint这个词是看电影《暮光之城》系列（The Twilight Saga），狼人Jacob所在的狼族有一种“印记”（imprint）的功能，特有的寻求伴侣的方法，是不受自己控制的，是命中注定，when you imprint on someone, he/she is your soul mate by destiny.
电影《暮光之城》系列
⑧They are different options on the Sapiens menu, and the choice between them depends on changing circumstances.
这句话的表达很好，通过on the Sapiens menu，用比喻的方式来说明tribe、empire、city-state、nation-state这些组织形式都是智人的菜单上的不同选择而已。我们可以直接来仿写，居住在大城市、小城市或国外，都是我们生活根据不同情形而做出的不同选择而已，就可以说：Living in a big city or small city or even abroad，these are different options on my life menu, and the choice between them depends on changing circumstances.
背景补充：
nation-state，民族国家，单一民族独立国家，an independent state which consists of people from one particular national group. 我们可以通过一个形象的表达来加深对这个概念的理解，“拥有自己的国旗，国歌，货币，机构，制度和政策，长期以来，欧盟就像一个筹备中的民族国家”，With its flag, anthem, currency, institutions, regulations, and directives, the EU has long been indistinguishable from a nation-state-in-waiting.
city-state，城邦，an independent state that consists of a city and the surrounding country area, especially in the past，曾经最著名的城邦是雅典、斯巴达、罗马，之前读《哲学的故事》（The Story of Philosophy）中有读到：苏格拉底是在雅典的黄金岁月——一个雄心勃勃的，激进的，想象中的城邦——越上了世界领袖的巅峰之时去世的，在此之后雅典开始分化瓦解。Socrates died when Golden Age Athens – an ambitious, radical, visionary city-state– had triumphed as a leader of the world, and then over-reached herself and begun to crumble.
Homo sapiens， 智人，Homo sapiens is used to refer to modern human beings as a species, in contrast to other species of ape or animal, or earlier forms of human. 一开始，我并没有关注这篇文章的作者是谁，直到看到这个词，我突然想到了《人类简史》的作者尤瓦尔·赫拉利（Yuval Noah Harari），可以说这个词就像是他的专属用词一般，再去看文章篇头，发现的确是他的特约撰稿。有的时候，看一个作者的文字多了，他的风格和用词自然就亲切熟悉很多，这也算是坚持阅读的收获了。What distinguishes homo sapiens from every other living creature is the mind. 使智人区别于其他生物的是心智。
《人类简史》
Paragraph 11:
①Large nations appeared only in the past few thousand years—yesterday morning, on the timetable of evolution—and they developed in order to deal with large-scale problems that small tribes could not solve by themselves. ②In the 21st century we face global problems that even large nations cannot solve by themselves. ③Hence it makes sense to switch at least some of our loyalties to a global identity.
段落解析：
本段仍然承接上一段，讲的是大的国家只是在近几千年才出现，是为了解决小部落无法解决的大规模问题应运而生的。同样的，在21世纪，我们面临的全球性问题是连大的国家仅凭一己之力也难以解决的，因此是时候把我们的忠诚度投入到一个全球身份上了。
词句精读：
③Hence it makes sense to switch at least some of our loyalties to a global identity.
switch one's loyalty to...，意思是“转移某人的忠诚到...”，除了表达loyalty的转移，还可以转移注意力或兴趣，switch one's interest/attention to，if you switch your attention from one thing to another or if your attention switches, you stop paying attention to the first thing and start paying attention to the second. 比如想表达，我母亲的兴趣已转移到我的健康上来了，就可以说：My mother's interest had switched to my health.
global identity，意思是“全球身份或全球认同”，我的理解是打破了国与国的界限，认同自己是世界公民的身份，这种感觉就是“我们不单是自己国家的一员，还是整个世界大家庭的一员，这赋予了我们世界大同的情怀”，In addition to being a member of our country, we are members of the world community, and this gives us a global identity. 这让我想到习大大（President Xi）多次提到的“人类命运共同体”，“人类命运共同体，顾名思义，就是每个民族、每个国家的前途命运都紧紧联系在一起” ， Building a community with a shared future for mankind is in essence to connect the prospects and destinies of every nation and country closely together. 同样，表示“命运共同体”，还可以像金博士（Martin Luther King, Jr）在I Have a Dream中说的那样， Their destiny is tied up with our destiny; and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
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