catherin66

1. The year, if anyone were counting, is around 15000,... B.C.

if .... were 是假設法語氣的一種，只要看到 if 後面第三人稱或 I 用 were 當動詞，就是表示 「不可能」 或 「與事實相反」，這裡是說 「如果有人算一算的話」，可是說話的人知道不可能有人會去算的，所以他說 if anyone were counting。  counting 是 「計算」 的意思。

2. You are probably looking for food, maybe using an animal skin
to carry water, and possibly tending a fire to keep warm.

這裡是現在進行式，一個有三個動作， looking, using 和 tending。 tending 是 tend 的現在分詞，意思是 「照料」。 這是說在那個時候，你會到處找食物，用牲畜皮來裝水，還可能要生火，看著火來取暖。

3. We don't know why you drew the pictures. You had to go deep into
the cave to do it, so you must have had a plan. You probably took a lamp
made out of animal fat with you.

took a lamp made out of animal fat with you
= took a lamp made from animal fat with you.
隨身帶著用動物油做的燈

took .... with you 就是 「隨身帶著某東西」， with you 表示隨身帶著，修飾 took。

a lamp made out of animal fat 是 「動物油做的燈」， made out of 是 「用某東西做的」，這裡是當形容詞，表示燈是用動物油做的。


4. Sometimes, you didn't feel like using any color and you used the end of
a stick that had been burned in the fire. It made broad black marks, much
like modern artists make with chalk.

made broad black marks 是 「製造出黑色的粗痕」。 broad 是「寬廣」 沒錯，但這裡是講 mark (痕跡)，所謂 「寬廣的痕跡」 簡單說就是 「粗痕」。 make 是 「造出」，這裡可以依照上下文，解釋為 「畫出」。

5. We wonder so many things, but we'll just have to satisfy ourselves
with admiring your drawings.
我們想知道好多東西，但我們只能用讚佩你們的畫來滿足自己了。

這是說，我們對史前人的事物感到驚奇，想知道多些，但目前所知不多，只有這些史前人留下的繪畫，可是能欣賞到這些畫，也該滿足了。