In the misty, hazy past, as the Mesolithic Age gave way to the Neolithic, there suddenly appeared in widely separated geographic areas the most highly successful group of inventors and revolutionaries that the world has ever known.

• 在迷蒙的过去，当中石器时代让位于新石器时代时，有一些在地理上相隔遥远的地区，突然出现了人类迄今所了解的最为成功的发明群体和革命者。