The Man from Earth · 2007 — 第 2 / 10 章 · 3'58" · C1

John's Caveman Hypothetical, Explained:pan out

Friends press someone to explain himself and get a thought experiment instead. A line asks what a man from the upper Paleolithic would be like if he survived to the present. What comes back is jokes, anatomy, and cell renewal. The unease sits in the setup: "I've never done this before, and I wonder how it'll pan out."

あらすじ

Among friends, people push one man to explain himself. One line says this has never been done before. A later line asks what a man from the upper Paleolithic would be like if he had survived until now. Jokes follow, then talk of height, intelligence, cell renewal, and 14,000 years. The stretch ends on Columbus and falling off an edge.

StorytellingPersuasionExplainingAskingFriendsC1fastamericanClean
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注目の表現

America's most wantedpan outSay I amPretty tired

00:00 / 03:58
Space 再生 · ← → セリフ移動 · R リピート
いま
  1. ❝ 独白A lifespan once he plays5 行練習ページ ↗
  2. ❝ 独白Renewal that falters5 行練習ページ ↗
セリフをタップするとそこから再生

このシーンの表現

pan out

how something ends up

Someone admits this is a first and uses pan out to ask whether saying it will end well.

We changed the shift plan, and nobody knows if it will pan out.

このシーンの他の表現

  • America's most wanted

    teasing someone like a fugitive

  • Say I am

    suppose that is true for now

  • Pretty tired

    a deadpan joke, not a real answer

  • anthropological boners

    blunders, with a rude second sense

  • slow poisoning

    gradual harm that ends in death

このシーンのメモ一覧

86 行のセリフに 36 件のメモ

スラング · A2what is up

a casual how's it going — Fine between friends, not as a formal hello.

John, what is up, huh?
表現 · B1on someone's most wanted list

teasing someone like a fugitive

Someone calls John, and the next line asks if he is on America's most wanted, a tease rather than a charge.

Are you on America's most wanted?
発音on America's

Let the n between on and America's slide.

Are you on America's most wanted?
表現 · B1turn someone in

hand someone to the authorities

We won't turn you in.
表現 · B2out with it

say what you are holding back

Yeah, come on, out with it.
スラング · B2Snoopy

nosy, always prying — Friendly teasing about nosiness, not for polite descriptions.

Snoopy friends.
スラング · A2Forget it

drop it, stop asking — Impatient shutdown among peers, not toward elders.

Forget it.
表現 · B1create the mystery

make something seem secret

You are creating the mystery here.
表現 · B1tempted to do something

wanting to say it, not quite sure

There is something I'm tempted to tell you, I think.
文法 · B1something I'm tempted to tell you

relative clause: The words after something define what he might reveal.

There is something I'm tempted to tell you, I think.
発音tempted to

Don't pause between tempted and to.

There is something I'm tempted to tell you, I think.
発音how it'll

Keep it'll one light beat, not a full will.

I've never done this before, and I wonder how it'll pan out.
表現 · A2a silly question

a question that sounds foolish

I wonder if I could ask you a silly question.
発音upper Paleolithic

Stress lith in Paleolithic and keep upper short.

What if a man from the upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?
発音Pretty tired

Let the middle of Pretty flick and keep the tongue loose.

Pretty tired.
文法 · B2As Art's book title suggests

parenthetical clause: The aside borrows the book title before the real claim arrives.

Well, seriously, As Art's book title suggests, he might be like any of us.
文法 · B1say, a Cro-Magnon

example aside: say here means for example, not a request to speak.

Well, there's no anatomical difference between, say, a Cro-Magnon and us.
表現 · C1the selective advantage of something

a survival edge in evolution

What's the selective advantage of height?
表現 · B2radiate heat

give off body heat

Actually, tall and skinny radiates heat more effectively in warmer climates.
表現 · C1apish people

people with ape-like looks

And as for Neanderthals, I mean, we've all seen apish people.
表現 · B2assuming something

taking ordinary intelligence as given

I mean, assuming normal intelligence.
表現 · B1as intelligent as someone

equally intelligent

Well, we think men of the upper Paleolithic were as intelligent as we are.
表現 · B2as the group learned

learning in step with humanity

John's man would have learned as the race learned.
表現 · B2an inquiring mind

a mind that keeps asking

In fact, if he had an inquiring mind, his knowledge might be astonishing.
スラング · C1boners

embarrassing mistakes — Casual teasing about errors, never in formal writing.

I'm sure you'll make some anthropological boners.
表現 · B2in something terms

speaking in science-fiction language

All right, um, in science fiction terms, I would say...
表現 · B2designed to do something

built so it could last

Actually, the human body appears designed to live about 190 years.
文法 · B2something everybody else in history had done wrong

omitted relative: The second something is defined by everyone else's mistake.

Maybe he did something right, something everybody else in history had done wrong.
表現 · B2prove fatal to something

ends up deadly for a function

Waste accumulates, eventually proves fatal to function.
表現 · B2duck something

avoid bodily decline duck means dodge, not the bird

He could duck decay.
表現 · B1the more someone thinks about it

the longer one considers it

You know, the more I think about it, yeah, it's possible.
文法 · B2one century's magic, another century's science

verbless parallel: Two noun phrases balance, and is is left unsaid.

After all, one century's magic, another century's science.
スラング · B2nut job

someone called crazy — Offhand and insulting, so don't say it to someone's face.

They thought Columbus was a nut job, right?
表現 · B1the adventurous type

someone who seeks risk

I had a chance to sail with Columbus, Only I'm not the adventurous type.
発音I'm not

Put the weight on not and shorten I'm.

I had a chance to sail with Columbus, Only I'm not the adventurous type.
文法 · B1he might fall off an edge

object clause: The clause after thought is the fear he still held then.

at that point, I still thought he might fall off an edge someplace...

「John's Caveman Hypothetical」を読み解く

What's really going on

The pressure comes first. Lines tease with America's most wanted, say "We won't turn you in," and charge him with "creating the mystery." What follows is not a straight confession. It arrives as "a silly question," and when a line asks if this is a science fiction story, the reply is "Say I am." The room then takes up the work: a survivor from the upper Paleolithic would not remain a caveman, would have learned as the race learned, and might know an astonishing amount. Biology supplies the mechanism on offer, perfect cell renewal, a body "designed to live about 190 years," and the verdict "Most of us just die of slow poisoning." Near the end a first-person line says, "I had a chance to sail with Columbus, Only I'm not the adventurous type," and goes on to the fear that he might "fall off an edge."

Theme

SecretsA line admits being tempted to tell something, and the idea is posed as a silly question. A later reply to the science-fiction guess is "Say I am."
PhilosophyThe lines ask what 140 centuries would do to a mind, a body, and the wish to keep living.

発音のポイント

  • on America's — Let the n between on and America's slide.
  • tempted to — Don't pause between tempted and to.
  • how it'll — Keep it'll one light beat, not a full will.
  • upper Paleolithic — Stress lith in Paleolithic and keep upper short.
Obviously, you have something you'd like to say. Say it!

The room stops coaxing and demands the mystery out loud. Someone is sure there is a thing he wants to say, and this line orders him to say it.

What if a man from the upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?

The question comes after a request to ask something silly. It does not claim such a man exists. It asks the room to picture an upper Paleolithic survivor alive now.

Most of us just die of slow poisoning.

Paired with a body that seems designed for about 190 years, this says most people die from gradual damage, not from reaching a hard limit.

Maybe he did something right, something everybody else in history had done wrong.

A guess at the cause: his survival is one thing done right, while everyone else in history got that same thing wrong.

After all, one century's magic, another century's science.

A defense of the wild idea. What one age calls magic, a later age calls science, so today's impossibility is a weak reason to rule it out.

I had a chance to sail with Columbus, Only I'm not the adventurous type.

A first-person line. The speaker had a chance to sail with Columbus and, in the same breath, was not the adventurous type.

このシーンについての質問

Why is the long-life idea introduced as a silly question?

The lines just before the question hesitate: someone is tempted to tell, something has never been done, and there is a worry about how it will pan out. A line then asks to pose "a silly question." When a line guesses this is science fiction, the reply is "Say I am," which lets the idea continue without a flat yes.

What do they say would keep such a man alive?

Short lines offer "Cigarettes" and "And ice cream." Then a line says "I'll play." The serious account is perfect regeneration of cells, especially in vital organs, plus an immune-system quirk that gives perfect detox and renewal, so he could "duck decay." Next to that is "Most of us just die of slow poisoning."

Does anyone in the room want a 14,000-year life?

The question is "Would you really want to do that?" followed by "Live 14,000 years?" A reply accepts on conditions, stay healthy and not age, and asks "why not?" A following line calls it "What a chance to learn." Earlier, a line says ducking decay is a secret "we'd all love to have."

Do they agree he would still be a caveman?

No. Someone objects, "But he'd be a caveman," and the reply is "No, he wouldn't." John's hypothetical man would have lived through about 140 centuries "and changed with every one of them," assuming normal intelligence. They are called as intelligent as people now; "They just didn't know as much," so he would have learned as the race learned.

Why bring up Columbus, Pasteur, and Copernicus?

They are examples that a wild idea can be right. "They thought Columbus was a nut job," then Pasteur, Copernicus, and Aristarchus are named the same way. The point just stated is "one century's magic, another century's science." Right after that list, someone says, "I had a chance to sail with Columbus, Only I'm not the adventurous type."

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