Even the earliest of tribes had a system of numeration that, if not advanced, was sufficient for the tasks that they had to perform.

即便最早期的部落也拥有计数体系，尽管它可能尚不先进，却也足以用来完成他们的各项工作。

From earliest childhood we are so bound up with our system of numeration that it is a feat of imagination to consider the problems faced by early humans who had not yet developed this facility.

从很小的年纪开始，我们就与计数体系存在着非常紧密的联系，以至于它已经变成了我们考虑早期人类所面临的问题时用到的重要依据之一，而这些问题产生之时，这一体系尚未存在。

Careful consideration of our system of numeration leads to the conviction that, rather than being a facility that comes naturally to a person, it is one of the great and remarkable achievements of the human race.

认真地分析一下我们的计数体系，不难得出这样的结论：计数体系不是某个人水到渠成的想象，而是整个人类最伟大、最杰出的成就之一。