不可能通过历史追根溯源查出他是一个什么样的人。

It is impossible to trace out by history what kind of man he was.

其实，我们有必要把单词ostracize一直追根溯源到动物王国。

Ostracize is in fact a word that ultimately traces back to the animal kingdom.

福琛之前的植物学家对于茶叶追根溯源的尝试全都失败了。

Before Fortune, botanists had failed in their attempts to decode the formula for tea.

基本上这得从你有的知识概念中开始，从里面找出蛛丝马迹，然后追根溯源，直到你回到原点或者卡壳了！

From that you find a relationship between that idea and another idea. You continue doing this path until you get back where you started or reach a dead end.