美国学生人类历史第14期:象形字(2)

 　　Without written documents we would be like cats and dogs, who can only teach their kittens and their puppies a few simple things

　　如果没有文字记录的文献，人类便会像猫狗一样。猫狗只能教下一代一些简单的东西，

　　and who, because they cannot write, possess no way in which they can make use of the experience of those generations of cats and dogs that have gone before.

　　因为它们没有掌握一种方选，能把前面一代代猫狗的经验保存下来，全部传给下一代。

　　In the first century before our era, when the Romans came to Egypt, they found the valley full of strange little pictures which seemed to have something to do with the history of the country.

　　公元前1世纪，古罗马人来到埃及。他们发现整个尼罗河谷遍布一种奇怪的小图案，它似乎和这个国家的历史有关。

　　But the Romans were not interested in "anything foreign"

　　可罗马人对任何“外国的”东西都不感兴趣，

　　and did not inquire into the origin of these queer figures which covered the walls of the temples and the walls of the palaces and endless reams of flat sheets made out of the papyrus¹ reed.

　　也就没对这些雕刻在神庙和宫殿墙上，或是描画在无数纸莎草纸上的奇怪图案刨根究底。

　　The last of the Egyptian priests who had understood the holy art of making such pictures had died several years before.

　　最后一个懂得这种神圣宗教艺术的埃及祭师，在好几年前就已经死去。

　　Egypt deprived of its independence had become a store-house filled with important historical documents which no one could decipher and which were of no earthly use to either man or beast.

　　失去独立的埃及此时就仿佛是一个充斥着重要历史记录的大仓库，没有人能够破译，也没人想去破译。因为它们对人或兽都没有任何尘世的价值。

　　Seventeen centuries went by and Egypt remained a land of mystery.

　　1700多年过去了，埃及依然是一片神秘的国土。

　　But in the year 1798 a French general by the name of Bonaparte happened to visit eastern Africa to prepare for an attack upon the British Indian Colonies.

　　到1789年，一位姓波拿巴的法国将军正好率部路过东非，

　　He did not get beyond the Nile, and his campaign was a failure.

　　准备对英属印度殖民地发动进攻。他还没能越过尼罗河，战役失败了。

　　But, quite accidentally, the famous French expedition solved the problem of the ancient Egyptian picture-language.

　　不过很凑巧的是，法国人这次著名的远征却无意之中解决了古埃及图像文字的难题。

　　One day a young French officer, much bored by the dreary² life of his little fortress³ on the Rosetta river (a mouth of the Nile) decided⁴ to spend a few idle hours rummaging⁵ among the ruins of the Nile Delta⁶.

　　一天，一位年轻的法国军官，厌倦了罗塞塔河边（尼罗河口）窄小城堡里的单调生活，决定到尼罗河三角洲的古废墟去溜达一番，翻检古文物。

　　And behold⁷! he found a stone which greatly puzzled him. Like everything else in Egypt it was covered with little figures.

　　就这样，他找到了一块让他迷惑不解的石头。像埃及的其它东西一样，它上面刻有许多小图像。

1 papyrus   

n.古以纸草制成之纸

参考例句：

• The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
• Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。

2 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

3 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 rummaging   

翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查

参考例句：

• She was rummaging around in her bag for her keys. 她在自己的包里翻来翻去找钥匙。
• Who's been rummaging through my papers? 谁乱翻我的文件来着？

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。