世界小史 第30章:象形文字

 　　Now then, think what a job it must have been to decipher all that Egyptian writing when people became interested in hieroglyphs¹ again, 200 years ago.

　　那么现在想一想，当人们在200年前重新对象形文字产生兴趣，要读懂所有的古埃及文字，该多么困难啊。

　　In fact, they were only able to decipher them because a stone had been found on which the same words were written in three scripts:

　　事实上，是因为如下原因才有可能读懂它们：人们找到了一块石头，在这块石头上写有三种文字：

　　ancient Greek, hieroglyphs and another Egyptian script.

　　古希腊文字、象形文字和另一种古埃及文字, 它们记载着相同内容的事情。

　　It was still a tremendous puzzle, and great scholars devoted² their lives to it.

　　它仍然是一个巨大的难题，不少大学者为此努力奋斗了一辈子。

　　You can see that stone - it's called the Rosetta Stone - in the British Museum in London.

　　你可以看到那块石头--它叫罗塞塔石碑， 在伦敦的大英博物馆。

　　We are now able to read almost everything the Egyptians wrote.

　　今天我们几乎能够读懂古埃及人写的一切内容。

　　Not just on the walls of palaces and temples, but also in books, though the books are no longer very legible.

　　人们不仅能读懂在宫殿和庙宇的墙上的，而且也能读懂写在书里的，虽然书里的文字不是很清楚。

　　For the ancient Egyptians did have books, even that long ago.

　　古埃及人确实很早就已经有书了。

　　Of course they weren't made of paper like ours, but from a certain type of reed that grows on the banks of the Nile.

　　当然当时的书并非像我们一样是用纸做的，而是用尼罗河畔的一种芦苇做的。

　　The Greek name for these reeds is papyrus³, from which our name for paper comes.

　　这些芦苇在希腊语中叫"莎草纸"（papyrus），我们的"纸"（paper）这个词就是这样来的。

1 hieroglyphs   

n.象形字（如古埃及等所用的）( hieroglyph的名词复数 )；秘密的或另有含意的书写符号

参考例句：

• Hieroglyphs are carved into the walls of the temple. 寺庙的墙壁上刻着象形文字。 来自辞典例句
• This paper discusses the fundamental distinctions between the hieroglyphs andforerunner of writing. 英汉象形文字的比较是建立在象形文字具体内涵的基础上。 来自互联网

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 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。