纪录片《文明》 第34期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（34）

There were ceramic¹ vessels² and there were murals too.

有陶器 也有壁画

And out of the Mayan delight in making pictures

玛雅人以绘画为乐 并由此发明了

developed a fully-fledged script.

一套非常成熟的文字体系

Writing made up of glyphs or word pictures.

用象形文字[文字图片]来书写

They were brushed onto paper made from wild fig³ tree bark,

然后画到用野无花果树树皮制成的纸上

painted onto beautiful ceramic pottery⁴

或是精美的陶器上

or, like this one, carved into limestone⁵.

亦或是像这种 雕刻在石灰岩上

They were everywhere in Maya city states.

它们在玛雅城邦中随处可见

The Maya were the wordiest of all ancient cultures.

玛雅文化是所有古代文化中最富文字表达的文化

So that this,

所以这个

which looks like something purely⁶ decorative⁷, ornamental⁸,

看起来像是单纯的装饰品

a bestiary with all these animals,

是一部包含所有这些动物的寓言集

there's a monkey,

这有一只猴子

there's a magnificently complacent⁹ frog,

这有一只洋洋自得的青蛙

there in the middle is an extremely scary killer¹⁰ rabbit,

在中间有一只非常可怕的杀手兔子

in fact, all these are words which make a text.

事实上 所有的这些都是表意文字

Each glyph is not a single word, but it's a syllable¹¹, in fact,

每个象形文字不是独立的字词 而是一个音节

and you put them together and you have a sentence, a paragraph.

把它们合在一起 就成为一个句子 一段话

1 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

2 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 fig   

n.无花果(树)

参考例句：

• The doctor finished the fig he had been eating and selected another.这位医生吃完了嘴里的无花果，又挑了一个。
• You can't find a person who doesn't know fig in the United States.你找不到任何一个在美国的人不知道无花果的。

4 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

5 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

6 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

7 decorative   

adj.装饰的，可作装饰的

参考例句：

• This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
• The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽，而且装饰效果很好。

8 ornamental   

adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物

参考例句：

• The stream was dammed up to form ornamental lakes.溪流用水坝拦挡起来,形成了装饰性的湖泊。
• The ornamental ironwork lends a touch of elegance to the house.铁艺饰件为房子略添雅致。

9 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

10 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

11 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。