美国学生人类历史第27期:苏美尔人(2)

 　　And another twenty years had to go by until a British officer, Henry Rawlinson, who found the famous inscription¹ of Behistun, gave us a workable key to the nail-writing of western Asia.

　　又过了20年，英国官员罗林森发现了著名的贝希通岩壁换形文字，这才为我们打开了译解这种西亚文字的大门。

　　Compared to the problem of deciphering these nail-writings, the job of Champollion had been an easy one.

　　与破译楔形文字的难题相比，商博良的工作还算是轻松的。

　　The Egyptians used pictures. But the Sumerians, the earliest inhabitants of Mesopotamia, who had hit upon the idea of scratching their words in tablets of clay,

　　古埃及人至少运用了图像。可美索不达米亚最早的居民苏美尔人，他们想出了把文字刻在泥版上的主意，

　　had discarded pictures entirely² and had evolved a system of V-shaped figures which showed little connection with the pictures out of which they had been developed.

　　决定完全放弃象形文字的路子，逐渐发展出一种全新的v形文字系统。相较之下，你很难看出它与象形文字之间有任何联系。

　　A few examples will show you what I mean.

　　我举几个简单的例子，你就能明白我说的意思。

　　In the beginning a star, when drawn³ with a nail into a brick looked as follows:

　　最初，将一颗"星星"用钉子刻在砖上，它的形状如下：

　　(Here is a picture of a star)This sign however was too cumbersome⁴

　　不过，这个图案太繁琐了。

　　and after a short while when the meaning of "heaven" was added to that of star the picture was simplified in this way which made it even more of a puzzle.

　　不久之后，当把"天空"的意思加在"星星"上时，该图案便被简化成：它当然更难让人看明白了。

　　In the same way an ox changed from (here you see a small picture of a ox's head) into(here is another picture ,it is several lines and trangiles)

　　同样，一头牛的写法从(这儿你能看到一张画着一个牛脑子的小图片）变为（一张画着几条线和三角形的图片），

　　and a fish changed from(here is a picture of a fish) into(here is a picture with small lines and trangils representing a fish).

　　一条鱼从变成（一张画着几条线和几个三角形的图片，它们代表着鱼）。

1 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。