人们称它为cuneiform，意思是楔形文字。

Books made of papyrus were unknown to the Mesopotamians.

人们在美索不达米亚不曾发现过莎草纸书。

They inscribed these signs into tablets of soft clay, which they then baked hard in ovens.

人们将全部记号写在软的泥土上，然后将它放在炉里烤干，于是就产生了坚硬的碑。

Huge numbers of these ancient tablets have been found, some recounting long and wonderful stories,

人们找到了一大批这样的古老的碑，一些碑上面刻着极美的长篇故事，

such as that of the hero Gilgamesh and his battles with monsters and dragons.

比如英雄吉尔伽美什以及他与巨兽和龙搏斗的故事。

On other tablets kings boast of their deeds:the temples they have built for all eternity, and all the nations they have conquered.

在其它碑上国王们吹嘘它们的业绩，他们建立了哪些永恒的神庙，他们征服了多少个部族。

There are also tablets on which merchants recorded their business dealings–contracts, receipts and inventories of goods,

也有碑上记载着商人们的活动——上面刻着货物的合同、配方和库存，

and thanks to these we know that, even before the Babylonians and Assyrians, the ancient Sumerians were already great traders.

多亏了这些东西，我们知道苏美尔人在巴比伦尼亚人和亚述人之前就已经是伟大的商人。

Their merchants could calculate with ease, and plainly knew the difference between what was lawful and what was not.

苏美尔人商人很善于计算并且知道区分什么是合法的，什么是不合法的。