纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 033罗塞达石(7)

But Egypt's foreign rulers, from the Romans to the Turks to the British, have always made free with Egypt's heritage.

埃及的异族统治者们，不管是罗马人、土耳其人还是英国人，都随意地处置埃及历史遗产。

Egypt, for two thousand years, had foreign rulers and in '52 much was made of the fact that Nasser was the first Egyptian ruler since the pharaohs, and I guess we've had two more since, although with varying results."

埃及已被异族统治了2千年，1952年，纳赛尔终于成为埃及自法老时代之后的第一位本土统治者。

The Stone was brought back to the British Museum and immediately put on display-in the public domain¹, freely available for every scholar in the world to see-and copies and transcriptions were published worldwide.

石碑被带回大英博物馆后立刻进行了公开展览。全世界的学者都能参观，文字的抄本与拓本也一并公之于世。

European scholars now set about the task of understanding the mysterious hieroglyphic² script.

欧洲学者立即着手破译神秘的象形文字。

The Greek inscription³ was the one that every scholar could read, and was therefore seen to be the key.

石碑上的希腊文每个学者都能读懂，这被认为是破译的关键。

But everybody was stuck. A brilliant English physicist⁴ and polymath, Thomas Young, correctly worked out that a group of hieroglyphs⁵ repeated several times on the Rosetta Stone wrote the sounds of a royal name-that of Ptolemy.

但没人取得任何进展。直到一位聪颖博学的英国学者托马斯杨发现一组在石碑上反复出现的象形文字代表了一个王室姓氏的发音—托勒密。

It was a crucial first step, but Young hadn't quite cracked the code.

这使得研究迈出了关键性的第一步，但他也没能成功破译所有文字。

A French scholar, Jean-Francois Champollion, then realised that not only the symbols for Ptolemy but all the hieroglyphs were both pictorial⁶ 'and' phonetic⁷ - they recorded the 'sound' of the Egyptian language.

法国学者让弗朗索瓦商博良其后发现，所有的象形文字都是既象形又表音的。这种文字也记录下了埃及语的发音。

For example - on the last line of the hieroglyphic text on the stone, three signs spell out the sounds of the word for 'stone slab⁸' in Egyptian-'ahaj', and then a fourth sign gives a picture showing the stone as it would originally have looked:

例如，在石碑上象形文字的最后一行，先有三个符号代表了“石板”（埃及文为“ahaj”）一词的发音，紧接其后的第四个符号则描画了石碑原本的样子：

a square slab with a rounded top. So sound and picture work together.

一块有圆顶的方形石板。音与意便以这种方式结合起来。

1 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

2 hieroglyphic   

n.象形文字

参考例句：

• For centuries hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery.几世纪以来，刻划在埃及废墟中的象形文字一直是个谜。
• Dongba is an ancient hieroglyphic language.东巴文是中国一种古老的象形文字。

3 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。

4 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

5 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

6 pictorial   

adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报

参考例句：

• The had insisted on a full pictorial coverage of the event.他们坚持要对那一事件做详尽的图片报道。
• China Pictorial usually sells out soon after it hits the stands.《人民画报》往往一到报摊就销售一空。

7 phonetic   

adj.语言的，语言上的，表示语音的

参考例句：

• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
• English phonetic teaching is an important teaching step in elementary stages.语音教学是英语基础阶段重要的教学环节。

8 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。