世界小史 第38期:楔形文字

 The script is called cuneiform, meaning wedge-shaped.

人们称它为cuneiform，意思是楔形文字。

Books made of papyrus¹ were unknown to the Mesopotamians.

人们在美索不达米亚不曾发现过莎草纸书。

They inscribed² 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 eternity³, 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 inventories⁴ 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 lawful⁵ 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。

1 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。

2 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 inventories   

n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制

参考例句：

• In other cases, such as inventories, inputs and outputs are both continuous. 在另一些情况下，比如存货，其投入和产出都是持续不断的。
• The store must clear its winter inventories by April 1st. 该店必须在4月1日前售清冬季存货。

5 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。