001 文明的诞生

旁白 neutral

" Grandpa?" Laurie called, knocking on the study door

“爷爷？”劳里敲着书房的门喊道。

旁白 neutral

" It's dinnertime!" She opened the door and found Grandpa bent over his desk, as usual

“该吃饭了！”她推开门，发现爷爷和往常一样，正趴在书桌上。

旁白 neutral

He was an archaeologist and worked very hard

他是一位考古学家，工作非常努力。

旁白 neutral

When he wasn't out traveling and researching, he was home in his study." What are you doing, Grandpa?"

他不外出旅行和做研究的时候，就待在家里的书房中。“你在做什么呢，爷爷？”

旁白 neutral

" I'm tracing an ancient map of Mesopotamia," he said

“我在描摹一张古代的美索不达米亚地图，”他说。

旁白 neutral

" Meso-what?" Laurie peeked over his shoulder and saw a piece of tracing paper covered in wavy lines

“美索什么？”劳里从他肩膀后面探过头，看到一张描图纸上画满了弯弯曲曲的线条。

旁白 neutral

Two lines were drawn in blue and made a sort of V." What are those two squiggly lines?"

其中两条蓝色的线构成一个V字形。“那两条弯弯的线是什么？”

旁白 neutral

" Mesopotamia was the name of a region in the Middle East, where human civilization arose thousands of years ago

“美索不达米亚是中东地区的一个区域名称，人类文明几千年前就是在那里兴起的。

旁白 neutral

These two lines are the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

这两条线就是底格里斯河和幼发拉底河。

旁白 neutral

Thanks to them, humans in that area had water for farming, fish to eat, and mud and reeds to build houses

多亏了这两条河，那个地区的人们才有水种地，有鱼吃，还有泥巴和芦苇可以盖房子。

旁白 neutral

You may have heard of the Sumerians

你可能听说过苏美尔人。

旁白 neutral

They were the most powerful people there — in what became known as the cradle of civilization

他们曾是那里最强大的民族——那里后来被称为文明的摇篮。

旁白 neutral

The Sumerians may have lived in mud houses, but they were very sophisticated and we owe a lot to their inventions

苏美尔人可能住在土坯房里，但他们非常先进，他们的许多发明都让我们受益匪浅。

旁白 neutral

For example, they developed the first writing system!

例如，他们创造了最早的书写系统！

旁白 neutral

They began writing with pictures. So to indicate a star, they would draw a picture of a star

他们最初用图画来书写。比如要表示星星，就画一个星星的图案。

旁白 neutral

And water would be written by drawing wavy lines, like the waves in the Tigris and Euphrates

水则画波浪线来表示，就像底格里斯河与幼发拉底河的波浪。

旁白 neutral

Later they developed those pictures into symbols that represented ideas or objects

后来，他们把图画发展成代表思想或物体的符号。

旁白 neutral

Eventually they created signs to represent the sounds of their language

最终，他们创造了代表语音的符号。

旁白 neutral

Their writing looks choppy because it was pressed into clay tablets using thin tools made from reeds

他们的文字看起来断断续续，因为是用芦苇制成的细工具压印在泥板上的。

旁白 neutral

After that they baked the tablets in the sun

之后他们在太阳下晒干泥板。

旁白 neutral

In addition to being masters of language, the Sumerians were clever mathematicians

除了是语言大师，苏美尔人还是聪明的数学家，

旁白 neutral

who tried to use numbers to organize the world around them

他们尝试用数字来组织周围的世界。

旁白 neutral

They were especially keen on dividing time

他们对划分时间尤其情有独钟。

旁白 neutral

Our calendar — with a 30-day month, 7-day week, 24-hour day, 60-minute hour, and 60-second minuteㅡis based on their math!

我们的日历——一个月30天，一周7天，一天24小时，一小时60分钟，一分钟60秒——就源于他们的数学！

旁白 neutral

Can you believe we owe so much to people who lived over five thousand years ago?"

你能相信吗？我们竟然如此受惠于五千多年前的人类。”

旁白 neutral

" No, but I can believe Mom will be mad at us if we don't go downstairs and eat dinner," Laurie said

“不能，但我可以肯定，如果不下楼吃饭，妈妈肯定会冲我们发火的，”劳里说。

旁白 neutral

" Your mother is like the great King Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia, which was an area of Mesopotamia," Grandpa said

“你妈妈就像古代巴比伦那位伟大的汉谟拉比王，巴比伦王国属于美索不达米亚地区，”爷爷说。

旁白 neutral

" She lays down the laws around here!"

“她可是给这儿定规矩的人！”

旁白 neutral

" I've heard of him! Wasn't he the scary king who asked for ' an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth'?" Laurie shuddered

“我听说过他！他不就是那个推行‘以眼还眼，以牙还牙’的可怕国王吗？”劳里打了个哆嗦。

旁白 neutral

" Yes, I guess we might say he sounds scary now

“没错，我想现在我们可能会说他听起来很可怕。

旁白 neutral

But Hammurabi's laws kept society in order at a time when there was lots of fighting between tribes

但汉谟拉比的法典在部落间争斗不断的时代维持了社会秩序。

旁白 neutral

I think his laws are interesting because they teach us about what was considered important in ancient Mesopotamia

我觉得他的法律很有意思，因为它们告诉我们古代美索不达米亚人看重什么。

旁白 neutral

For example, we know that people were expected to take responsibility for their work and actions

比如，我们知道当时要求人们对自己的工作和行为负责。

旁白 neutral

If a house collapsed and killed the people inside, the builder was put to death

如果房子倒塌压死了里面的人，建造者会被处死。

旁白 neutral

But unfortunately, punishment wasn't always as clear-cut as it sounds

但不幸的是，惩罚并不总是像听上去那么界限分明。

旁白 neutral

You were often able to escape a harsh sentence by paying a large fine

人们往往可以通过支付巨额罚款来逃脱严厉的刑罚。

旁白 neutral

In ancient Babylonia it helped to be wealthy

在古巴比伦，有钱就能免遭严惩。

旁白 neutral

Would you like to see pictures of Babylonia's capital?

你想看看巴比伦王国的都城吗？

旁白 neutral

It was called Babylon and was one of the most impressive cities in Mesopotamia

它叫巴比伦城，是美索不达米亚最壮观的城市之一。

旁白 neutral

Those huge structures are called ziggurats. They were built entirely out of mud bricks

那些巨大的建筑叫塔庙，完全是用泥砖建成的。

旁白 neutral

They were probably very difficult to build

那些建筑造起来可能非常困难。

旁白 neutral

People took great care in building them, however, because they were made for worshipping gods

不过，人们在建造时格外用心，因为它们是为崇拜神明而建的。

旁白 neutral

The steep sides were stepped and covered with beautiful gardens

陡峭的侧面修成了阶梯状，并覆盖着美丽的花园。

旁白 neutral

At the top was a shrine. The most famous ziggurat is the temple to the god Marduk in the city of Ur

顶端是一座圣殿。最著名的塔庙是乌尔城中供奉马尔杜克神的神庙。

旁白 neutral

You recall the Tower of Babel from the Bible, don't you?

你还记得圣经里的巴别塔吧？

旁白 neutral

In that story people tried to build a tower that would reach the heavens, but they failed in the end

在那个故事里，人们试图建造一座能通天的塔，但最终失败了。

旁白 neutral

Some believe the ziggurat in Ur is the basis of the biblical legend

有人认为乌尔的塔庙就是那个圣经传说的原型。

旁白 neutral

The city of Ur, which is in present-day Iraq, is thought to connect to other stories from the Bible as well

乌尔城位于今天的伊拉克，人们认为它也与其他圣经故事有关联。

旁白 neutral

It was the home of Abraham, and when archaeologists first discovered the ruins of Ur in the 1800s

它是亚伯拉罕的故乡，当考古学家在19世纪首次发现乌尔遗迹时，

旁白 neutral

they found evidence of a great flood that had likely wiped out most of the city

他们发现了一场大洪水的证据，那场洪水很可能摧毁了城市的大部分。

旁白 neutral

They believe this may have been the basis of the great flood story in the Bible as well

他们相信，这可能也是圣经中大洪水故事的由来。

旁白 neutral

You know, the one that led to Noah building his ark

你知道的，就是那个导致诺亚建造方舟的故事。

旁白 neutral

Wait a minute. I have something to show you from the excavation at Ur

等一下。我有件乌尔发掘出的东西给你看。

旁白 neutral

A British archaeologist uncovered some of the grandest treasures of the ancient world when he found the temples and cemetery there in the 1920s and ' 30s

一位英国考古学家在20世纪二三十年代发现了那里的神庙和墓地，从而挖掘出了一些古代世界最宏伟的珍宝。

旁白 neutral

The tomb of Lady Puabi, for example, was full of beautiful things

例如，普阿比女士的陵墓就装满了精美的物品。

旁白 neutral

This royal woman was buried with all her riches, and was covered from head to foot in jewels and gold

这位王室女子带着她所有的财富下葬，从头到脚都覆盖着珠宝和黄金。

旁白 neutral

Lady Puabi's real headdress is in a museum, but I have a replica

普阿比女士真正的头饰在博物馆里，但我有个复制品。

旁白 neutral

A replica is something that's made to look exactly like the real thing

复制品就是做得和真品一模一样的东西。

旁白 neutral

Try this on for size, Lady Laurie."

戴上试试大小，劳里女士。

旁白 neutral

Grandpa leaned over and placed a delicate headdress decorated with dangling golden leaves, rings, and flowers on Laurie's head

爷爷俯过身，将一顶精致的头饰戴在劳里头上，上面装饰着摇摇晃晃的金叶子、金环和金花。

旁白 neutral

" Laurie, didn't I send you to call Grandpa for dinner ten minutes ago?" Laurie's mom shouted

“劳里，我不是十分钟前就叫你去喊爷爷吃晚饭了吗？”劳里的妈妈喊道。

旁白 neutral

" What are you two doing up there? Dinner is getting cold!"

“你们俩在上面干什么呢？晚饭要凉了！”

旁白 neutral

" That's Lady Laurie to you, Mom!" Laurie said

“妈妈，请叫我劳里女士！”劳里说。

旁白 neutral

She turned on her heel and strode out the door, her headdress jingling

她转身大步走出房门，头上的饰物叮当作响。