E01 001 文明的诞生

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0:11 " Grandpa?" Laurie called, knocking on the study door “爷爷？”劳里敲着书房的门喊道。
0:18 " 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。
0:24 He was an archaeologist and worked very hard 他是一位考古学家，工作非常努力。
0:28 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？”
0:35 " 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。
0:40 " 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。
0:47 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？”
0:54 " 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。
1:02 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。
1:07 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。
1:15 You may have heard of the Sumerians 你可能听说过苏美尔人。
1:18 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。
1:25 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。
1:33 For example, they developed the first writing system! 例如，他们创造了最早的书写系统！
1:38 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。
1:44 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。
1:51 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。
1:58 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。
2:04 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。
2:11 After that they baked the tablets in the sun 之后他们在太阳下晒干泥板。
2:14 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，
2:20 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。
2:24 They were especially keen on dividing time 他们对划分时间尤其情有独钟。
2:27 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！
2:37 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。”
2:42 " 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。
2:49 " 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。
2:58 " She lays down the laws around here!" “她可是给这儿定规矩的人！”
3:02 " 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。
3:11 " 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。
3:15 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。
3:23 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。
3:31 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。
3:38 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。
3:44 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。
3:49 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。
3:54 In ancient Babylonia it helped to be wealthy 在古巴比伦，有钱就能免遭严惩。
3:58 Would you like to see pictures of Babylonia's capital? 你想看看巴比伦王国的都城吗？
4:01 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。
4:06 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。
4:12 They were probably very difficult to build 那些建筑造起来可能非常困难。
4:15 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。
4:21 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。
4:26 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。
4:34 You recall the Tower of Babel from the Bible, don't you? 你还记得圣经里的巴别塔吧？
4:37 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。
4:44 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。
4:49 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。
4:56 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，
5:04 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。
5:10 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。
5:15 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。
5:19 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。
5:24 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。
5:35 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。
5:41 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。
5:49 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。
5:54 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。
5:59 Try this on for size, Lady Laurie." 戴上试试大小，劳里女士。
6:02 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。
6:12 " 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。
6:20 " 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！”
6:24 " That's Lady Laurie to you, Mom!" Laurie said “妈妈，请叫我劳里女士！”劳里说。
6:28 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。