003 海上贸易民族

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" Grandpa, we're home!" Laurie shouted as she ran up the stairs

“爷爷，我们回来了！”劳瑞一边喊着一边跑上楼梯。

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She had just come back from the beach with her dad and was carrying a jar full of seashells

她刚和爸爸从海滩回来，手里拿着一个装满贝壳的罐子。

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" Choose any one you like, but only one," she said, standing at the study door

“挑一个你喜欢的，但只能挑一个。”她站在书房门口说。

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" Thank you!" Grandpa said, examining the shells closely

“谢谢！”爷爷一边仔细看着贝壳一边说。

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He took a small peach-colored shell from the jar." I'll add this to my collection."

他从罐子里拿出一个小巧的桃色贝壳。“我要把这个加到我的收藏里。”

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" You have a shell collection too?" Laurie asked

“你也有贝壳收藏吗？”劳瑞问道。

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" Well, I have just two shells, but they are very special ones from Lebanon!"

“嗯，我只有两个贝壳，但它们是来自黎巴嫩的，非常特别！”

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Grandpa reached high on a shelf and took down a bowl with two spiny seashells in it

爷爷伸手从高高的架子上取下一个碗，里面放着两个带刺的海螺壳。

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" These are sea-snail shells from the Mediterranean coastline

“这些是来自地中海海岸线的海蜗牛壳。

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I found them when I visited Lebanon last year to research the ancient Phoenicians

我去年去黎巴嫩研究古腓尼基人时找到的。”

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They were seafaring merchants who lived there from around 2000 BC to 500 BC, when they were taken over by the Persian Empire."

他们是航海商人，从大约公元前2000年到公元前500年生活在那里，后来被波斯帝国征服了。”

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" What are seafaring merchants?" said Laurie

“航海商人是什么？”劳瑞说。

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" People who spend a lot of time sailing at sea and make their living by trading things," Grandpa explained

“就是长时间在海上航行，靠买卖东西谋生的人，”爷爷解释道。

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" The coasts of Lebanon are surrounded by high, rugged mountains, which protected Phoenicia, but it also made it difficult to travel by land

“黎巴嫩的海岸被高耸崎岖的山脉环绕，这保护了腓尼基，但也让陆路出行十分困难。

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So, out of necessity, the Phoenicians became great shipbuilders and seafarers

因此，出于必要，腓尼基人成了了不起的造船者和航海家。

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From their coastal cities, they sailed to other Middle Eastern cities, and to Africa and Europe

他们从沿海城市出发，航行到其他中东城市，以及非洲和欧洲。

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There, they traded their goods for things they couldn't find in their homeland

在那里，他们用自己的货物交换家乡找不到的东西。

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They are considered the first organized traders and merchants of the world

他们被认为是世界上第一批有组织的贸易商和商人。

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Even though we call them Phoenicians and the area they lived in Phoenicia, they weren't really united into a country or empire

虽然我们称他们为腓尼基人，称他们居住的地方为腓尼基，但他们并没有真正统一成一个国家或帝国。

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Phoenicia was more like individual cities that developed close to one another

腓尼基更像是彼此相近发展起来的一座座独立城邦。

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But when the Phoenicians traveled around selling their goods, they became known as one people, the Phoenicians."

但当腓尼基人四处旅行、销售货物时，他们作为一个民族——腓尼基人——而闻名。”

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" Did they simply sell these seashells by the seashore?" Laurie asked, giggling

“他们就在海边卖这些贝壳吗？”劳瑞咯咯笑着问。

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" No, silly, but the sea snails that came from these seashells — whew! — were the source of the Phoenicians' most valuable item: purple dye

“不是，傻孩子，但从这些贝壳里弄出来的海螺——哎呀！——可是腓尼基人最珍贵物品的来源：紫色染料。

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Purple dye hadn't yet been discovered anywhere else

当时其他地方还没发现紫色染料，

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and when the Phoenicians began to make cloth dyed this wonderful purple, people loved it

当腓尼基人开始制造用这种美妙紫色染成的布料时，人们爱不释手。

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But hundreds of snails were needed to dye even a small piece of fabric

但哪怕只染一小块布料，都需要几百只海螺。

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So the dye-making process was very time-consuming, and therefore, the dye was worth a lot of money

所以染料制作过程非常耗时，因此，这种染料价值不菲。

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It was so expensive that only royalty or the very wealthy could afford anything purple

它贵到只有王室或巨富才买得起任何紫色的东西。

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That's how purple became known as the ' royal ' color

紫色就是这样被称为‘皇家’颜色的。

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Glass and cedarwood were also popular Phoenician items

玻璃和雪松木也是腓尼基人的热门商品。

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Cedar, which grew in the mountains of Lebanon, was rare in neighboring lands; that made it highly desirable

黎巴嫩山区生长的雪松在邻国很稀有，因此非常受欢迎。

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It was also perfect for building and produced great-smelling oils

它也非常适合建筑，还能产出香气宜人的油。

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The Egyptians in particular bought lots of cedar, which they used to build temples, palaces, and coffins

尤其是埃及人大量购买雪松，用来建造神庙、宫殿和棺材。

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The Phoenicians' seaside location helped them with something else — glassmaking, because glass is made with sand

腓尼基人临海的地理位置还帮助他们从事另一项事业——玻璃制造，因为玻璃是用沙子制造的。

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People think Egyptians had been making glass for a while, but the Phoenicians developed it into an art

人们认为埃及人制造玻璃已有段时间，但腓尼基人将其发展成了一门艺术。

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They made colored beads, clear vases, and other beautiful glasswork

他们制作彩色珠子、透明花瓶，以及其他精美的玻璃制品。

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We owe a lot to the Phoenicians for their creations

腓尼基人的创造让我们受益良多。

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But they are most famous for one thing

但他们最闻名遐迩的是另一件事。

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You know, as merchants, it was important for them to keep records of all their sales

你知道，作为商人，记录所有销售对他们非常重要。

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What do you think they invented to help them do this?" Grandpa paused

你觉得他们发明了什么来帮忙做这件事呢？”爷爷停了一下。

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" Hmm... receipts?" Laurie guessed

“嗯……是收据吗？”劳瑞猜道。

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" Well, yes, but how would they write receipts if they didn't have an alphabet?

“嗯，对，可他们要是没有字母表，怎么写收据呢？

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The Phoenicians invented the first 22-letter alphabet!

腓尼基人发明了最早的22字母表！

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Of course, written language had gradually been developing since the time of picture symbols, like hieroglyphics

当然啦，书面语言从图画符号、像古埃及的象形文字那会儿起，就一直在慢慢发展，

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but the Phoenicians created the first letters representing sound alone

但腓尼基人创造出了最早只表示读音的字母。

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We can even trace our alphabet back to theirs!

我们甚至能把现在的字母表一直追溯到他们的字母表！

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Here, what do you think this says?"

“来，你觉得这几个是什么？”

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Grandpa wrote three Phoenician letters on a piece of paper

爷爷在一张纸上写了三个腓尼基字母。

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" Um, triangle, circle, cross... D-O-T! Dot!" Laurie cried excitedly

“嗯，三角形，圆圈，叉号……D-O-T！点点！”劳瑞兴奋地叫起来。

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" Amazing! You can read Phoenician!" Grandpa laughed

“真厉害！你能认腓尼基文了！”爷爷笑了起来。

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He handed her an open book from his desk

他从书桌上递给她一本翻开的书。

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The page showed a chart of the Phoenician alphabet

那一页是腓尼基字母表。

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" Wow. Letters have come a long way in three thousand years

“哇。三千年，字母的变化真大。

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I wonder what they'll look like three thousand years from now!" Laurie said

不知道再过三千年，字母会变成什么样子！”劳瑞说。

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She flipped to another page in the book

她翻到书的另一页。

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" Ooh, who is this? She's beautiful!" she whispered

“哦，这是谁？她真美！”她轻声说。

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" That's Jezebel, princess of Tyre. Tyre was a city on Phoenicia's coast

“这是耶洗别，泰尔的公主。泰尔是腓尼基海岸的一个城市。

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It was one of the richest, most powerful Phoenician cities

它曾是腓尼基最富有、最强大的城市之一。

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The king of Tyre married his beautiful daughter to the king of Israel's son, Ahab

泰尔国王把他美丽的女儿嫁给了以色列王的儿子亚哈。

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He thought this would keep good relations between the two neighboring peoples, but he was wrong

他以为这样能维持两个邻邦人民之间的友好关系，但他错了。

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In Israel, the Jewish people worshipped one god, while Phoenicians worshipped a number of gods and goddesses

在以色列，犹太人崇拜唯一的神，而腓尼基人崇拜许多男神和女神，

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who they believed controlled weather, harvests, the sea, the moon, and so on — in other words, the natural world

他们相信这些神掌控着天气、收成、海洋、月亮等等——也就是自然界。

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Now, Jezebel was a passionate woman who loved her husband but loved her native religion more

耶洗别是个充满热情的女人，她爱她的丈夫，但她更爱她本族的宗教。

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She asked Ahab to build temples to her gods and goddesses in his land, and she encouraged the people of Israel to join her in worship

她请求亚哈在他的土地上为她的众神修建庙宇，并鼓励以色列人一同敬拜。

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The Jewish leaders got upset. They destroyed the Phoenician temples and killed the Phoenician priests

犹太领袖们非常愤怒。他们摧毁了腓尼基人的庙宇，杀死了腓尼基人的祭司。

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In all the political turmoil, Ahab and Jezebel were also killed." Grandpa sighed

在所有的政治动荡中，亚哈和耶洗别也被杀了。”爷爷叹了口气。

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" Wow! What a story for a beautiful Saturday afternoon!"

“哇！在这个美好的周六下午讲这样的故事！”

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" Oh! Why do strong women in history always die tragically?" Laurie cried

“哦！为什么历史上坚强的女性总是死得这么悲惨？”劳瑞叫道。

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" One day soon, I'll have a story for you about a strong woman who lives to see a happy end," said Grandpa

“过不了多久，我会给你讲一个坚强的女人活到幸福结局的故事。”爷爷说。

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" Well, I'm going to put this stuff in my room now

“嗯，我现在要把这些东西放进我房间了。

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But I'll always think of crushed sea snails when I wear my purple tank top and of that ancient, funny-looking alphabet when I'm writing!

不过以后我穿紫色背心时，总会想起被碾碎的海螺；写字时，也会想起那个古老又好笑的字母表！

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And you can have another seashell. Catch!" Laurie said

再给你一个贝壳。接住！”劳瑞说。

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She tossed another shell from her jar to Grandpa and walked out the door

她从罐子里又拿出一个贝壳扔给爷爷，然后走出了门。