006 我的埃及书吏生涯

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My name is Seti, and I am a scribe living in Egypt in the year 1353 BC

我的名字叫塞提，我是公元前1353年在埃及生活的一名书吏。

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A scribe is someone who reads and writes for people who cannot, and

because not many people are literate, scribes are very valuable.

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We help government officials run the country and

businessmen keep track of their goods.

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Scribes write down histories of great battles, the number of cattle in

a herd, and anything else that needs to be remembered.

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To become a scribe, young boys usually have to be born into the profession

要成为一名书吏，男孩子通常必须出生在书吏家庭。

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My father was a scribe, so I became one too, and at seven

years old, I went to a palace school.

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Students sat around the teacher and sang songs to memorize different words

学生们围着老师坐，唱歌来记住不同的词语，

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and after we learned the words, we would practice

writing on pieces of broken pottery.

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If a student made a mistake, the teacher would hit

him on the back with a stick and say,

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" A boy's ears are in his back — he will listen only when he is beaten!"

“男孩的耳朵长在背上——只有挨打时才会听话！”

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Student scribes always made sure they knew their lessons

well, if only to avoid the teacher's anger.

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It took me four years to learn how to read and write, and I learned to

write in two different ways: hieroglyphic and hieratic.

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A hieroglyph is a picture that tells a reader what a word means, and each

picture is a word or sound in the Egyptian language.

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A scribe must memorize and be able to write over

seven hundred different pictures.

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Hieroglyphs are sacred, which means they are special to the gods

so they are used for tombs and monuments.

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For everyday communication, such as business letters

receipts, and government documents,

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we use hieratic writing, an alphabet of simple letters

that are based on the hieroglyphs.

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After four years of school, I became an apprentice on the estate of a

wealthy man who employed several scribes to keep his accounts.

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They taught me how to write his official letters and keep records

of his possessions and trading activities.

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For example, I learned to write down the day

month, and season of each trade,

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what items were traded and received, and the name

of the merchant involved in the transaction.

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I also had to carefully note the measure of what was traded whether it was

a basket of grain, a jar of oil, a tall slave, or a large cow's head.

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Even though I wasn't paid, I gained a lot of

experience working on a large estate.

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After my five-year apprenticeship, I was hired by the great pharaoh

Amenhotep III as a scribe for the royal family.

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Amenhotep III has ruled Egypt for 37 years and

has made our country very wealthy.

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He has ordered many statues and temples to be built

他下令建造了许多雕像和神庙，

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so scribes are needed to organize all the work and record all the

supplies needed and used for the construction.

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In my position I write all the pharaoh's official letters

to foreign kings in distant lands,

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and letters for royal family members who wish to keep in

touch with relatives throughout the country.

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Every year scribes also write down how much grain has been grown and then

calculate how long the grain will last after it is stored in the grain house.

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Storing grain can be difficult as fire, rats, and insects can be a problem

储存谷物可能很困难，因为火灾、老鼠和昆虫都可能成为问题，

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so the scribes must keep a careful tally of the

grain as it sits in the grain house.

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In addition to recording agricultural matters, scribes read, copy

and archive all government documents, tax records,

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and the religious laws of the country each year to

make sure the libraries are up-to-date.

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More than anyone else, scribes are very well-informed

about the business of Egypt.

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Scribes are also hired to write magic prayers and the

names of the deceased on their coffins.

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Egyptians believe that when a person dies

he or she lives on in an afterlife,

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so scribes write magical words to protect the spirits of the dead and

to help the person find a path to the afterlife.

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These magical prayers have always been written

in the pyramids for the pharaohs,

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but long ago scribes started writing coffin prayers for common people too

但很久以前，书吏也开始为普通百姓书写棺材祷词。

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When I write, I use paper called papyrus, which is made from the

stem of a reed that grows along the Nile River.

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The stem strips are cut, moistened, and layered

on top of each other at right angles.

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Then they are pounded together and dried to make a sheet of paper

然后将它们捶打在一起并晾干，制成一张纸。

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If I must write a long report, I paste the pages together to form

a scroll that's rolled on two wooden handles.

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Sometimes I write on pottery, stone tablets, or parchment, which

is made of animal hides stretched thin and dried.

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I have a wooden tablet called a palette with two holders for red and black

ink, which is made with papyrus juice and another material for color.

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Red ink is made from red clay, and black ink is made from soot

红色墨水用红黏土制成，黑色墨水用烟灰制成。

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The palette also holds my writing brush, which is made from the

hollow stem of a grasslike plant called a rush.

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Before I can write with my brush, I chew on the end

to soften it, so it can absorb the ink.

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The hieroglyph that stands for " scribe " is a picture of the equipment I use

代表“书吏”的象形文字，就是我所使用工具的图画。

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Because of our ability to read and write, most people think scribes have

mysterious powers from the gods, so we are treated well and get very rich.

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Because I'm a royal scribe, no one gives me orders except the pharaoh;

therefore I don't have to do any hard work.

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The ability to read and write has given me a good life, but I feel

sorry for the ordinary workers in the kingdom.

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Tired bodies and low pay are their only reward

疲惫的身体和微薄的报酬是他们唯一的回报。