突破瓶頸，掃清生僻學科：文字起源

來自專欄李文勍6 人贊了文章

【BEAT托福】原創

公眾號：李文勍

作者：李杼鵬

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例如：

閱讀TPO 39-1 EarlyWriting Systems,

TPO 46-1 The Origins of Writing,

TPO 53-1 Evidence of the Earliest Writing等。

文字起源作為托福考試中最高頻的考點之一，意味著我們要對其背景知識做到充分了解。做過充分準備的同學，對於再次遇到相關學科背景，一定會更加得心應手。今天的話題，我們一起來討論高頻學科背景：文字的起源。

大家想看哪一方面的乾貨，可以在文末暢所欲言

作者：李杼鵬

學者們認為，書寫起源於中東的某個地方。最早的文字誕生於美索不達米亞（今伊拉克）地區。這些刻在泥板的文字可以追溯到公元前3000年，是在蘇美爾人的考古遺迹中發現的。這些文字使用楔形cuneiform寫在濕的黏土平板上。這些黏土板通常不用火烤，一般放在太陽下面自然晾乾就足夠將這些文字永久保存了。

Scholars agree that writing originated somewhere in the Middle East, probably Mesopotamia, around the fourth millennium B.C.E. It is from the great libraries and word-hoards of these ancient lands that the first texts emerged. They were written on damp clay tablets with a wedged (or V-shaped) stick; since the Latin word for wedge is cunea, the texts are called cuneiform. （節選自TPO 39-1 Early Writing Systems）

It was in Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) that civilization arose, and it is there that we find the earliest examples of that key feature of civilization, writing. These examples, in the form of inscribed clay tablets that date to shortly before 3000 B.C.E., have been discovered among the archaeological remains of the Sumerians, a gifted people settled in southern Mesopotamia. （節選自TPO 46-1 The Origins of Writing）

Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity.（節選自TPO 53-1 Evidence of the Earliest Writing）

在埃及，文字一般書寫在紙草上。它是紙張的前身，由一種濕地植物製作而成。當時尼羅河兩岸長滿了紙莎（suo）草，埃及人就利用這種草造了一種紙。這種紙質量很好，但是像普通的紙一樣脆弱。

A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus

The ancient Egyptians invented a different way of writing and a new substance to write on—papyrus, a precursor of paper, made from a wetland plant. （節選自TPO 39-1 Early Writing Systems）

不過美索不達米亞的河邊並沒有紙莎草，但當地有不錯的粘土，所以泥板成為了標準的書寫材料。雖然泥板很笨重，但對於考古學家來說它有一個珍貴的優點：保存持久。比如火對紙莎草或其它書寫材料是致命的，但是對於泥板來說，火只會把它燒得更堅硬，從而使其能保存更持久。所以當征服者把美索不達米亞宮殿燒為灰燼時，反而使得其中的泥板保存了下來。

Mesopotamias rivers boasted no such useful reeds, but its land did provide good clay, and as a consequence the clay tablet became the standard material. Though clumsy and bulky it has a virtue dear to archaeologists: it is durable. Fire, for example, which is death to papyrus paper or other writing materials such as leather and wood, simply bakes it hard, thereby making it even more durable. （節選自TPO 46-1 The Origins of Writing）

楔形文字cuneiform

楔形文字持續了三千年的時間，跨越了蘇美爾、古巴比倫阿卡德區等，在現如今的伊拉克、敘利亞和伊朗西部地區保存下來15種語言。最久遠的楔形文字記錄了稅務員和商人之間的交易，城市生活中的買賣的收據和賬單。這其中包含了穀物、山羊和房產。之後，巴比倫的文吏記錄了法律並且保存了其他一些記錄。

Cuneiform writing lasted for some 3,000 years, in a vast line of succession that ran through Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Nineveh, and Babylon, and preserved for us fifteen languages in an area represented by modern-day Iraq, Syria, and western Iran. The oldest cuneiform texts recorded the transactions of tax collectors and merchants, the receipts and bills of sale of an urban society. They had to do with things like grain, goats, and real estate. （節選自TPO 39-1 Early Writing Systems）

象形文字hieroglyphic

古埃及人發明了一種不同的書寫方式：象形文字。他們認為這種語言適合神明，這就解釋了為什麼他們把文字刻在金字塔的牆上或者其他宗教建築上。象形文字是埃及對於書寫史的重大貢獻：從公元前3100年開始使用，直到公元394年，形成了既是藝術又是交流工具的文本。

The Greeks had a special name for this writing: hieroglyphic, literally "sacred writing. "This, they thought, was language fit for the gods, which explains why it was carved on walls of pyramids and other religious structures. Perhapshieroglyphics are Egypts great contribution to the history of writing: hieroglyphic writing, in use from 3100 B.C.E. until 394 C.E., resulted in the creation of texts that were fine art as well as communication. Egypt gave us the tradition of the scribe not just as an educated person but as artist and calligrapher. （節選自TPO 39-1 Early WritingSystems）

最早的泥板上簡單標著各種商品（動物、陶土罐、籃子等）的數量。文字的出現最開始是作為一種原始的記賬手段。很快它就被擴展到用來記錄日常生活中的各種事件和行為，從簡單的商品清單到複雜的政府規章制度。

The contents of the earliest clay tablets are simple notations of numbers of commodities—animals, jars, baskets, etc. Writing, it would appear, started as a primitive form of bookkeeping. Its use soon widened to document the multitudinous things and acts that are involved in daily life, from simple inventories of commodities to complicated governmental rules and regulations. （節選自TPO 46-1 The Origins of Writing）

大量的楔形文字是關於科學、天文學、醫學和數學，一些包含了非常精確的數據。一個板子上記錄了超過248天的月亮移動的速度，另一個則記錄了目睹到的哈雷彗星，時間是公元前164年的9月22日至9月28日。一些更加深奧的文字試圖解釋古巴比倫文明的習俗，比如，治療病人的步驟，包括在病人的門上塗抹瀝青和石膏，並在病人的床腳畫個符號。

Cuneiform texts on science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics abound, some offering astoundingly precise data.（節選自TPO 39-1 Early Writing Systems）

通過今天的介紹，希望同學們對文字起源能有更多了解。雖然在考試當中，或許會出現只依靠背景知識就能解答的題目，但是同學們必須要依靠文章給出的閱讀和聽力內容獲取相應信息答題。相關背景知識能為同學們在學習過程中提供更多的幫助，但是切勿只依靠背景作答。

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