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GenevievevonPetzinger_2015F-_为何这32种符号出现在全欧洲的古代洞穴中？_
There's something about caves -- a shadowy opening in a limestone cliff that draws you in. 在研究人类历史的过程中, 一万至四万年前,
shadowy:adj.朦胧的;有阴影的;虚无的;暗黑的; limestone:n.[岩]石灰岩; cliff:n.悬崖;绝壁;
As you pass through the portal between light and dark, you enter a subterranean world -- a place of perpetual gloom , of earthy smells, of hushed silence. 从明暗交界的入口处穿过, 你便进入了一个地底世界, 那里永远昏暗,弥漫着泥土气息,且异常安静。
pass through:穿过;经历;经验;遭受; portal:n.大门,入口; subterranean:adj.地下的;秘密的;隐蔽的;n.地下工作者; perpetual:adj.永久的;不断的;四季开花的;无期限的; gloom:n.忧郁;阴暗;v.变阴暗;变忧沉;使黑暗;使忧郁; earthy:adj.土的;土质的;朴实的;粗俗的; hushed:adj.寂静的;安静的;v.安静;缄默;肃静(hush的过去分词);
Long ago in Europe, ancient people also entered these underground worlds. 很久以前,在欧洲, 古代居民也进入过这些地底世界。
As witness to their passage, they left behind mysterious engravings and paintings, like this panel of humans, triangles and zigzags from Ojo Guare?a in Spain. 作为途经那里的见证, 他们留下了神秘的雕刻和图画, 比如西班牙欧赫加莱尼亚这块岩壁上的人形、三角和折线。
witness:n.证人;目击者;证据;v.目击;证明;为…作证; mysterious:adj.神秘的;不可思议的;难解的; engravings:n.雕刻;雕刻术;雕刻品;v.在…上雕刻;给…深刻的印象(engrave的ing形式); panel:n.镶板;仪表盘;钣金;(衣服上的)镶条;v.镶板(用木或玻璃板等镶嵌或装饰); triangles:n.[数]三角形,三角型态(triangle的复数形式); zigzags:adj.曲折的; vt.使曲折行进; vi.曲折行进; n.之字形; v.曲折地;
You now walk the same path as these early artists. 你正走在这些早期艺术家走过的道路上。
And in this surreal , otherworldly place, it's almost possible to imagine that you hear the muffled footfall of skin boots on soft earth, or that you see the flickering of a torch around the next bend. 在这个超现实的地方, 你能够想象着自己 听到了兽皮靴踏在柔软土地上那隐约的脚步声, 或者看到了下个转弯处忽隐忽现的火光。
surreal:adj.超现实主义的;离奇的;不真实的; otherworldly:adj.来世的;超脱尘俗的; muffled:adj.听不清的; v.使(声音)低沉(muffle的过去式); footfall:n.脚步;脚步声; flickering:adj.扑动的; v.闪现; (flicker的现在分词) torch:n.火炬;手电筒;火把;v.纵火烧(建筑物或汽车);
When I'm in a cave, 当我身处洞穴之中,
I often find myself wondering what drove these people to go so deep to brave dangerous and narrow passageways to leave their mark? 我总会不由自主地猜想 是什么让他们在如此危险且狭窄的通道里留下记号？
narrow:adj.狭窄的; v.使窄小; n.峡谷; (场所,物品等的)狭窄部分; passageways:n.走廊;通道;过道;(passageway的复数)
In this video clip , that was shot half a kilometer, or about a third of a mile, underground, in the cave of Cudon in Spain, we found a series of red paintings on a ceiling in a previously unexplored section of the cave. 接下来的这段录像 拍摄于地下500米深处, 位于西班牙古登的一个洞穴之中。 我们在一个从未被探索的区域的洞顶 发现了一系列红色的绘画。
clip:v.剪辑;修剪;削减;固定;n.夹;夹子;速度;钳; series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书; previously:adv.先前;以前; unexplored:adj.[地质]未勘查过的;
As we crawled forward, military-style , with the ceiling getting ever lower, we finally got to a point where the ceiling was so low that my husband and project photographer, Dylan, could no longer achieve focus on the ceiling with his DSLR camera. 我们在洞中匍匐前进,洞顶越压越低, 到最后,洞顶太低了, 我的丈夫兼摄影师戴伦 甚至无法用单反相机聚焦洞顶。
crawled:v.爬;爬行;(昆虫)爬行;缓慢行进(crawl的过去分词和过去式) military-style:军式设计; finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
So while he filmed me, 所以当他拍摄我的时候,
I kept following the trail of red paint with a single light and a point-and-shoot camera that we kept for that type of occasion. 我只能带着单一光源和一架为此准备的自动相机 沿着红色绘画的路线移动。
trail:v.(被)拖,拉;疲惫地走,磨蹭;落后,失败;n.痕迹;踪迹;小路;路线;
Half a kilometer underground. 地下500米深处。
Seriously. 说真的,
What was somebody doing down there with a torch or a stone lamp ? 人们带着火把或石灯到底来这里做什么呢？
lamp:n.灯;台灯;(理疗用的)发热灯;
(Laughter) （笑声）
I mean -- me, it makes sense, right? 当然,我的情况还是可以理解的。
But you know,this is the kind of question that I'm trying to answer with my research. 我的研究就是要试图回答这类问题。
I study some of the oldest art in the world. 我研究几种世界上最古老的艺术。
It was created by these early artists in Europe, between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago. 一万至四万年前, 欧洲早期的艺术家创造了它们。
And the thing is that I'm not just studying it because it's beautiful, though some of it certainly is. 我研究这些艺术并不仅仅因为其美感, 尽管某些作品确实非常美丽。
But what I'm interested in is the development of the modern mind, of the evolution of creativity, of imagination , of abstract thought, about what it means to be human. 我所感兴趣的,是在人类独特性这一议题上, 现代思想的发展,以及人类创造力、想象力 和抽象思维的进化。
evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物; abstract:n.摘要; adj.抽象的; vt.摘要; vi.做摘要;
While all species communicate in one way or another, only we humans have really taken it to another level. 尽管所有物种在不同程度上都进行交流, 但只有人类的交流上升到了更高的层次。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
Our desire and ability to share and collaborate has been a huge part of our success story . 对于分享及合作的诉求和能力 是人类能够成功的主要原因。
collaborate:vi.合作;勾结,通敌; success story:n.获得巨大成功的人(或事物);
Our modern world is based on a global network of information exchange made possible, in large part, by our ability to communicate -- in particular , using graphic or written forms of communication. 现代社会建立于全球信息交流网络之上, 这在很大程度上得益于我们交流的能力, 具体来说,就是运用图画和文字交流的能力。
global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; exchange:n.交换;交流;交易所;兑换;v.交换;交易;兑换; in particular:尤其,特别; graphic:adj.形象的;图表的;绘画似的;
The thing is, though,that we've been building on the mental achievements of those that came before us for so long that it's easy to forget that certain abilities haven't already existed. 然而,我们所倚赖的前人思想成 就有着太过久远的历史, 以至于我们忘记这些能力并非与生俱来。
mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者;
It's one of the things I find most fascinating about studying our deep history. 在研究人类历史的过程中, 我所发现的最神奇的事情之一就是,
fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词)
Those people didn't have the shoulders of any giants to stand on. 早期人类并没有巨人的肩膀可以站立。
giants:n.巨人;大汉;巨兽;巨树;(giant的复数)
They were the original shoulders. 他们自己就是巨人。
original:n.原件;原作;原物;原型;adj.原始的;最初的;独创的;新颖的;
And while a surprising number of important inventions come out of that distant time, what I want to talk to you about today is the invention of graphic communication. 在那个久远的时代出现了大量重要的发明, 今天我所要讲的是图形交流的诞生。
distant:adj.遥远的;远处的;久远的;
There are three main types of communication, spoken, gestural -- so things like sign language -- and graphic communication. 交流有三种主要形式: 语言,动作——比如手语, 以及图形交流。
gestural:adj.手势的;示意动作的; sign language:n.手势语;
Spoken and gestural are by their very nature ephemeral . 语言和动作交流转瞬即逝,
ephemeral:adj.短暂的;朝生暮死的;n.只生存一天的事物;
It requires close contact for a message to be sent and received. 需要通过近距离接触来传递和接受信息。
contact:n.接触,联系;v.使接触,联系;
And after the moment of transmission , it's gone forever. 信息被传送后,便永远地消失了。
transmission:n.传输;传染;播送;发射;广播;传动装置;
Graphic communication, on the other hand , decouples that relationship. 而图形交流却将传递和接收分离开来。
on the other hand:另一方面;
And with its invention, it became possible for the first time for a message to be transmitted and preserved beyond a single moment in place and time. 通过图形交流, 信息第一次超越了时空中的某一瞬间, 被传递和保存下来。
transmitted:v.传送;输送;发射;播送;传播;传染;(transmit的过去分词和过去式) preserved:v.保护;维护;保留;保存;保养;(preserve的过去式和过去分词)
Europe is one of the first places that we start to see graphic marks regularly appearing in caves, rock shelters and even a few surviving open-air sites . 欧洲是最早发现图形记号的地区之一。 这些记号通常被发现于洞穴和石隙中, 也有一些露天遗址被保存下来。
regularly:adv.经常地;有规律地;定期的 open-air:adj.露天的;户外的,野外的; sites:n.网站(site的复数);遗址,举办地点;v.使...位于(site的单三形式);
But this is not the Europe we know today. 但那时的欧洲和现在不同,
This was a world dominated by towering ice sheets ,three to four kilometers high, with sweeping grass plains and frozen tundra . 放眼望去都是三、四千米高的冰原, 覆盖着大片的草原或冰冻苔原。
dominated:v.支配;控制;左右;影响;(dominate的过去式和过去分词) sheets:n.床单;被单;薄片,薄板;(sheet的复数) sweeping:n.扫除; adj.影响广泛的; v.打扫; (sweep的现在分词) tundra:n.[生态]苔原;[地理]冻原;冻土地带;
This was the Ice Age. 那时正是冰川时期。
Over the last century, more than 350 Ice Age rock art sites have been found across the continent , decorated with animals, abstract shapes and even the occasional human like these engraved figures from Grotta dell'Addaura in Sicily. 在上个世纪, 全球有350多个冰川时期岩石艺术遗址被发现。 岩石上雕刻着动物、抽象图形,甚至人类, 比如这些在西西里阿杜兰洞穴中的石刻。
continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的; decorated:v.装饰;装潢;粉刷;点缀;装点;(decorate的过去分词和过去式) occasional:adj.偶然的;临时的;特殊场合的; engraved:adj.铭记于心的; v.在…上雕刻(字或图案); (engrave的过去分词和过去式)
They provide us with a rare glimpse into the creative world and imagination of these early artists. 我们能从中窥见 这些早期艺术家的创造力和想象力。
glimpse:v.瞥见;[诗]闪现;n.领悟;概况;见识;一睹; creative:adj.创造性的;
Since their discovery, it's been the animals that have received the majority of the study like this black horse from Cullalvera in Spain, or this unusual purple bison from La Pasiega. 这些石刻被发现后, 人们对其中的动物形象进行了大量研究, 比如这匹在西班牙库拉维拉被发现的黑马, 或是这只在拉帕西艾加被发现的特别的紫色野牛。
majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞; bison:n.北美野牛;欧洲野牛;
But for me, it was the abstract shapes, what we call geometric signs, that drew me to study the art. 然而,吸引我去研究这些艺术的, 是我们称为“几何符号”的抽象图形。
geometric:adj.几何学的;[数]几何学图形的;
The funny this is that at most sites the geometric signs far outnumber the animal and human images . 有趣的是,在多数遗址中, 几何符号的数量远远超过了动物和人类的形象。
outnumber:vt.数目超过;比…多; images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数)
But when I started on this back in 2007, there wasn't even a definitive list of how many shapes there were, nor was there a strong sense of whether the same ones appeared across space or time. 但在2007年我开始从事这项研究时, 甚至没有一份关于这些几何符号的明确清单, 也没有人强烈地意识到 是否同样的符号曾在不同的时间或地点存在过。
definitive:n.限定词;adj.决定性的;最后的;限定的;
Before I could even get started on my questions, my first step was to compile a database of all known geometric signs from all of the rock art sites. 在着手研究我的问题之前, 我首先建立了一个数据库, 包含了所有遗迹中所发现的所有几何符号。
compile:vt.编译;编制;编辑;[图情]汇编;
The problem was that while they were well documented at some sites, usually the ones with the very nice animals, there was also a large number of them where it was very vague -- there wasn't a lot of description or detail. 尽管某些遗迹对这些符号进行了很好的记录, 通常是那些发现了漂亮动物图形的遗址, 但相当数量的记录都非常模糊不清, 缺失了大量描述和细节。
well documented:adj.证据充分的; vague:adj.模糊的;含糊的;不明确的;暧昧的; description:n.说明;形容;描写(文字);类型;
Some of them hadn't been visited in half a century or more. 有些遗迹至少半个世纪无人问津了。
These were the ones that I targeted for my field work. 它们就是我实地调查的重点。
Over the course of two years, my faithful husband Dylan and I each spent over 300 hours underground, hiking, crawling and wriggling around 52 sites in France, Spain, Portugal and Sicily. 两年间, 我和我的丈夫戴伦在地下呆了超过300小时, 不断地行走、爬行、扭动着前进, 走遍了法国、西班牙、葡萄牙和西西里的52处遗迹。
faithful:n.信徒;adj.忠于;忠实的;正确的;忠贞的; crawling:v.爬行;匍匐行进;(crawl的现在分词) wriggling:v.扭动身体;蠕动;蜿蜒行进;(wriggle的现在分词)
And it was totally worth it. 这些努力没有白费。
We found new, undocumented geometric signs at 75 percent of the sites we visited. 在75%的遗迹中,我们发现了新的、未被记录的几何符号。
undocumented:adj.无事实证明的;无正式文件的;
This is the level of accuracy I knew I was going to need if I wanted to start answering those larger questions. 我知道,如果想要研究那些更宏观的问题, 这样的准确程度是必需的。
accuracy:n.[数]精确度,准确性;
So let's get to those answers. 那我们就来看看答案吧。
Barring a handful of outliers , there are only 32 geometric signs. 排除少量离群值,一共只有32种几何符号。
outliers:n.[分化]异常值;离群值;离开本体的东西;局外人(outlier的复数);
Only 32 signs across a 30,000-year time span and the entire continent of Europe. 跨越三万年的时间,遍布整个欧洲,只有32种。
time span:n.一段时间;时段;
That is a very small number. 这太少了。
Now, if these were random doodles or decorations , we would expect to see a lot more variation , but instead what we find are the same signs repeating across both space and time. 如果这些符号是随意画下的, 应该会更多种多样, 然而,我们却看到同样的符号 在不同时间、不同地点被反复使用。
random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地; doodles:n.涂鸦(doodle复数); decorations:n.装饰品;装饰图案;装饰风格;(decoration的复数) variation:n.变异;变体;变奏;变种;
Some signs start out strong, before losing popularity and vanishing , while other signs are later inventions. 一些符号开始时被广泛应用,后来逐渐消失; 另一些符号则后来居上。
popularity:n.流行;受欢迎;普及 vanishing:adj.消没的;n.消失;v.消失(vanish的现在分词);
But 65 percent of those signs stayed in use during that entire time period -- things like lines, rectangles triangles, ovals and circles like we see here from the end of the Ice Age,at a 10,000-year-old site high in the Pyrenees Mountains. 但是,65%的符号被一直沿用, 比如直线、长方形、三角形、椭圆形和圆形, 就像我们在比利牛斯山脉这个有一万年历史的冰川后期遗迹中所看到的。
rectangles:n.[数]矩形;长方形(rectangle的复数形式); ovals:n.椭圆形物;卵形体(oval的复数); Pyrenees:n.庇里牛斯山(欧洲西南部最大山脉);
And while certain signs span thousands of kilometers, other signs had much more restricted distribution patterns, with some being limited to a single territory , like we see here with these divided rectangles that are only found in northern Spain, and which some researchers have speculated could be some sort of family or clan signs. 某些符号使用地域极广, 另一些符号的传播则遵循一定的规律, 有些甚至仅局限于单一地区。 比如我们看到的这些被分割的长方形, 就只出现在西班牙北部地区; 一些学者猜测, 它们可能是某个宗族的标志。
restricted:adj.受限制的;保密的;v.限制(restrict的过去式和过去分词); distribution:n.分布;分配;分发;分销; limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式) territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图; speculated:v.推测;猜测;推断;投机;做投机买卖;(speculate的过去分词和过去式) clan:n.家族;庞大的家族;宗派;帮派;
On a side note, there is surprising degree of similarity in the earliest rock art found all the way from France and Spain to Indonesia and Australia. 顺便说一下, 在法国和西班牙发现的早期岩壁艺术 同在印度尼西亚和澳大利亚发现的岩壁艺术之间,有着惊人的相似。
similarity:n.类似;相似点; Indonesia:n.印尼,印度尼西亚(东南亚岛国);
With many of the same signs appearing in such far-flung places, especially in that 30,000 to 40,000-year range, it's starting to seem increasingly likely that this invention actually traces back to a common point of origin in Africa. 相同的符号出现于如此广泛的地域, 而且都出现在三万到四万年前, 所以图形的发明极有可能 追溯到非洲大陆上某一个共同的起源。
far-flung:adj.遥远的;广泛的;广布的; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; increasingly:adv.越来越多地;渐增地; traces:v.跟踪;探索;n.痕迹;踪迹;(trace的复数和第三人单数)
But that I'm afraid, is a subject for a future talk. 不过这是另一个话题了。
So back to the matter at hand. 现在回到我们讨论的问题上来。
There could be no doubt that these signs were meaningful to their creators, like these 25,000-year-old bas-relief sculptures from La Roque de Venasque in France. 这些符号对它们的创造者来说无疑是有意义的, 比如这个有着25,000年历史的 发现于法国拉洛克德韦纳斯克的浅浮雕。
meaningful:adj.严肃的;重要的;重大的;意味深长的; bas-relief:n.浅浮雕; sculptures:n.[建]雕塑(sculpture的复数); v.雕刻; Roque:n.槌球;(美)短柄槌球(一种在硬地面上玩的游戏);
We might not know what they meant, but the people of the time certainly did. 我们或许不知道其意义,但当时的人们肯定知道。
The repetition of the same signs, for so long, and at so many sites tells us that the artists were making intentional choices. 同样的符号在漫长时间和广阔地域里重复出现, 这说明艺术家们曾进行了有意的筛选。
repetition:n.重复;重做;重说;重做的事;重说的话; intentional:adj.故意的;蓄意的;策划的;
If we're talking about geometric shapes,with specific , culturally recognized , agreed-upon meanings, than we could very well be looking at one of the oldest systems of graphic communication in the world. 说到有特定意义的、被多种文化所认同的几何图形, 我们就要好好研究一下世界上最古老的图形交流系统之一。
specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药; culturally:adv.从文化角度,文化意义上;在人文学方面; recognized:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;(recognize的过去分词和过去式) agreed-upon:互相认可的;议定;预定付款的时间;
I'm not talking about writing yet. 我说的并不是文字系统。
There's just not enough characters at this point to have represented all of the words in the spoken language, something which is a requirement for a full writing system. 在那个时候,还没有足够的字符 去表达口语中的所有词汇, 也就无法建立一个完备的文字系统。
represented:v.代表; (represent的过去式和过去分词)
Nor do we see the signs repeating regularly enough to suggest that they were some sort of alphabet. 我们也不能将这些符号等同于字母, 因为它们的出现还不足够频繁。
But what we do have are some intriguing one-offs , like this panel from La Pasiega in Spain, known as "The Inscription ," 但是我们看到了一些非常有趣的“独一无二”, 比如发现于西班牙拉帕西亚加的这块被称为“碑文”的岩壁。
intriguing:adj.有趣的;迷人的;v.引起…的兴趣;策划阴谋;私通;(intrigue的现在分词) one-offs:n.一次性事物;adj.一次性的; Inscription:n.题词;铭文;刻印;
with its symmetrical markings on the left, possible stylized representations of hands in the middle, and what looks a bit like a bracket on the right. 它的左侧是对称图形, 中间的符号很可能代表双手, 右边的图形则很像半边括号。
symmetrical:adj.匀称的,对称的; markings:n.标记;记分;成交价格记录(marking的复数); stylized:adj.程式化的; v.风格化; representations:代表;表现(representation的复数); bracket:n.支架;括号;墙上凸出的托架;v.括在一起;把…归入同一类;排除;
The oldest systems of graphic communication in the world -- 世界上最古老的图形交流系统,
Sumerian cuneiform , Egyptian hieroglyphs , the earliest Chinese script, all emerged between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, with each coming into existence from an earlier protosystem 苏美尔楔形文字、埃及象形文字、最早的中国文字, 都出现于4000到5000年前, 而且每种文字的原型都是
cuneiform:adj.楔形的;楔形文字的;楔状骨的;n.楔形文字;楔状骨; hieroglyphs:象形文字(hieroglyph的名词复数); emerged:v.(从隐蔽处或暗处)出现;暴露;露出真相;显现;(emerge的过去分词和过去式)
made up of counting marks and pictographic representations, where the meaning and the image were the same. 更早期的计数符号和象形图画。 所谓象形图画就是以图表意、图意同源,
made up of:由…组成,由…构成; pictographic:adj.象形文字的,绘画文字的;
So a picture of a bird would really have represented that animal. 比如鸟的图画就是代表鸟这种动物。
It's only later that we start to see these pictographs become more stylized, until they almost become unrecognizable and that we also start to see more symbols being invented 后来这些象形图画才变得不那么写实, 直到无法辨识。 同时,人们发明了更多符号,
pictographs:n.[语]象形文字(pictograph的复数形式);象形字; unrecognizable:adj.未被承认的;无法认出的; symbols:n.符号;象征;标志;符号表(symbol的复数);
to represent all those other missing words in language -- things like pronouns , adverbs , adjectives . 用来代表语言中的其他词汇, 比如代词、副词和形容词。
pronouns:n.代词;[语]代名词; adverbs:n.[语]副词(adverb的复数); adjectives:n.[语]形容词(adjective的复数);
So knowing all this, it seems highly unlikely that the geometric signs from Ice Age Europe were truly abstract written characters. 根据已知的情况, 我们认为在冰川时期欧洲诞生的这些几何符号 几乎不可能是抽象的书写字符。
highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; unlikely:adj.不大可能发生的;非心目中的;非想象的;难以相信的;
Instead, what's much more likely is that these early artists were also making counting marks, maybe like this row of lines from Riparo di Za Minic in Sicily, as well as creating stylized representations of things from the world around them. 它们更有可能是 早期艺术家用以计数的符号。 比如这些在西西里扎米尼克岩石遮蔽处发现的线条。 当然,也可能是他们对周遭事物的抽象表达。
as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且;
Could some of the signs be weaponry or housing? 这些符号有可能代表武器或房屋吗？
weaponry:n.兵器,武器(总称);
Or what about celestial objects like star constellations ? 又或者是代表星座之类的天体？
celestial:adj.天上的,天空的;n.神仙,天堂里的居民; constellations:n.[天]星座(constellation的复数);
Or maybe even rivers, mountains, trees -- landscape features, possibly like this black penniform surrounded by strange bell-shaped signs from the site of El Castillo in Spain. 也有可能代表河流、山川、树木等地貌特征。 比如,这些在西班牙埃尔卡斯蒂约发现的 被奇怪的钟形符号环绕的黑色羽毛状图形。
landscape:n.景观;乡村风景画;(文件的)横向打印格式;v.对…做景观美化;美化…的环境; bell-shaped:adj.钟形的;钟型;
The term penniform means "feather-shaped" in Latin , but could this actually be a depiction of a plant or a tree? “penniform”在拉丁语里就是“羽毛状”的意思。 但它是不是也有可能代表草木或树木？
Latin:adj.拉丁语的;用拉丁语写成的;n.拉丁语; depiction:n.描写,叙述;
Some researchers have begun to ask these questions about certain signs at specific sites, but I believe the time has come to revisit this category as a whole . 一些学者已经着手研究 特定遗迹的某些特定符号, 但我认为现在应该从整体上审视这些符号的分类。
revisit:vt.重游;再访;重临;n.再访问; category:n.种类,分类;[数]范畴; as a whole:总的来说;
The irony in all of this, of course, is that having just carefully classified all of the signs into a single category, 当然,讽刺的是, 我们把所有符号都仔细地分入到了单一类别之中。
irony:n.讽刺;反语;具有讽刺意味的事;adj.铁的;似铁的; classified:adj.机密的; v.将…分类; (classify的过去分词和过去式)
I have a feeling that my next step will involve breaking it back apart as different types of imagery are identified and separated off. 我想我下一步要做的就是 按照不同种类的意象将其重新划分。
involve:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加; imagery:n.像;意象;比喻;形象化; identified:v.确认;认出;找到;发现;说明身份;(identify的过去式和过去分词)
Now don't get me wrong, the later creation of fully developed writing was an impressive feat in its own right. 请不要误解我的意思, 此后完备的文字系统的出现, 其本身就是一大创举。
creation:n.创造,创作;创作物,产物; impressive:adj.感人的;令人钦佩的;给人以深刻印象的; feat:n.功绩,壮举;技艺表演;adj.合适的;灵巧的;
But it's important to remember that those early writing systems didn't come out of a vacuum . 但是要知道, 那些早期文字体系并非凭空出现。
vacuum:n.真空; adj.真空的; v.用真空吸尘器清扫;
And that even 5,000 years ago, people were already building on something much older, with its origins stretching back tens of thousands of years -- to the geometric signs of Ice Age Europe and far beyond, to that point, deep in our collective history, 早在5000年前, 人们就已经受荫于前人的创造了。 这些创造可追溯到千百万年前, 追溯到冰川时期欧洲的几何符号,乃至更早; 在那个人类历史中遥远的瞬间,
origins:n.起源; (origin的复数) stretching:v.拉长;撑大;有弹性;拉紧;拉直;(stretch的现在分词) collective:adj.集体的;共同的;集合的;集体主义的;n.集团;集合体;集合名词;
when someone first came up with the idea of making a graphic mark, and forever changed the nature of how we communicate. 某个人第一次想到要用图画来做标记, 他自此永远地改变了人类交流方式的本质。
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）