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RajeshRao_2011-_破解印度河文字的罗塞塔石碑_
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| I'd like to begin with a thought experiment. |
首先,我们来做个思考的实验 |
| Imagine that it's 4,000 years into the future. |
想像距今4000年后 |
| Civilization as we know it has ceased to exist -- no books, no electronic devices , no Facebook or Twitter. |
我们所了解的文明 不复存在 没有书籍 没有电子设备 没有脸书没有推特 |
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Civilization:n.文明;文明社会;文明世界;(特定时期和地区的)社会文明; ceased:v.停止(cease的过去式及过去分词形式);中止;中断; electronic:adj.电子的;电子器件的;电子设备的; devices:n.[机][计]设备;[机]装置;[电子]器件(device的复数);
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| All knowledge of the English language and the English alphabet has been lost. |
英语和英语字母 也都消失殆尽 |
| Now imagine archeologists digging through the rubble of one of our cities. |
现在再来想想考古学家们 在我们城市残砖碎瓦中挖掘 |
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archeologists:n.考古学家(archeologist的复数形式); rubble:n.碎石,碎砖;粗石堆;
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| What might they find? |
他们会发现什么呢？ |
| Well perhaps some rectangular pieces of plastic with strange symbols on them. |
可能会发现长方形的塑胶 上面印着奇怪的符号 |
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rectangular:adj.矩形的;成直角的; symbols:n.符号;象征;标志;符号表(symbol的复数);
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| Perhaps some circular pieces of metal. |
或者发现一些圆形的金属碎片 |
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circular:adj.圆形的; n.(同时送达很多人的)印刷信函(或通知、广告);
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| Maybe some cylindrical containers with some symbols on them. |
也可能是些圆柱型的容器 上头有些符号 |
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cylindrical:adj.圆柱形的;圆柱体的;
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| And perhaps one archeologist becomes an instant celebrity when she discovers -- buried in the hills somewhere in North America -- massive versions of these same symbols. |
还可能有某个考古学家在 北美的某个地方 发现了大量相似的符号后 一夜成名 |
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instant:n.瞬间; adj.立即的; conj.同"assoonas"; celebrity:n.名人;名声; North America:n.北美洲; massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的;
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| Now let's ask ourselves, what could such artifacts say about us to people 4,000 years into the future? |
让我们来问问我们自己 我们的这些残存给4000年后 的人们展示了一个怎样的我们 |
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artifacts:n.史前古器物;人工产品;
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| This is no hypothetical question. |
这不是假设 |
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hypothetical:adj.假设的;爱猜想的;
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| In fact, this is exactly the kind of question we're faced with when we try to understand the Indus Valley civilization, which existed 4,000 years ago. |
事实上,这正是我们面对 4000年前存在的印度河流域文明时 面对的问题 |
| The Indus civilization was roughly contemporaneous with the much better known Egyptian and the Mesopotamian civilizations , but it was actually much larger than either of these two civilizations. |
古印度河流域文明和较为人所熟知的 埃及以及美所不达米亚文化大概处于同时期 但其实它的范围超过这两个文明中的任何一个 |
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roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; contemporaneous:adj.同时期的;同时代的,同时发生的; civilizations:n.文明(civilization的复数形式);
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| It occupied the area of approximately one million square kilometers, covering what is now Pakistan, |
它涵盖了 大约一百万平方公里 包括今天的巴基斯坦 |
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occupied:adj.被占领的; v.占用; (occupy的过去分词和过去式) approximately:adv.大约,近似地;近于;
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| Northwestern India and parts of Afghanistan and Iran. |
印度的西北部 部分阿富汗和伊朗 |
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Northwestern:adj.来自西北的;西北方的;在西北部的; Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲);
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| Given that it was such a vast civilization, you might expect to find really powerful rulers, kings, and huge monuments glorifying these powerful kings. |
如此广大的文明 你可能会期待有强大的统治者,国王 以及用来纪念王者的巨大纪念碑 |
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monuments:n.遗迹;纪念物;不朽的功业;有永久价值的作品(monument的复数形式); glorifying:vt.赞美;美化;崇拜(神);使更壮丽;
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| In fact, what archeologists have found is none of that. |
事实上 考古学者没有发现那些 |
| They've found small objects such as these. |
他们发现了这样一些小物件 |
| Here's an example of one of these objects. |
这就是其中的一样 |
| Well obviously this is a replica . |
当然这只是个复制品 |
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replica:n.复制品,复制物;
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| But who is this person? |
但这是谁呢？ |
| A king? A god? |
是一个国王？一个神？ |
| A priest ? |
还是某个祭祀？ |
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priest:n.司祭,神父;教士,祭司,僧侣;v.使成为教士;任命…为祭司;
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| Or perhaps an ordinary person like you or me? |
或者是一个普通人 如你和我？ |
| We don't know. |
我们不知道 |
| But the Indus people also left behind artifacts with writing on them. |
但是古印度流域的人们也留下了背面写有字符的手工制品 |
| Well no, not pieces of plastic, but stone seals, copper tablets , pottery and, surprisingly , one large sign board, which was found buried near the gate of a city. |
不是在塑料片上 而是在石头图章,铜片上 陶器,还有令人惊讶的 在很大的符号石板上 掩埋在城门附近的 |
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copper:n.铜;铜币;警察;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的;v.用铜板[铜皮]盖[包]; tablets:n.药片;片剂;(固定于墙上作纪念的)牌,碑,匾;(tablet的第三人称单数和复数) pottery:n.陶器;陶器厂;陶器制造术; surprisingly:adv.令人惊讶地;出乎意料地
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| Now we don't know if it says Hollywood, or even Bollywood for that matter. |
所以我们不知道上面是否写了好莱坞 甚至是宝莱坞 |
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Bollywood:n.宝莱坞(位于印度孟买的电影制作中心);
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| In fact, we don't even know what any of these objects say, and that's because the Indus script is undeciphered. |
事实上,我们不知道 上面写的任何东西 因为我们还不能破译这些印度河文字 |
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script:n.剧本;电影剧本;笔迹;广播(或讲话等)稿;v.为电影(或戏剧等)写剧本;
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| We don't know what any of these symbols mean. |
我们不知道这些符号是什么意思 |
| The symbols are most commonly found on seals. |
这些符号大多数出现在印章上 |
| So you see up there one such object. |
你们可以看到这个物品 |
| It's the square object with the unicorn-like animal on it. |
这个方形的物品上有个像是独角兽的动物 |
| Now that's a magnificent piece of art. |
这是一件很精致的艺术品 |
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magnificent:adj.高尚的;壮丽的;华丽的;宏伟的;
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| So how big do you think that is? |
你觉得这块有多大呢？ |
| Perhaps that big? |
这么大？ |
| Or maybe that big? |
也许这么大？ |
| Well let me show you. |
让我来给你看看 |
| Here's a replica of one such seal. |
这是这枚印章的复制品 |
| It's only about one inch by one inch in size -- pretty tiny. |
只有一平方英吋大 很小 |
| So what were these used for? |
那这是干什么用的呢？ |
| We know that these were used for stamping clay tags that were attached to bundles of goods that were sent from one place to the other. |
我们知道这是用来盖在黏土标签上的 一捆捆的货物被附上标签,从一地被运往另一地 |
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clay:n.黏土;陶土; tags:n.标签; v.附加; attached:adj.依恋;v.重视;把…固定;(attach的过去分词和过去式) bundles:[解剖]束;
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| So you know those packing slips you get on your FedEx boxes? |
你知道联邦快递盒子里的那种装箱单吧？ |
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slips:滑倒;滑跤(slip的第三人称单数) FedEx:n.联邦快递(等于theFederalExpress);
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| These were used to make those kinds of packing slips. |
这些就是用来做那些送货单的 |
| You might wonder what these objects contain in terms of their text. |
你也许会想知道这些东西 包涵了什么文字含义 |
| Perhaps they're the name of the sender or some information about the goods that are being sent from one place to the other -- we don't know. |
也许是寄件人的名字 或者是某些货物的信息 从一地被送往别处-我们不知道 |
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sender:n.[邮]寄件人;发送人;发报机;
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| We need to decipher the script to answer that question. |
我们需要破解这段文字才能回答那个问题 |
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decipher:n.密电译文;v.解释;
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| Deciphering the script is not just an intellectual puzzle; it's actually become a question that's become deeply intertwined with the politics and the cultural history of South Asia. |
破解这段文字 不只是破解一个智力难题 事实上这个问题 深深地和南亚的政治 文化历史交织在一起 |
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Deciphering:n.[通信]解密;v.破译(decipher的现在分词);解释;辨认; intellectual:n.知识分子;脑力劳动者;adj.智力的;脑力的;理智的;有才智的; intertwined:adj.缠绕的;错综复杂的;v.使缠结,缠绕(intertwine的过去式); politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数) cultural:adj.与文化有关的;文化的;与艺术、文学、音乐等有关的;
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| In fact, the script has become a battleground of sorts between three different groups of people. |
而对这些文字的争论已经形成了一个战场 三群持不同见解团体各持己见 |
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battleground:n.战场;
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| First, there's a group of people who are very passionate in their belief that the Indus script does not represent a language at all. |
第一群人 热切地坚信 这些印度河流域的字符 完全不代表语言 |
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passionate:adj.热情的;热烈的,激昂的;易怒的; represent:v.代表;表现;描绘;回忆;再赠送;
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| These people believe that the symbols are very similar to the kind of symbols you find on traffic signs or the emblems you find on shields . |
这些人认为这些符号 和交通标示的符号相似 也像盾上面的一些象征符号 |
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emblems:n.徽章(emblem的复数); v.象征(emblem的单三形式); shields:n.盾牌; v.屏蔽; (shield的第三人称单数)
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| There's a second group of people who believe that the Indus script represents an Indo-European language. |
第二群人 相信印度河文字代表着某个印欧语言 |
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represents:v.代表;维护…的利益;相当于;(represent的第三人称单数)
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| If you look at a map of India today, you'll see that most of the languages spoken in North India belong to the Indo-European language family. |
如果你看看印度今日的版图 很多在印度北部使用的语言 都是属于印欧语系 |
| So some people believe that the Indus script represents an ancient Indo-European language such as Sanskrit . |
所以一些人相信古印度河文字 是某种古老的印欧语,就像梵语一样 |
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Sanskrit:adj.梵文的;n.梵文;
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| There's a last group of people who believe that the Indus people were the ancestors of people living in South India today. |
最后一群人 相信古印度人 是现居南印度的人的祖先 |
| These people believe that the Indus script represents an ancient form of the Dravidian language family, which is the language family spoken in much of South India today. |
这些人觉得古印度文字 是达罗毗荼语系下的 一种古老的文字形式 现今南印度多数人皆使用达罗毗荼语 |
| And the proponents of this theory point to that small pocket of Dravidian-speaking people in the North, actually near Afghanistan, and they say that perhaps, sometime in the past, |
支持这一理论的人 指出印度北部有一小部份使用达罗毗荼语的人 事实上靠近阿富汗 他们说或许,过去曾经有一段时间 |
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proponents:n.支持者;建议者(proponent的复数);
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| Dravidian languages were spoken all over India and that this suggests that the Indus civilization is perhaps also Dravidian. |
整个印度都使用达罗毗荼语 这也意味着 印度河文明或许就是达罗毗荼文明 |
| Which of these hypotheses can be true? |
这些假设哪个是真的呢？ |
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hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数);
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| We don't know, but perhaps if you deciphered the script, you would be able to answer this question. |
我们不知道, 但如果你能解开这些文字符号 你就能回答这个问题 |
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deciphered:n.密电译文;vt.解释;译解;
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| But deciphering the script is a very challenging task. |
但是破解文字密码是一项很具有挑战性的任务 |
| First, there's no Rosetta Stone . |
首先, 我们没有罗塞塔石碑 |
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Rosetta Stone:n.有助于解释神秘事物(或未知领域)的事物;有启示作用的发现;
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| I don't mean the software; |
我不是指那软件 |
| I mean an ancient artifact that contains in the same text both a known text and an unknown text. |
我是指那件文物 上面用我们知道和不知道的文字 书写了同样的内容。 |
| We don't have such an artifact for the Indus script. |
印度河文化中并没有发现同样的古物 |
| And furthermore , we don't even know what language they spoke. |
而且,我们不知道他们说的是什么语言 |
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furthermore:adv.此外;而且;
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| And to make matters even worse, most of the text that we have are extremely short. |
更糟的是 大部份的文字都相当短 |
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extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地;
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| So as I showed you, they're usually found on these seals that are very, very tiny. |
就像我刚才给大家看的,最常发现的是在印章类的东西上 他们都非常非常地小 |
| And so given these formidable obstacles , one might wonder and worry whether one will ever be able to decipher the Indus script. |
给我们解读带来了难以克服的障碍 有些人或许会担心 是否真的有谁可以解开古印度河文字之谜呢？ |
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formidable:adj.强大的;可怕的;令人敬畏的;艰难的; obstacles:n.障碍;障碍物;阻碍;(obstacle的复数形式)
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| In the rest of my talk, |
在我接下来的演讲中 |
| I'd like to tell you about how I learned to stop worrying and love the challenge posed by the Indus script. |
我要来告诉各位我怎么学会停止担心 并喜欢上解读古印度河文字所带来的挑战 |
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posed:v.造成;引起;产生;提问;质询;摆好姿势;(pose的过去分词和过去式)
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| I've always been fascinated by the Indus script ever since I read about it in a middle school textbook. |
我对古印度河文字的痴迷 从在中学课本中读到便开始 |
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middle school:n.初中;(英国为9到13岁儿童所设的)中间学校;
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| And why was I fascinated? |
我为什么会着迷呢？ |
| Well it's the last major undeciphered script in the ancient world. |
因为这是历史上目前唯一未被破解的重要的古文字 |
| My career path led me to become a computational neuroscientist , so in my day job, |
我的职业生涯让我成为一个计算机神经科学家 我白天的工作 |
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career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历; computational:adj.计算的; neuroscientist:n.神经系统科学家;
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| I create computer models of the brain to try to understand how the brain makes predictions , how the brain makes decisions, how the brain learns and so on. |
是在电脑上模拟大脑 试图了借大脑是怎样预知事物的 大脑是怎样做决定的, 大脑是怎样学习的等等 |
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predictions:n.预测,预言(prediction复数形式);
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| But in 2007, my path crossed again with the Indus script. |
但在2007年,我与古印度河文字重逢 |
| That's when I was in India, and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with some Indian scientists who were using computer models to try to analyze the script. |
当时在印度 我有幸得到机会 跟一些印度科学家会面 他们在用计算机模型分析这些文字 |
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analyze:v.对…进行分析,分解(等于analyse);
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| And so it was then that I realized there was an opportunity for me to collaborate with these scientists, and so I jumped at that opportunity. |
那个时候我认识到 这是我跟这些科学家合作的一个机会 所以我立刻就抓住了这个机会 |
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collaborate:vi.合作;勾结,通敌;
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| And I'd like to describe some of the results that we have found. |
我想在这里介绍我们发现的一些结果 |
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describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
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| Or better yet, let's all collectively decipher. |
或者更好的是,让我们一起来破解吧 |
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collectively:adv.共同地,全体地;
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| Are you ready? |
你们准备好了吗？ |
| The first thing that you need to do when you have an undeciphered script is try to figure out the direction of writing. |
当你想要破解文字符号时,首先你要 分辨书写的方向 |
| Here are two texts that contain some symbols on them. |
这里有两段相同符号的文字 |
| Can you tell me if the direction of writing is right to left or left to right? |
你能告诉我 书写的方向是从右到左还是从左到右？ |
| I'll give you a couple of seconds. |
我给大家几秒钟想一想 |
| Okay. Right to left, how many? Okay. |
好, 从右到左,有多少人同意？好 |
| Okay. Left to right? |
从左到右呢？ |
| Oh, it's almost 50/50. Okay. |
噢,大约是一半一半 |
| The answer is: if you look at the left-hand side of the two texts, you'll notice that there's a cramping of signs, and it seems like 4,000 years ago, when the scribe was writing from right to left, they ran out of space. |
答案是: 如果你看这两段文字的左边 你会注意到左边的符号挤在一起 好像是4000年前 当书写者从右写到左时 因为最后没地方了写了 |
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left-hand:adj.左手的;左侧的; cramping:n.图象压缩,夹压;
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| And so they had to cram the sign. |
只能缩小间距 |
| One of the signs is also below the text on the top. |
其中有一个符号也出现在下面的文字上面 |
| This suggests the direction of writing was probably from right to left, and so that's one of the first things we know, that directionality is a very key aspect of linguistic scripts . |
意味着书写的方向 是从右到左的 所以我们知道的第一件事是 书写方向是语言符号中一个很关键的方面 |
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directionality:n.定向性,方向性;方向感知; aspect:n.方面;层面;外观;方位; linguistic:adj.语言的;语言学的; scripts:n.原稿,手稿(script的复数形式);
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| And the Indus script now has this particular property. |
因此古印度河文字就有了这个 特别的特征 |
| What other properties of language does the script show? |
这文字符号中还有什么其他语言特征？ |
| Languages contain patterns. |
语言会有一定模式 |
| If I give you the letter Q and ask you to predict the next letter, what do you think that would be? |
如果我给你一个字母Q 然后请你猜下一个字母,你们觉得会是什么呢？ |
| Most of you said U, which is right. |
大部份人都会说U,那是对的 |
| Now if I asked you to predict one more letter, what do you think that would be? |
现在我请你们再猜下个字母 你们觉得会是什么呢？ |
| Now there's several thoughts. There's E. It could be I. It could be A, but certainly not B, C or D, right? |
现在这边有很多种答案,有人说E,可能是I, 也可能是一个A, 但是肯定不是B,C,或者D,对吗？ |
| The Indus script also exhibits similar kinds of patterns. |
印度河文字也有类似的模式 |
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exhibits:n.展览(exhibit的复数);陈列品;v.展览;陈列(exhibit的第三人称单数);
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| There's a lot of text that start with this diamond-shaped symbol. |
有很多段文字的开头都有菱形符号 |
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diamond-shaped:adj.菱形的;钻石形的;
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| And this in turn tends to be followed by this quotation marks-like symbol. |
接着常常是跟着一个 有点象引号那样的符号 |
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quotation:n.报价;引用;引文;引语;
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| And this is very similar to a Q and U example. |
这就跟Q跟U的例子很相似 |
| This symbol can in turn be followed by these fish-like symbols and some other signs, but never by these other signs at the bottom. |
这符号之后 会有着类似鱼等其他的符号 但从来不会是最底下出现的这些符号 |
| And furthermore, there's some signs that really prefer the end of texts, such as this jar-shaped sign, and this sign, in fact, happens to be the most frequently occurring sign in the script. |
进一步来说,有些符号 常常出现在文章结尾 像是这壶型的记号 事实上,这记号刚好是 在这些文句中最常出现的记号 |
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prefer:v.更喜欢;宁愿;提出;提升; frequently:adv.频繁地,经常地;时常,屡次; occurring:n.事件;事故;事变;
|
| Given such patterns, here was our idea. |
看出这些惯用模式后,我们有个想法 |
| The idea was to use a computer to learn these patterns, and so we gave the computer the existing texts. |
就是用电脑 去了解这些图案 我们将这些现存的文字符号输入电脑 |
| And the computer learned a statistical model of which symbols tend to occur together and which symbols tend to follow each other. |
然后电脑以某种统计模型 算出哪些符号会一起出现 而哪些符号常以先后顺序出现 |
|
statistical:adj.统计的;统计学的;
|
| Given the computer model, we can test the model by essentially quizzing it. |
使用此电脑模式 我们可以用考试的方法来测试这个模式 |
|
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; quizzing:n.挖苦(考问);
|
| So we could deliberately erase some symbols, and we can ask it to predict the missing symbols. |
我们可以故意去掉某些符号 我们让计算机来预测缺少的字符 |
|
deliberately:adv.故意地;谨慎地;慎重地; erase:vt.抹去;擦除;vi.被擦去,被抹掉;
|
| Here are some examples. |
这是一些例子 |
| You may regard this as perhaps the most ancient game of Wheel of Fortune . |
你们可以把这个看作 最古老的 幸运大转盘游戏（一个填字游戏） |
|
Wheel:车轮,转动 Fortune:n.财富;命运;运气;v.给予财富,偶然发生
|
| What we found was that the computer was successful in 75 percent of the cases in predicting the correct symbol. |
我们发现 计算机预测正确字符的 成功率是75% |
|
predicting:v.预言;预告;预报;(predict的现在分词)
|
| In the rest of the cases, typically the second best guess or third best guess was the right answer. |
剩下的例子中 正确答案不是在第二选择就是在第三选择中 |
|
typically:adv.代表性地;作为特色地; second best:adj.第二好的;
|
| There's also practical use for this particular procedure . |
这种预测方法 会派到实际的用处 |
|
practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课; procedure:n.步骤;手术;(商业、法律或政治上的)程序;
|
| There's a lot of these texts that are damaged. |
很多文字符号都已经损坏 |
| Here's an example of one such text. |
这里有个例子 |
| And we can use the computer model now to try to complete this text and make a best guess prediction. |
我们可以使用电脑模式来修复这段文字内容 并做出最好的猜测 |
| Here's an example of a symbol that was predicted . |
这就是一个预测的例子 |
|
predicted:v.预言;预告;预报;(predict的过去分词和过去式)
|
| And this could be really useful as we try to decipher the script by generating more data that we can analyze. |
这非常有用, 在我们破解字符的过程中 让我们得到了更多可供分析的数据 |
|
generating:v.产生;引起;(generate的现在分词)
|
| Now here's one other thing you can do with the computer model. |
还有另一件事也是可以利用电脑模式来做的 |
| So imagine a monkey sitting at a keyboard. |
想象有个猴子 坐在键盘上 |
| I think you might get a random jumble of letters that looks like this. |
我猜会得到一堆像这样随机跑出的字母 |
|
random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地; jumble:n.混乱;杂乱的一堆东西;vi.混杂;搀杂;vt.使混乱;搞乱;
|
| Such a random jumble of letters is said to have a very high entropy . |
这些随机混乱的字母 说明了很高的熵 |
|
entropy:n.[热]熵(热力学函数);
|
| This is a physics and information theory term. |
这是物理学和信息理论的说法 |
|
information theory:n.信息论;
|
| But just imagine it's a really random jumble of letters. |
但想像这是相当随机混乱的字母排列 |
| How many of you have ever spilled coffee on a keyboard? |
你们中多少人曾经将咖啡溅在键盘上？ |
|
spilled:v.(使)洒出,泼出:涌出:蜂拥而出;(spill的过去分词和过去式)
|
| You might have encountered the stuck-key problem -- so basically the same symbol being repeated over and over again . |
你也许会碰到键盘卡住的问题 所以同一个字符会一再重复 |
|
encountered:v.遭遇,遇到;偶然碰到;意外地遇见;(encounter的过去分词和过去式) basically:adv.主要地,基本上; over and over again:adv.一再地;反复不断地;
|
| This kind of a sequence is said to have a very low entropy because there's no variation at all. |
这类的数列可以说有着非常低的熵 因为它们一点都没变化 |
|
sequence:n.顺序; v.按顺序排列; variation:n.变异;变体;变奏;变种;
|
| Language, on the other hand , has an intermediate level of entropy; it's neither too rigid , nor is it too random. |
语言,从别个角度说,有着中间程度的熵 它不是很严格 也不是很随机 |
|
on the other hand:另一方面; intermediate:adj.中间的; v.起调解作用; n.中级学生; rigid:adj.严格的;僵硬的,死板的;坚硬的;精确的;
|
| What about the Indus script? |
那印度河字符呢？ |
| Here's a graph that plots the entropies of a whole bunch of sequences . |
这个图表显示了一大堆顺序的熵值 |
|
plots:n.情节; v.划分; entropies:n.[热]熵(热力学函数); bunch:n.群;串;突出物;vi.隆起;打褶;形成一串;vt.使成一串;使打褶; sequences:n.[数][计]序列,顺序;继起的事(sequence的复数形式);
|
| At the very top you find the uniformly random sequence, which is a random jumble of letters -- and interestingly , we also find the DNA sequence from the human genome and instrumental music. |
你会在上面发现那些随机顺序 那是一些杂乱随机放置的字母 有趣的是, 我们同时发现 人类基因的DNA排序和乐器演奏的音乐 |
|
uniformly:adv.一致地; interestingly:adv.有趣地; genome:n.基因组;染色体组; instrumental:n.工具格;器乐曲;工具词;adj.起重要作用;用乐器演奏的;为乐器谱写的;
|
| And both of these are very, very flexible , which is why you find them in the very high range. |
它们都非常非常灵活 所以他们处在高程度的范围里 |
|
flexible:adj.灵活的;柔韧的;易弯曲的;
|
| At the lower end of the scale , you find a rigid sequence, a sequence of all A's, and you also find a computer program, in this case in the language Fortran , which obeys really strict rules. |
在低端范围里 你可以发现很严格的顺序, 比如全是字母A的排列 你还会发现一个计算机程序 是用FORTRAN语言写的 它遵循严格的规则 |
|
scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢; Fortran:n.公式变换;公式译码(资料处理);公式翻译程序; obeys:v.服从;遵守;顺从;(obey的第三人称单数)
|
| Linguistic scripts occupy the middle range. |
语言文字 占中间段 |
|
occupy:v.占据,占领;居住;使忙碌;
|
| Now what about the Indus script? |
那印度河文字呢？ |
| We found that the Indus script actually falls within the range of the linguistic scripts. |
我们发现印度河流域的文字 的数值正好落在语言文字段里 |
| When this result was first published, it was highly controversial . |
这个结果刚公布的时候 引起了很大的争议 |
|
highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; controversial:adj.有争议的;有争论的;
|
| There were people who raised a hue and cry, and these people were the ones who believed that the Indus script does not represent language. |
有人提出强烈反对 这些批评的人认为 古印度河文字根本不是文字 |
|
hue:n.色调;色相;颜色;信仰;
|
| I even started to get some hate mail. |
我甚至收到一些恶意信函 |
| My students said that I should really seriously consider getting some protection. |
我的学生说 我应该要严肃地考虑怎样保护自身安危 |
| Who'd have thought that deciphering could be a dangerous profession ? |
谁会想到 解读古文字会变成一种危险职业 |
|
profession:n.行业,职业;业内人士;同行;
|
| What does this result really show? |
这结果说明了什么呢？ |
| It shows that the Indus script shares an important property of language. |
说明了古印度河文字 有着重要的语言特征 |
| So, as the old saying goes , if it looks like a linguistic script and it acts like a linguistic script, then perhaps we may have a linguistic script on our hands. |
所以,就像老话说的那样 如果这看起来像是语言性文字 且它也有语言性文字的功用 恐怕我们手里捧着的大概就是一种语言文字 |
|
as the old saying goes:古语云;如俗语说;
|
| What other evidence is there that the script could actually encode language? |
有什么其他证据显示 这类文字事实上包涵语言 |
|
evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; encode:vt.(将文字材料)译成密码;编码,编制成计算机语言;
|
| Well linguistic scripts can actually encode multiple languages. |
语言字符其实可以被包括在多种语言中 |
|
multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数;
|
| So for example, here's the same sentence written in English and the same sentence written in Dutch using the same letters of the alphabet. |
比如,这是同样一句话写成英语 这是这句话写成荷兰语 用到同样的字母 |
|
Dutch:adj.荷兰的; n.荷兰人; v.费用平摊地;
|
| If you don't know Dutch and you only know English and I give you some words in Dutch, you'll tell me that these words contain some very unusual patterns. |
如果你不懂荷兰语只知道英语 我给你看一些荷兰语单词 你会说这些词包涵了 一些独特的模式 |
| Some things are not right, and you'll say these words are probably not English words. |
有些地方不对 你也会说这些不是英文单词 |
| The same thing happens in the case of the Indus script. |
这同样也发生在印度河文字中 |
| The computer found several texts -- two of them are shown here -- that have very unusual patterns. |
计算机也发现一些文字 这里有两三个 他们具有很独特的模式 |
| So for example the first text: there's a doubling of this jar-shaped sign. |
比如,第一个例子 这个壶形字符被重复 |
| This sign is the most frequently-occurring sign in the Indus script, and it's only in this text that it occurs as a doubling pair. |
这个符号是印度河文字里 最常见的一个记号 而只在这段文字里 它以成对的模式出现 |
|
occurs:v.重现(occur的第三人称单数);
|
| Why is that the case? |
为什么呢？ |
| We went back and looked at where these particular texts were found, and it turns out that they were found very, very far away from the Indus Valley. |
我们回去找这些特殊的文字是在哪里找到的 我们发现它们出现在离 印度河谷十分遥远的地方 |
| They were found in present day Iraq and Iran. |
它们是在现在的伊朗和伊拉克被发现的 |
|
present day:adj.现代的;当今的;现在的;现时的;
|
| And why were they found there? |
它们怎么会出现在那里呢？ |
| What I haven't told you is that the Indus people were very, very enterprising . |
我还没有告诉你们 印度人相当会做生意 |
|
enterprising:adj.有事业心的;有进取心的;有魄力的;有胆量的;
|
| They used to trade with people pretty far away from where they lived, and so in this case, they were traveling by sea all the way to Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. |
他们曾跑到离他们居住很远的地方去做交易 在这个例子中,他们跨越海洋 到了两河流域,也就是今天的伊拉克 |
|
present-day:adj.现代的;当今的;现在的;现时的;
|
| And what seems to have happened here is that the Indus traders , the merchants , were using this script to write a foreign language. |
看起来 印度的生意人,商人 在用这些文字记录外语 |
|
traders:n.交易员;贸易商(trader的复数形式); merchants:n.[贸易]商人(merchant的复数);
|
| It's just like our English and Dutch example. |
就好比英语和荷兰语的例子 |
| And that would explain why we have these strange patterns that are very different from the kinds of patterns you see in the text that are found within the Indus Valley. |
这可以解释为什么我们会发现这些奇怪的规律 它们和在印度河流域发现的文字的规律 非常不同 |
| This suggests that the same script, the Indus script, could be used to write different languages. |
这说明印度河文字,同样的文字 可能被用来记录不同的语言 |
| The results we have so far seem to point to the conclusion that the Indus script probably does represent language. |
根据我们现有的研究结果指向的结论来看 印度河流域的这些字符代表语言 |
|
conclusion:n.结论;结局;推论;
|
| If it does represent language, then how do we read the symbols? |
而如果它的确代表语言 那么我们怎样来解读这些符号 |
| That's our next big challenge. |
这是对我们最大的挑战 |
| So you'll notice that many of the symbols look like pictures of humans, of insects, of fishes, of birds. |
你注意到很多这些符号 看上去像人和昆虫的图画 或者鱼,鸟 |
| Most ancient scripts use the rebus principle , which is, using pictures to represent words. |
很多古代的字符 都使用了画谜原则 也就是用图画代表字词 |
|
rebus:n.画谜;(以画为提示的)字谜; principle:n.原理,原则;主义,道义;本质,本义;根源,源泉;
|
| So as an example, here's a word. |
比如, 这是一个词 |
| Can you write it using pictures? |
你能用图画来书写吗？ |
| I'll give you a couple seconds. |
我给你们几秒钟 |
| Got it? |
画好了吗 |
| Okay. Great. |
好 |
| Here's my solution . |
这是我的答案 |
|
solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
|
| You could use the picture of a bee followed by a picture of a leaf -- and that's "belief," right. |
你可以用一片树叶(leaf)跟了一只蜜蜂(bee) 那就是 相信“(发音跟bee加leaf接近）对吗？ |
| There could be other solutions. |
也可能有其他的答案 |
| In the case of the Indus script, the problem is the reverse . |
对印度河字符来说 我们的面临着反向的挑战 |
|
reverse:n.反面; v.颠倒; adj.相反的;
|
| You have to figure out the sounds of each of these pictures such that the entire sequence makes sense. |
你得找到每幅图的发声 整个排列秩序意义通顺 |
| So this is just like a crossword puzzle , except that this is the mother of all crossword puzzles because the stakes are so high if you solve it. |
所以这就跟填字游戏一样 只不过这是所有填字游戏的鼻祖 因为破解它的价值太可观了 |
|
crossword puzzle:纵横字谜游戏; puzzles:智力游戏;谜题(puzzle的第三人称单数和复数) stakes:n.桩; v.以…打赌,拿…冒险;
|
| My colleagues , Iravatham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola, have been making some headway on this particular problem. |
我的同事, Iravatham Mahadevan 和 Asko Parpola 已经在这个特殊的问题上取得了一定的进展 |
|
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); headway:n.前进;进步;航行速度;间隔时间;
|
| And I'd like to give you a quick example of Parpola's work. |
我给你你们看一个Parpola研究的例子 |
| Here's a really short text. |
这是一段很短的文字 |
| It contains seven vertical strokes followed by this fish-like sign. |
它里面有7个竖笔,跟了一个象鱼的形状 |
|
vertical:n.垂直线;垂直位置;adj.竖的;垂直的;直立的;纵向的; strokes:n.中风; v.轻抚; (stroke的第三人称单数和复数)
|
| And I want to mention that these seals were used for stamping clay tags that were attached to bundles of goods, so it's quite likely that these tags, at least some of them, contain names of merchants. |
我得提一下这些章用于 印在黏土标签上 然后附在一捆捆的货物上 所以这些标签,至少其中的一些 有商品的名字 |
| And it turns out that in India there's a long tradition of names being based on horoscopes and star constellations present at the time of birth. |
而在印度 这是一个久远的传统 名字是根据星座 和生日的时候展示的星宿来定的 |
|
horoscopes:n.星座(horoscope的复数);占星术; constellations:n.[天]星座(constellation的复数);
|
| In Dravidian languages, the word for fish is "meen" |
在达罗毗荼语系中 鱼的发音是“meen” |
| which happens to sound just like the word for star. |
而这个字的发音跟星星刚好相同 |
| And so seven stars would stand for "elu meen," |
所以七颗星星 代表“elu meen” |
| which is the Dravidian word for the Big Dipper star constellation. |
就是达罗毗荼语的 北斗七星 |
|
Big Dipper:n.过山车;北斗七星;大熊星座;
|
| Similarly , there's another sequence of six stars, and that translates to "aru meen," |
同样地,这里有六颗星 可以听作“aru meen” |
|
Similarly:adv.同样地;类似于;
|
| which is the old Dravidian name for the star constellation Pleiades . |
是一个达罗毗荼语的旧名词 代表昴宿星团 |
|
Pleiades:n.昴宿星;昴宿星团;
|
| And finally , there's other combinations , such as this fish sign with something that looks like a roof on top of it. |
最后, 还有其他的组合 比如鱼的符号上有个顶 |
|
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; combinations:n.[数]组合;制品(combination的复数);合谱;
|
| And that could be translated into "mey meen," |
可以说成“MEY meen” |
| which is the old Dravidian name for the planet Saturn . |
在旧达罗毗荼语中指土星 |
|
Saturn:n.[天]土星;农业之神(罗马神话中的一个形象);
|
| So that was pretty exciting. |
让人感到振奋的是 |
| It looks like we're getting somewhere. |
我们似乎有所进展 |
| But does this prove that these seals contain Dravidian names based on planets and star constellations? |
但这样是否就能证明 这些印章上达罗毗荼语的名字 是基于星球和星座呢？ |
| Well not yet. |
还不能 |
| So we have no way of validating these particular readings, but if more and more of these readings start making sense, and if longer and longer sequences appear to be correct, then we know that we are on the right track . |
我们没有办法验证 这些解读方式是正确的 但是如果越来越多的解读开始有道理 而越来越长的排序 显示出正确性 那我们就知道我们走上了正道 |
|
validating:n.确认;adj.确认的;有效的;v.验证(validate的ing形式);确认; track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪;
|
| Today, we can write a word such as TED in Egyptian hieroglyphics and in cuneiform script, because both of these were deciphered in the 19th century. |
今天 我们可以用埃及象形文字以及楔形文字 写下的TED这样的名字 因为人们在十九世纪 就破解了这两种文字符号 |
|
hieroglyphics:n.[语]象形文字;难以辨认或理解的文字(hieroglyphic的复数形式); cuneiform:adj.楔形的;楔形文字的;楔状骨的;n.楔形文字;楔状骨;
|
| The decipherment of these two scripts enabled these civilizations to speak to us again directly . |
这两种文字的破解 使得这些古文明能与我们再次直接的交流 |
|
decipherment:n.解读;翻译;[通信]解密; enabled:v.使得;授予…权力;(enabled是enable的过去式) directly:adv.直接地;立即;马上;正好地;坦率地;conj.一…就;
|
| The Mayans started speaking to us in the 20th century, but the Indus civilization remains silent. |
玛雅文明 也在20世纪开始与我们对话 而印度河流域的文明至今保持沉默 |
| Why should we care? |
我们为什么在乎呢？ |
| The Indus civilization does not belong to just the South Indians or the North Indians or the Pakistanis; it belongs to all of us. |
印度河流域的文化不仅仅属于 南印度或者是北印度 或者是巴基斯坦 它是属于我们大家的 |
| These are our ancestors -- yours and mine. |
他们是我们的祖先 你们的也是我们的 |
| They were silenced by an unfortunate accident of history. |
因为在历史发展中不幸 偶然地沉寂了 |
| If we decipher the script, we would enable them to speak to us again. |
如果我们破解了这些字符 我们可以让他们再一次和我们交流 |
| What would they tell us? |
他们会告诉我们什么呢？ |
| What would we find out about them? About us? |
我们会在他们身上和我们自己身上发现什么呢？ |
| I can't wait to find out. |
我迫不及待地想要找到答案 |
| Thank you. |
谢谢 |
| (Applause) |
（掌声） |