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第一段
1 .Listen to part of lecture in the history class.
听一段历史课上的演讲
2 .The professor has been discussing Egyptian hieroglyphs.
教授正在讲述诶及的象形文字
第二段
1 .Egyptian hieroglyphs are the ancient Egyptian writings, found in ancient Egypt on walls, monuments, and on the inside and outside of the temples.
及象形文字是在古埃及的墙上，纪念碑上，古庙内外发现的文字。
2 .Hieroglyphic writing ended abruptly about 1600 years ago, and it mystified the most brilliant minds in the study of the Egyptian artifacts and archeology for many many centuries.
象形文字在1600年以前突然停止了使用。象形文字停止了使用这件事情使研究古埃及人工制品和考古学的聪明头脑都被迷惑了。
3 .Finally, the possibility of deciphering hieroglyphs came about with the discovery in 1799 of the Rosetta stone.
最后，破解象形文字的可能性随着1799年Rosetta Stone的发现产生了。
第三段
1 .The Rosetta stone is arguably the most famous archeological artifact ever discovered.
Rosetta Stone,毋庸置疑的是史上发现的最有名的考古学手工艺品。
2 .It contains the same exact text written in three different alphabets: Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic.
它上面包含了用三种不同的语言写的完全一样的内容，这三种语言分别是，希腊语，埃及通俗语和象形文字。
第四段
1 .But we didn't even know at first, that the three texts on the Rosetta stone contain the same information.
但是最开始我们甚至不知道，Rosetta Stone上的三种语言写的内容是一样的。
2 .And two of the three alphabets are ancient Egyptian scripts that stop being used, the hieroglyphic and the demotic.
其中两种语言是已经不用的古埃及文字：通俗语和象形文字。
3 .The demotic script found on the Rosetta stone, um... well, demotic was not as elaborate as the hieroglyphic writing.
在Rosetta Stone上找到的通俗语的书写物… 通俗语不像象形文字那么的详细精美。
4 .It was used for more mundane matters or like administrative documents.
它更多用于日常事务，比如说行政文件。
5 .These ancient Egyptian scripts were replaced by Coptic script, but eventually the Arabic language replaced the Coptic, and this cut off the linguistic link between ancient and modern Egypt.
随后这两种古老的语言都被科普特语给代替了。最后阿拉伯语代替了科普特语，这也中断了古埃及和现代埃及的语言联系。
第五段
1 .Now the Rosetta stone was remarkable, because as I said,on it,was the same text in three different alphabets: Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic.
Rosetta Stone很值得注意的原因是，正如我之前提到的，它上面有三种不同的语言写的同一个内容
2 .The stone was essentially the dictionary that the scholars needed to interpret the meaning of hieroglyphs, and it took a uniquely equipped researcher to finally decipher and understand what was written on the stone.
这个石头本质上是学者要用来去解读象形文字的一本字典。需要一位独特的渊博的研究者最后破解并理解石头上的象形文字是什么意思。
3 .Thomas Yang, an English scholar, was the first to seriously attempt to decipher the symbols on the Rosetta stone.
Thomas Young, 一名英国学者，是第一个真正尝试理解石头上的文字的意思的人。
4 .He suspected rightly, that the hieroglyphs were phonetic symbols, that they represented sounds rather than pictures.
他正确地猜想，象形文字是音标，它们表示的是音，而不是图片。
5 .Until then, all scholars assumed that the hieroglyphs were pictographs, that they symbolize objects or concepts.
直到他之前，所有学者都认为象形文字是用画面表示意思的，它们是代表物体或概念的。
6 .Thomas Yang focused his attention on one set of hieroglyphs that he thought would probably spell out a single word, the name of a king or queen.
Thomas Young 专注于他认为能拼出一个国王或王后的名字的一组象形文字。
7 .He guessed that the symbols represented the name of the earlier Egyptian ruler Ptolemy, since Ptolemy was also written in Greek on the stone and was indeed a Greek name.
他猜测这些标志表示的是一位早期埃及统治者：托勒密。因为托勒密同时也用希腊语写在那块石头上，而且托勒密也的确是一个希腊名。
8 .And Yang, did actually prove that these hieroglyphs represented sounds rather than whole words.
Young也的确证明了这些标志代表的是音，而不是整个的单词。
9 .Strangely though, he gave in to the dominant thesis of the day that hieroglyphs were pictographs.
然而奇怪的是，他屈服于了当时的主导观点：H语是象形文字。
10 .He actually dismissed his own finding, as an anomaly, because the Ptolemy dynasty was Greek, not Egyptian.
他实际上把自己的发现当作反常事物一样否定了，因为托勒密的王朝是希腊王朝而不是埃及王朝。
11 .In other words, he figured that it was an exception to the rule.
换句话说，他认为这个词是个例外，因为这个词是希腊语而不是埃及语所以它才是象音文字，除了把外来语词一个一个字母拼出来还有什么方法来描述它呢？这就引到了我们的另一位英雄：Jean-François Champollion.
12 .It was phonetic because it was Greek not Egyptian.
因为这个词是希腊语而不是埃及语所以它才是象音文字
13 .How else could an Egyptian depict a Greek name other than spell it out?
除了把外来语词一个一个字母拼出来还有什么方法来描述它呢？
14 .And that brings us to the hero of our story, Jean-Francois Champollion.
这就引到了我们的另一位英雄：Jean-François Champollion.
第六段
1 .Champollion built on Yang's work, showing that different hieroglyphs spell the name of the kings or queens like Alexander or Cleopatra.
Champollion，在Young的基础上，展示出不同的象形文字拼出了了国王或王后的名字，比如Alexander 和 Cleopatra。
2 .But his critics noted that this was still not traditional Egyptian names.
但是他的评论指出，这些仍然不是传统的埃及名。
3 .He hadn't done any more than Yang had been able to do, so he couldn't disprove the dominant theory.
他没能比Young已经做到的做的更多，所以他没有办法来否定占主导地位的理论。
第七段
1 .Then, in 1822, Champollion was shown a set of hieroglyphs that contain traditional Egyptian names.
后来在1828年，Champollion被展示了一组由象形文字写的古埃及名字。
2 .The first two of the symbols were unknown, but Champollion knew that the repeated hieroglyphs to the far right symbolized an "S" sound.
这组标记的前两个标志是未知的，但是Champollion知道在极右边重复的象形文字代表的是“S”的读音。
3 .He then drew on his linguistic knowledge to arrive at the solution to the problem.
他随后运用了他的语言知识来找到这个问题的答案。
4 .You see, unlike the any of other scholars who have tried to crack the code, Champollion happened to be fluent in Coptic.
你可以看到，不像那些其他人想去破译密码的学者，Champollion刚好在科普特语上十分流利。
5 .He wondered and this was the real breakthrough, if the Coptic was the language that symbolized by the hieroglyphs on Rosetta stone, and if so, then perhaps that first this shape symbol might represent the sun.
他疑惑，这就是真正的突破，Rosetta石上的象形文字表示的是不是科普特语？ 如果真的是这样的话，标志中的第一个光盘状的标志可能代表的是太阳。
6 .And the Coptic word for sun is "ra".
科普特语中太阳是“Ra”。
7 .See where this is headed, so if the symbol were Coptic, the first symbol would be "ra".
明白这个的意思了吗？如果这些标志真的代表的是科普特语，那么第一个字母也会是“Ra”。
8 .And then, an unknown symbol followed by a double "S" sound, was this, Champollion wondered, the name "Ramses".
随后是一个不知名的标志跟着两个“S”的发音。Champollion猜测这会不会是“Ramses”这个名字呢？
9 .He was eventually able to confirm that it was.
他后来证明是的。
10 .So, he had figured it out. Hieroglyphs were mainly phonetic, they represented sounds not pictures, and the underlying language was Coptic.
所以，他研究出来了。象形文字主要是音标。它们代表的是读音，而不是图片。象形文字中隐含的语言是科普特语。
11 .A lot of work remained, but champollion had cracked the code.
虽然还剩下很多工作，但是Champollion破解了这个难题。