2022年11月13日 VOA慢速英语：研究人员可能在以色列找到了最古老的字母句子

 

Israeli researchers have found an ancient comb that has what is likely the oldest known full sentence written in Canaanite. The discovery was described in a study published recently in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.
以色列研究人员发现了一把古老的梳子，上面可能是已知最古老的迦南语完整句子。最近发表在《耶路撒冷考古学杂志》上的一项研究对这一发现进行了描述。

The writing could be 3,700 years old. It tells people to comb their hair and beards to remove small insects known as lice. The sentence contains 17 letters that read: "May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard."
这篇文章可能有 3700 年的历史。它告诉人们梳理头发和胡须以去除被称为虱子的小昆虫。这句话包含 17 个字母，上面写着：“愿这根獠牙根除头发和胡须上的虱子。”
 
Experts say the discovery gives information about some of the earliest use of the Canaanite alphabet, invented around 3,800 years ago. The Canaanite alphabet was the base for later alphabetic systems, such as Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Cyrillic.
专家说，这一发现提供了有关迦南字母最早使用的信息，该字母发明于大约 3800 年前。迦南字母是后来的字母系统的基础，例如希伯来语、希腊语、拉丁语和西里尔语。

The subject of the writing suggests that people had trouble with lice in everyday life at the time. Researchers said they have even found microscopic evidence of head lice on the comb.
文字的主题表明当时人们在日常生活中遇到虱子问题。研究人员说，他们甚至在梳子上发现了头虱的微观证据。
 
The comb was first found in 2016 in southern Israel. But it was only late last year when a professor at Israel's Hebrew University noticed the tiny words written on it.
这把梳子于 2016 年首次在以色列南部被发现。但直到去年年底，以色列希伯来大学的一位教授才注意到上面写着的小字。

The lead researcher, Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University, spoke to The Associated Press. He said that while many ancient objects with Canaanite writing have been found over the years, the comb has the first complete sentence to be discovered.
首席研究员、希伯来大学的约瑟夫·加芬克尔 (Yosef Garfinkel) 接受了美联社的采访。他说，虽然这些年来发现了许多带有迦南文字的古代物品，但梳子是第一个完整的句子被发现。

Garfinkel said earlier findings contained just a few letters, maybe a word here and there. Such short pieces of writing did not leave much room for further research on the lives of the Canaanites. "We didn't have enough material," he said.
加芬克尔说，早期的发现只包含几个字母，这里可能是一个词在那里。如此简短的文章并没有为进一步研究迦南人的生活留下太多空间。 “我们没有足够的材料，”他说。
 
The find opens up the debate about the ancient time period, Garfinkel added. He said it was important that the sentence was found on an ivory comb in the ancient city's palace and temple area. It also was notable that the writing spoke of a beard. Garfinkel said it could suggest that only wealthy men were able to read and write.
加芬克尔补充说，这一发现开启了关于古代时期的争论。他说，重要的是，这句话是在古城宫殿和寺庙区的象牙梳上发现的。同样值得注意的是，文字提到了胡须。加芬克尔说，这可能表明只有富有的人才能读写。

"It is a very human text," Garfinkel said. "It shows us that people didn't really change, and lice didn't really change."
“这是一部非常人性化的文字，”加芬克尔说。 “它告诉我们，人并没有真正改变，虱子也没有真正改变。”
 
Canaanites spoke an ancient Semitic language that is related to modern Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic. The Canaanites lived in the lands along the eastern Mediterranean. They are believed to have developed the first known alphabetic system of writing.
迦南人说一种古老的闪米特语，与现代希伯来语、阿拉伯语和亚拉姆语有关。迦南人居住在地中海东部的土地上。据信，他们开发了第一个已知的字母书写系统。

The complete sentence further suggests that Canaanites stood out among early civilizations in their use of the written word. "It shows that even in the most ancient phase there were full sentences" Garfinkel added.
完整的句子进一步表明，迦南人在使用书面文字方面在早期文明中脱颖而出。 “这表明即使在最古老的阶段也有完整的句子”加芬克尔补充道。
 
He said experts dated the script to 3,700 years ago by comparing it to the ancient Canaanite alphabet found earlier in Egypt's Sinai Desert. Such writing dates back between 3,900 and 3,700 years.
他说，专家通过将其与较早在埃及西奈沙漠发现的古代迦南字母进行比较，确定了该脚本的日期为 3700 年前。这样的文字可以追溯到 3,900 到 3,700 年之间。

But, the study noted, carbon dating of the comb failed to show its exact age.
但是，研究指出，梳子的碳测年未能显示其确切年龄。
 
Austrian archaeologist Felix Höflmayer, an expert on the period who was not part of the publication, said the method of dating was not good enough.
奥地利考古学家 Felix Höflmayer 是该时期的一位专家，但并未参与该出版物，他说测定年代的方法还不够好。

"There are just not enough securely dated early alphabetic inscriptions currently known," he said. But, he added the discovery was important.
“目前已知的早期字母铭文的日期还不够可靠， “ 他说。但是，他补充说，这一发现很重要。
 
"Seventeen letters preserved on a single object is definitely remarkable," Höflmayer said.
“在一个物体上保存了 17 个字母绝对是了不起的，”Höflmayer 说。