In this program, we'll be unlocking the secrets of the ancient Egyptians, pyramid builders and the inventors of hieroglyphs -

在今天的節目中，我們將解開古埃及人的祕密、金字塔建造者和象形文字的發明者。

a writing system which uses pictures and symbols to represent words.

象形文字是一種用圖片和符號來代表單詞的書寫系統。

The meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs remained a mystery until 1799

埃及象形文字的含義直到1799年仍然是個謎，

when Napoleon's soldiers unearthed a dark, damaged rock in the Egyptian coastal town of Rosetta.

那年拿破崙的士兵在埃及的沿海城鎮羅塞塔挖掘出一塊深色的、被破壞的岩石。

On the broken granite stone three scripts were faintly carved: Greek at the bottom, Demotic in the middle and Hieroglyphs at the top.

在破碎的花崗岩石頭上，有三段模糊的銘文。最底部的是希臘文，中間是世俗體，最上面則是象形文字。

Today, the Rosetta Stone is perhaps the most famous museum object in the world.

今天，羅塞塔石碑也許是全世界最著名的博物館館藏。

But what's actually written on it is quite dull! In fact, the Rosetta Stone contains a tax break!

但其實上面所寫的內容是相當枯燥無味的！事實上，羅塞塔石碑的內容是關於減稅！

It describes an agreement exempting priests from paying taxes to the King.

它描述了一項關於免除祭司對國王的納稅義務的協議。

Ah, the famous Egyptian pharaohs!

啊，著名的埃及法老！

Exactly - but which one, Sam?

正是如此 -- 但是是哪一個呢，山姆？

Let's test your ancient Egyptian knowledge with this quiz question:

讓我們用這個題目測試一下你的古埃及知識。

the writing on the Rosetta Stone is a tax agreement between the priests and which Egyptian pharaoh?

羅塞塔石碑上的文字是祭司和哪個埃及法老的稅收協議？

Is it: a) Cleopatra, b) Ptolemy, or c) Ramesses?

是a）克麗奧佩托拉，b）托勒密，還是c）拉美西斯呢？

I'll guess a) Cleopatra.

我猜 a）克麗奧佩托拉。

OK, Sam, I'll reveal the answer to that mystery later on.

好，山姆，我等等揭曉答案。

Before the discovery of the Stone, no scholar had been able to understand the strange symbols carved on the great pyramids.

在發現這塊石碑以前，沒有學者可以了解刻在金字塔上的奇怪符號。

Egyptologist, Richard Parker, was in charge of the Rosetta Stone exhibition at the British Museum for twenty years.

埃及學家理查・帕克，已經負責羅賽塔石碑在大英博物館的展覽二十年了。

Here he is, telling BBC Radio 4 programme, In Our Time, about circumstances before the discovery of the Stone:

現在讓我們來聽聽他在英國廣播公司第四臺節目《在我們的時代》中關於石碑被發現以前的分享。

People were exploring all sorts of means of trying to decipher, including trying to link the script with Chinese to see if that offered a parallel.

人們探索各式各樣的方法以解讀文字，包括試著將文字與中文字做連結，看看兩者是否有相似之處。

It was known from the classical authors that the Egyptian script contained great, mysterious pearls of wisdom from the Egyptian philosophers

從古典作家那裡可以得知那段埃及文字包含了埃及哲學家偉大而神祕的智慧之珠。

and people had hugely high expectations and all attempts to decipher, to get a grip on the script, I think, had really failed.

而人們非常期待也非常努力地去嘗試破解它，希望能了解石碑內容，但我想是失敗了。

Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, no-one had managed to decipher hieroglyphs -

在發現羅塞塔石碑以前，沒有人能夠破解象形文字，

to work out the meaning of writing which is difficult to read.

沒有人可以解讀出它難以理解的意思。

Experts hoped that the Egyptian script contained great pearls of wisdom - wise words, sayings or advice.

專家們希望那段埃及碑文包含了偉大的智慧之珠 -- 智慧的話語、諺語或建議。

As we know, the actual meaning of the text turned out to be quite dull.

但正如我們所知，那段文字的意思其實是非常無聊的。

But it was the fact that the messages were written in three scripts,

但事實是因為它是用三種語言所寫成的銘文，

including Greek - a language scholars already knew - that provided the key to finally crack the code.

包括希臘語 -- 一種學者們已經知道的語言-- 在內，而為學者們提供了破解密碼的關鍵。

In 1801 the race was on between Egyptologists in Britain and France to be the first to translate the entire system of hieroglyphs.

在1801年，英國和法國的埃及學者競相爭奪著翻譯出整個象形文字系統。

In the end, it was a young Frenchman named Jean-François Champollion

最後，是一個名為讓-弗朗索瓦・尚博里昂的法國青年，

who became the first person to understand hieroglyphs since the ancient Egyptians themselves, nearly two thousand years earlier.

成為自將近兩千年前的古埃及人以來，第一個了解象形文字的人。

Here's Penelope Wilson, Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at Durham University,

這是杜倫大學埃及考古學系的佩內洛普・威爾遜教授，

explaining more about this remarkable young Frenchman to BBC Radio 4's, In Our Time:

她將在英國廣播公司第四臺節目《在我們的時代》為我們帶來更多關於這位傑出法國青年的詳細介紹。

He was certainly a prodigy, I think as far as language is concerned, but also had a fascination for Egypt I think,

他肯定是個神童，至少就語言而言。 但我想他也一定對埃及非常著迷，

and the story is he was taught Coptic by a Coptic priest, and at that lecture was one of the first to argue that Coptic was related to ancient Egyptian.

故事是這樣的，他由一位科普特教士教授科普特語，並在該課堂中是最先認為科普特語與古埃及人有關的人之一。

So, he was also encouraged by this by his older brother so I think there was soon to be no holding him back,

他也受到了他哥哥的鼓勵，所以我認為很快將沒有人能夠阻止他。

and once he got the bug he was encouraged and he made great strides.

一旦他一頭栽了進去，他就會受到鼓勵並且取得長足的進步。

When Penelope Wilson calls Champollion a prodigy, she means someone young with a great natural talent for something, in this case, studying languages.

當佩內洛普・威爾遜教授說尚博里昂是個神童，她指的是一個非常有天分的青年。在這裡當然是指學習語言的天分。

Added to his natural ability was a fascination with Egypt and the encouragement of his brother,

除了他的天賦之外，還有對埃及的迷戀以及哥哥的鼓勵，

so Champollion soon got the bug - suddenly developed a strong enthusiasm for something.

所以尚博里昂很快就一股腦兒地栽了進去 -- 突然對某件事情有強烈的熱情。

In English, we often add a noun to describe exactly what someone is enthusiastic about -

在英語中，我們經常用加一個名詞的方式來形容熱衷於一件事的人。

so, for example, the skiing bug, for someone who loves to ski.

比如說，滑雪癡，就是用來形容熱愛滑雪的人。

Champollion was so enthusiastic, there was no holding him back -

尚博里昂是如此地有熱忱，已經沒有什麼能夠阻止他了 --

an idiom to say that you are doing something so eagerly, you cannot be stopped.

這句話是用來形容你對一件事是如此地渴望，已經到了無法被阻止的地步。

The story goes that he worked so hard deciphering hieroglyphs, when he finally finished,

據說他為了破解象形文字而煞費苦心，當他終於完成時，

he ran through the streets of Paris shouting, 'I've done it!', before collapsing unconscious.

他一邊在巴黎的街道上奔跑一邊喊叫著：「我已經做到了！」，然後倒下並失去意識。

Rob, earlier you asked me which pharaoh ordered the Stone to be written.

羅伯，早些時候你問我哪一個法老下令撰寫碑文。

Yes. And what did you say?

是的。那你的答案是什麼？

I thought it was Cleopatra. Was I right?

我覺得是克麗奧佩托拉。我說的對嗎？

Well, Cleopatra was from the same dynasty but a little later than the correct answer,

嗯，克麗奧佩托拉也是來自於相同朝代，但比正確答案稍晚一些。

which was b) Ptolemy, the pharaoh who ruled from around 300 BCE.

正確的答案是b) 托勒密，從公元前300年左右開始統治的法老。

OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned,

好的。讓我們來回顧一下今天學到的詞彙，

starting with hieroglyphs - symbols used represents words in ancient Egypt.

第一個，從象形文字 -- 在古埃及中用來代表文字的符號。

The challenge was to decipher them - to uncover the meaning of writing which is difficult to read or understand.

最大的挑戰是要破解它們 -- 解讀很難閱讀或理解的文字意思。

Maybe they contained pearls of wisdom - wise words, sayings or advice.

也許他們包含了智慧之珠 -- 明智的話語、諺語或建議。

The hieroglyphic code was finally cracked by Jean-François Champollion - a prodigy or young person with a great natural talent.

象形文字的密碼終於被讓-弗朗索瓦・尚博里昂，神童或有著巨大天賦的青年，破解了。

When Champollion got the bug, or suddenly became very enthusiastic about understanding hieroglyphs,

當尚博里昂一頭栽了進去，或突然變得非常熱衷於瞭解象形文字，

there was no holding him back - nothing could stop him from succeeding.

就沒有什麼能阻止他了 -- 沒有什麼能阻止他成功。

And nothing can stop us from saying goodbye, because our six minutes are up! -Goodbye!

而沒有什麼能阻止我們從說再見，因為我們的六分鐘時間到了！-再見！