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Clay may not seem to us the ideal medium for writing, but the clay from the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris proved to be unbeatable for all kinds of purposes, from building cities to making pots, or even, as with our tablet, for giving a quick and easy surface to write on.
黏土也許并非理想的書寫載體，但來自幼發(fā)拉底和底格里斯河岸的黏土被證明是十分珍貴的，它用途廣泛，能修建城市、制作陶罐，還能像我們這塊黏土板一樣，迅速提供一個可供書寫的表面。
From the historians' point of view, clay has one huge advantage: it lasts.
從歷史學(xué)家的角度來看，黏土具有巨大的優(yōu)勢：容易保存。
Unlike the bamboo used by the Chinese to write on, which rots quickly, and unlike paper, which is so easily destroyed, sun-baked clay will survive in the ground for thousands of years-and we're still learning from those clay tablets.
中國人用于書寫的竹子極易腐爛，紙張則易于銷毀，而曬干的黏土卻能在干燥的地方保存數(shù)千年，使我們今天還能閱讀其上的文字。
In the British Museum, we look after about 130,000 written tablets from Mesopotamia, and scholars from all over the world come to study the collection.
在大英博物館，我們保存了超過十三萬塊來自美索不達(dá)米亞的黏土板，世界各地的學(xué)者都來此研究這批收藏。
While experts are still working hard on the history of the script some points are already very clear, and many of them are visible in this oblong of baked clay.
對美索不達(dá)米亞早期文字史的研究還在持續(xù)進(jìn)行中，但有一些事實(shí)已十分清楚，其中很多只要從我們這塊長方形的黏土板上便可看出。
You can see very clearly how a reed stylus has pressed the marks into the soft clay, which has then been baked hard so that it is now a handsome orange.
你能清晰地看到蘆葦筆是如何在柔軟的黏土上畫出痕跡，之后經(jīng)過重度烘烤，使黏土呈現(xiàn)出一種漂亮的橘色的。
If you tap i-you can hear that this tablet is very tough indeed, that's why it has survived; but one of our problems in the British Museum is that we often have to re-bake the clay, in order to preserve the information inscribed on them-indeed we have a separate kiln for re-cooking Mesopotamian tablets.
輕輕敲擊黏土板，能發(fā)現(xiàn)它的質(zhì) 地十分堅硬，這便是它們能保存數(shù)千年的原因。但如果遇到潮濕的環(huán)境，即便是烘烤過的黏土也會毀于一旦。大英博物館的日常任務(wù)之一便是時 常用特制窯爐重新烘烤這批板子，以加固它們的表面，保存上面的文字。
