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Our little beer-rationing tablet is divided into three rows of four boxes each, and in each box the signs-typically for this date-are read from top to bottom, moving right to left-before you move onto the next box.
我們這塊記錄啤酒配給的小黏土板分為三行，每行四格，每格里的符號都是從上往下，從右往左閱讀的。
The signs are pictographs, drawings of items which stand just for that item or something closely related to it.
這些符號在當時很有代表性，都是象形的，直接畫出物品的樣子或與其十分接近的圖案。
So the symbol for beer is an upright jar with a pointed base-a picture of the vessel that was actually used to store the beer rations.
代表啤酒的是一個直立的尖底罐，描繪的就是通常用于儲存配給啤酒的容器。
The word for 'ration' itself is conveyed graphically by a human head, juxtaposed with a porridge bowl, from which it appears to be drinking, and the signs in each one of the boxes are accompanied by circular and semi-circular marks-which represent the rationing numbers.
代表“配給”的則是一個人頭旁邊放一個用來喝啤酒的碗。每一格的文字旁都有 圓形或半圓形的記號，記錄配給的數量。
You could say that this isn't writing in the strict sense, it's more a kind of mnemonic, a repertoire of signs that can be used to carry quite complex messages.
你可以說這樣的書寫并不算是嚴格意義上的文字，而更像是一種記憶法，一種可以用來承載極復雜信息的符號集合。
The crucial breakthrough to real writing came when it was first understood that a graphic symbol, like the one for beer on our tablet, could be used to mean not just the 'thing' it showed, but what the word for the 'thing' sounded like.
真正的文字上的重大突破，是人們第一次了解到一個象形符號，如寫字板上的啤酒，不僅可以用來表示物品本身，也能表示與這一物品同音的別的物品。
At this point writing became phonetic, and then all kinds of new communication became possible.
這樣，文字變成了表音符號，所有的全新交流方式都變成可能。
When writing in this full sense was taking off, life as a pioneer scribe must have been very exciting.
當文字進入全面發展，表音符號逐漸代替了象形文字，書記員的生活一定十分快樂。
