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Written in bone
“一片甲骨天下驚”，甲骨文的意義何在？
You may never write words on an oracle bone or tortoise shell, but you might see them in a museum. They are what we call "the oracle bone scripts".
你或許從未試過在甲骨或者龜甲上寫字，但你或許在博物館里見過它們。它們正是我們所說的“甲骨文”。
To celebrate the 120th anniversary of the discovery of these scripts, the National Museum of China is running an exhibition called Zheng Gu Ze Jin. It runs through Dec 22.
為紀念甲骨文發現120周年，中國國家博物館舉辦了一場名為“證古澤今”的展覽，展期將持續至12月22日。
According to China Daily, the exhibition addresses the "significant meaning of the oracle bones to the past and present of an ancient, continually evolving civilization".
據《中國日報》報道，本次展覽講述了“甲骨文對于一段綿延發展的古文明從古至今的重大意義”。
The earliest confirmed evidence shows that more than 3,000 years ago, people in the late Shang Dynasty started to write characters on pieces of bone and turtle shell.
據最早被證實的跡象顯示，在三千多年前的商朝末期，人們開始在一片片龜殼獸骨上寫字。
The oracle bone scripts are records of divinations and prayers to the gods from people in that era. According to Song Zhenhao, one of the leading scholars of the field, "they are important materials for the re-construction of ancient Chinese history and the perspective of social life in the Shang Dynasty."
甲骨文是當時人們向神明占卜祈禱的記錄。甲骨文領域著名學者宋振豪認為，“它們是重構古代中國歷史和商朝社會生活視角的重要素材。”
The scripts are pictograms. They come from pictures of the objects they refer to. "The oracle bone scripts, as an earliest known and mature form of Chinese characters, present the beauty and uniqueness of a language that has been passed down consistently," said Chen Nan, a professor of Tsinghua University's Academy of Art and Design.
甲骨文屬于象形文字。它們都源于所要指代物體的圖畫。“甲骨文是中國目前已知最古老的系統成熟的漢字，體現了一脈相承的語言之美與獨特性，”清華大學美術學院教授陳楠說道。
Apart from learning the past, oracle bone scripts also have impacts on today.
除了能讓人們了解歷史之外，甲骨文也有著現代意義。
According to Xinhua News Agency, these artifacts contain data that include the earliest written records of both a solar eclipse and a comet.
據新華社報道，這些文物中包含了最早的日食與彗星的書寫記錄。
The society that produced the oracle bone scripts shared many of the characteristics that are recognized today as typically Chinese. "These valuable inscriptions from China ... demonstrate that the memory recorded in the documentary heritage is an irreplaceable way of transmitting tradition, culture and historical awareness," Marielza Oliveira, director of UNESCO's Beijing office, told China Daily.
在當時所創造的甲骨文中能看到如今不少漢字的影子?！爸袊@些珍貴的刻字……體現了記錄于文獻遺產的記憶是傳承傳統、文化和歷史意識的一種不可替代的方式，”聯合國教科文組織駐華代表處主任歐敏行在接受《中國日報》采訪時如此表示。
The scripts are evidence of ancient Chinese culture but also have an "important influence" on modern Chinese values, Zhao Yong, the exhibition's chief curator, told China Daily.
甲骨文是古代中華文化的證明，但同時也對中國現代價值觀產生了“重大影響”，該展覽策展人趙永在接受《中國日報》采訪時如此表示。
