世界小史 第104期:東方

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 　　On the contrary1, you'll see that it's all quite straightforward2.

　　相反，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)它非常簡單。

　　We can write 'white' by drawing something that is white – in this case, a sunbeam.

　　我們可以畫些白色的東西，這就寫成了“白”了——比如日光。

　　A stroke3 coming out of a sun stands for 'white' – blanc – pai, and so on.

　　一畫從太陽里出來，這就是“白”——blanc——pai, 如此等等。

　　And "East"? East is where the sun rises, behind the trees.

　　那么“東方”呢？東方是太陽從樹后升起的地方。

　　So I draw a picture of a sun behind a tree.

　　于是我畫了一幅太陽在一個樹后面的圖畫。

　　That is clever, isn't it?

　　這種做法非常聰明，對不對？

　　Well, it is and it isn't. There are two sides to everything!

　　不過，一切事物都有其兩面性！

　　For when you think how many words and things there are in the world, in Chinese each one has its own sign which must be learnt.

　　你想一想，世界上有多少個詞和多少件事物，在中文里它們的每一個專門的字，都要學。

　　There are already more than 40,000 of them, and some are really complicated4 and hard to learn.

　　現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有4萬個字，而且有些非常復雜和難學。

　　So I think we should congratulate our Phoenicians on their 26 letters, don't you?

　　所以我們應該慶幸我們的腓尼基人和26個字母，是不是？

　　However, the Chinese have been writing like this for many thousands of years, and their signs are read in many parts of Asia, even where no Chinese is spoken.

　　但是中國人已經(jīng)這樣書寫了幾千年了，而且亞洲許多地區(qū)的人們都能讀懂這些文字，即使他們不會講一句中國話。

　　And this meant that the thoughts and principles of the great men of China were able to spread quickly and influence many people.

　　這意味著中國的偉大人物們的思想和原則能夠迅速傳播，影響許多人。