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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.
我们这块记录啤酒配给的小黏土板分为三行，每行四格，每格里的符号都是从上往下，从右往左阅读的。
The signs are pictographs, drawings of items which stand just for that item or something closely related to it.
这些符号在当时很有代表性，都是象形的，直接画出物品的样子或与其十分接近的图案。
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.
代表啤酒的是一个直立的尖底罐，描绘的就是通常用于储存配给啤酒的容器。
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“配给”的则是一个人头旁边放一个用来喝啤酒的碗。每一格的文字旁都有 圆形或半圆形的记号，记录配给的数量。
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.
你可以说这样的书写并不算是严格意义上的文字，而更像是一种记忆法，一种可以用来承载极复杂信息的符号集合。
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，是人们第一次了解到一个象形符号，如写字板上的啤酒，不仅可以用来表示物品本身，也能表示与这一物品同音的别的物品。
At this point writing became phonetic, and then all kinds of new communication became possible.
这样，文字变成了表音符号，所有的全新交流方式都变成可能。
When writing in this full sense was taking off, life as a pioneer scribe must have been very exciting.
当文字进入全面发展，表音符号逐渐代替了象形文字，书记员的生活一定十分快乐。
