Chinese characters on turtle shells and animal bones甲骨文

鄒克婭

甲骨文是中國(guó)的一種古老文字，又稱“契文”“殷墟文字”“龜甲文字”。甲骨文是我們能見(jiàn)到的最早的成熟漢字，主要指中國(guó)商朝晚期王室在龜甲或獸骨上刻的用于占卜記事的文字。

主題語(yǔ)境：歷史與傳 統(tǒng)篇幅：345詞 建議用時(shí)：7分鐘

1 The first Chinese characters date from the late ShangDynasty， some 3，000 years ago， originally made for the purposeof divination （占卜）. They were written on pieces of tortoiseshelland fragments of bones.

2 During the Shang Dynasty， divination was very important.To those who knew how to read them， they held the beliefthat exhibits of shells and bones could foretell the future，telling them when to sacrifice， when to harvest， and whenillness would strike. So， it was these diviners seeking to unlockthe future that accidentally provided us with a key to the past. These oracle bones （甲骨）offer us a precious glimpse of life in China some three thousand years ago.

3 Of the four thousand characters used in these descriptions， so far 1，500 have beendeciphered. Through them， we can reconstruct a day in the life of a Shang Dynasty man.

4 It was that by a combination of careful observation and incredible imagination， thepeople of the Shang Dynasty turned what they saw， did and felt into symbols that could bewritten on turtle shells and animal bones—the very first Chinese characters.

5 In pictograph （象形文字） characters like“tian”， meaning“farm”， simple lineswere used to outline the shape of something. But more abstract concepts could be de?scribed， too. For example， a short horizontal stroke above a long one meant“above”， whilea short stroke below a long one meant“below”. By combining more than one character intoone， even more complex ideas could be expressed. Take“jiu”， meaning“wine”， for ex?ample， a combination of the character for a cup or container and water. Other characterswould combine one character indicating a certain sound with another specific meaning.“Yang”， for example， means“wander”.

6 Thanks to the Chinese characters on the oracle bones， Chinese civilization could atlast be recorded and passed down to the generations. Strange as it may seem， the complexsystem of writing we use today began life thousands of years ago as scratches on bits ofbones. Now theyre rooted in hearts and minds of more than a billion people.

Reading

Check

1. Whats the function of the first Chinese characters？

A. To serve the rulers.

B. To record the past.

C. To show natural power.

D. To foretell the future.

2. What does the underlined word“deciphered”mean in paragraph 3？

A. Recognized.

B. Destroyed.

C. Discovered.

D. Simplified.

3. What does paragraph 5 mainly talk about？

A. The development of the first Chinese characters.

B. The formation of the first Chinese characters.

C. The connection between the first Chinese characters.

D. The meaning of the first Chinese characters.

4. What is the purpose of the text？

A. To introduce a kind of Chinese characters.

B. To stress the value of Chinese characters.

C. To highlight the birth of Chinese culture.

D. To offer a glimpse of life in the Shang Dynasty.

Language

Study

Difficult sentence

To those who knew how to read them， they held the belief that exhibits of shells andbones could foretell the future， telling them when to sacrifice， when to harvest， and whenillness would strike. 對(duì)于那些知道如何閱讀它們（甲骨文）的人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們相信，貝殼和骨頭的表現(xiàn)可以預(yù)示未來(lái)，告訴他們什么時(shí)候該祭祀、什么時(shí)候該收獲、什么時(shí)候疾病會(huì)爆發(fā)。

【點(diǎn)石成金】該句中，that引導(dǎo)一個(gè)同位語(yǔ)從句，對(duì)前面的抽象名詞belief進(jìn)行解釋說(shuō)明。