世界小史 第104期:东方

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　　相反，你会发现它非常简单。

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

　　我们可以画些白色的东西，这就写成了“白”了——比如日光。

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

　　一画从太阳里出来，这就是“白”——blanc——pai, 如此等等。

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

　　那么“东方”呢？东方是太阳从树后升起的地方。

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

　　于是我画了一幅太阳在一个树后面的图画。

　　That is clever, isn't it?

　　这种做法非常聪明，对不对？

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

　　不过，一切事物都有其两面性！

　　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，世界上有多少个词和多少件事物，在中文里它们的每一个专门的字，都要学。

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

　　现在已经有4万个字，而且有些非常复杂和难学。

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

　　所以我们应该庆幸我们的腓尼基人和26个字母，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.

　　但是中国人已经这样书写了几千年了，而且亚洲许多地区的人们都能读懂这些文字，即使他们不会讲一句中国话。

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

　　这意味着中国的伟大人物们的思想和原则能够迅速传播，影响许多人。

 

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