世界小史 第28章:彩色画像

Next to these brightly colored paintings you often see lots of tiny pictures of all sorts of things,

在这一排排彩色画像的旁边，你往往会看到许多画着各种各样的东西的小画像，

such as owls and little people, flags, flowers, tents, beetles and vases, together withzigzag lines and spirals, all jumbled up together.

比如猫头鹰、小人、旗子、花、帐篷、甲虫和花瓶，被锯齿形线和螺旋线连接，互相紧密并排。

Whatever can they be?

这会是什么呢?

They aren't pictures, they are hieroglyphs - or 'sacred signs' - the Egyptian form of writing.

它们不是图画，它们是象形文字--或"神圣的符号"--古埃及人的书写形式。

The Egyptians were immensely proud of their writing - indeed, they were almost in aweof it.

埃及人为他们的文字感到非常自豪--确实，他们几乎敬畏它。

And of all professions, that of scribe was the most highly esteemed.

在所有行业中，书写员是最最受尊重的。