中英雙語閱讀：古埃及小學生家庭作業歷史介紹

­　　Homework written by a school kid in ancient Egypt has been preserved since the second century A.D. And the words on the slab may sound familiar to any kid whose parents worry about them falling in with a bad crowd.

­　　一名古埃及學童的家庭作業從公元二世紀保存到了現在，那些經常被父母教導不要和壞人混在一起的孩子可能會覺得這份“古老”的作業里有些話很耳熟。

­　　An ancient lesson preserved on a wood-mounted wax slab about the size of a Kindle reads: "You should accept advice from a wise man only" and "You cannot trust all your friends."

­　　這篇古老的課文保存在一塊與Kindle差不多大小的木制蠟板上，上面寫道：“你應該只接受智者的建議”以及“你不能信任所有的朋友”。

­　　Acquired by the British Library in 1892, the tablet hasn"t been publicly displayed since the 1970s. The homework slab will be featured in an upcoming British Library exhibit called "Writing: Making Your Mark," which traces the evolution of writing over 5,000 years of human history, library representatives said in a statement.

­　　這塊蠟板于1892年被大英圖書館收購，自上世紀70年代以來就沒有公開展示過。圖書館的代表們在一份聲明中說，大英圖書館即將舉辦名為“書寫：留下你的印記”的展覽，追溯書寫在5000多年人類歷史當中的演變過程。這塊家庭作業板將在此次展覽中展出。

­　　On the wax tablet is a two-part lesson in Greek that provides a snapshot of daily life for a pupil attending primary school in Egypt about 1,800 years ago, exhibit co-curator Peter Toth, also a curator of ancient and medieval manuscripts at the British Library, told Live Science in an email.

­　　彼得·托特是此次展覽的共同策展人，也是大英圖書館古代和中世紀文稿的策展人。他通過電子郵件告訴美國趣味科學網站，蠟板上的課文分兩部分，均為希臘文，可以讓我們了解大約1800年前古埃及小學生的日常生活。

­　　One part of the assignment was a writing exercise. The slab displays a teacher"s written example in the first line, and the next two lines contain the same words copied "rather clumsily" in the student"s hand, much as primary students today copy lines penned by their teachers, Toth said. The rest of the homework included a multiplication table and reading exercises.

­　　報道稱，蠟板上的一部分作業是書寫練習。托特說，蠟板上的第一行是老師寫的示范，后面兩行是學生抄寫的“相當笨拙”的同樣字句，就像今天的小學生抄寫老師寫的字句一樣。其余作業包括乘法表和閱讀練習。

­　　Though the name and sex of the tablet"s owner is unknown, the child was likely a boy from a wealthy family, as formal education in ancient Egypt was typically reserved for males of privilege, according to the Royal Ontario Museum.

­　　安大略省皇家博物館表示，盡管這塊蠟板的主人姓名和性別不詳，但很可能是一個出身富裕家庭的男孩，因為古埃及的正規教育通常由特權階層的男性專享。

­　　Lines copied by this long-ago student were not just for practicing penmanship; they were also intended to impart moral lessons. "It"s not only the hands and fingers but also the mind that is being instructed here," Toth said.

­　　這個很久以前的學生抄寫的字句不僅是為了練習書寫，也用于進行德育。托特說：“接受教導的不僅是手和手指，還有頭腦。”

­　　Homework slabs like this one were made by pouring melted, blackened wax into a rectangular depression at the center of a wooden tablet. Once the wax cooled, teachers and students could use a metal stylus to scratch letters that appeared as a lighter color against the dark background.

­　　這種家庭作業板的制作方式是把融化后的黑蠟倒入一塊木板中央的長方形凹槽中。蠟冷卻之后，老師和學生可以用金屬筆劃出字母，而這些字母在黑色的底色上呈現出較淺的顏色。

­　　Wax typically breaks down in the presence of moisture, so the region"s dry climate likely helped to protect the tablet, "preserving the clumsy handwriting of a primary school pupil from almost two millennia ago," Toth said.

­　　托特說，蠟在潮濕的情況下通常會分解，因此該地區干燥的氣候很可能幫助保護了這塊蠟板，“保存下了一名小學生近2000年前留下的笨拙筆跡”。

­　　Along with the homework slab, the exhibition brings together over 100 artifacts from the British Library collections to explore examples of writing from ancient civilizations to modern cultures. Objects include stone monuments bearing Egyptian hieroglyphs; a copy of the literary classic "Ulysses" annotated by author James Joyce; musical notes penned by Mozart; and contemporary tattooing instruments.

­　　除了這塊作業板之外，此次展覽還匯集了大英圖書館收藏的100多件文物，以探索從古代文明到現代文化的書寫范例。展品包括刻有古埃及象形文字的石碑、作家詹姆斯·喬伊斯批注的文學經典《尤利西斯》的副本、莫扎特書寫的樂譜以及當代文身工具。