本篇文章共分 6 段，根據目前發現的蘇美人楔形文字考古證據說明這種人類最早的文字系統形成的過程，並從這些證據推論楔形文字的發明者身分以及其社經地位。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

Evidence of the Earliest Writing 最早文字的證據

1. 蘇美楔形文字

   Although literacy appeared independently in several parts of the prehistoric world, the earliest evidence of writing is the cuneiform Sumerian script on the clay tablets of ancient Mesopotamia, which, archaeological detective work has revealed, had its origins in the accounting practices of commercial activity. Researchers demonstrated that preliterate people, to keep track of the goods they produced and exchanged, created a system of accounting using clay tokens as symbolic representations of their products. Over many thousands of years, the symbols evolved through several stages of abstraction until they became wedge-shaped (cuneiform) signs on clay tablets, recognizable as writing.

   儘管讀寫能力在史前世界的幾個地方獨立出現，但最早的文字證據是古代美索不達米亞的黏土板上的楔形蘇美文字，考古探測研究顯示，這種文字起源於商業活動的會計做法。研究人員證明，有文字前的人們為了記錄他們生產和交換的貨物，創造了一個使用粘土陶籌作為其產品的象徵性代表的會計系統。幾千年來，這些符號經過幾個抽象階段的演變，直到它們成為黏土板上的楔形（楔形文字）符號，可被識別為文字。

2. 陶籌的出現與功用

   The original tokens (circa 8500 B.C.E.) were three-dimensional solid shapes—tiny spheres, cones, disks, and cylinders. A debt of six units of grain and eight head of livestock, for example, might have been represented by six conical and eight cylindrical tokens. To keep batches of tokens together, an innovation was introduced (circa 3250 B.C.E.) whereby they were sealed inside clay envelopes that could be broken open and counted when it came time for a debt to be repaid. But because the contents of the envelopes could easily be forgotten, two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional tokens were impressed into the surface of the envelopes before they were sealed. Eventually, having two sets of equivalent symbols—the internal tokens and external markings—came to seem redundant, so the tokens were eliminated (circa 3250-3100 B.C.E.), and only solid clay tablets with two-dimensional symbols were retained. Over time, the symbols became more numerous, varied, and abstract and came to represent more than trade commodities, evolving eventually into cuneiform writing.

   最初的陶籌（大約在公元前 8500 年）是三維的固體形狀—微小的球體、圓錐體、圓盤和圓柱體。例如，6 個單位的穀物和 8 頭牲畜的債務可能由 6 個圓錐體和 8 個圓柱體的陶籌來表示。為了將成批的陶籌保存在一起，人們引入了一項創新（大約在公元前 3250 年），將它們密封在黏土信封裡，當需要償還債務時，可以打開信封進行清點。但由於信封裡的東西很容易被遺忘，所以在密封之前，三維陶籌的二維表現被印在信封的表面。最終，擁有兩套等效的符號—內部陶籌和外部標記—似乎是多餘的，所以陶籌被取消了（大約在公元前 3250-3100 年），只保留了帶有二維符號的固體黏土板。隨著時間的推移，這些符號變得越來越多，越來越多變，越來越抽象，而且不僅僅代表貿易商品，最終演變為楔形文字。

3. 陶籌的演變

   The evolution of the symbolism is reflected in the archaeological record first of all by the increasing complexity of the tokens themselves. The earliest tokens, dating from about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, were of only the simplest geometric shapes. But about 3500 B.C.E., more complex tokens came into common usage, including many naturalistic forms shaped like miniature tools, furniture, fruit, and humans. The earlier, plain tokens were counters for agricultural products, whereas the complex ones stood for finished products, such as bread, oil, perfume, wool, and rope, and for items produced in workshops, such as metal, bracelets, types of cloth, garments, mats, pieces of furniture, tools, and a variety of stone and pottery vessels. The signs marked on clay tablets likewise evolved from simple wedges, circles, ovals, and triangles based on the plain tokens to pictographs derived from the complex tokens.

   符號的演變首先反映在考古記錄中，那就是陶籌本身的日益複雜。最早的陶籌，可以追溯到大約 1 萬到 6 千年前，只有最簡單的幾何形狀。但大約在公元前 3500 年，更複雜的陶籌開始被普遍使用，包括許多自然形態的微型工具、傢俱、水果和人類的形狀。早期的普通陶籌是農產品的計數器，而複雜的陶籌則代表成品，如麵包、油、香水、羊毛和繩子，以及工場生產的物品，如金屬、手鐲、各類布、服裝、墊子、傢俱、工具和各種石製和陶製容器。黏土板上陶籌的符號也同樣從簡單的楔形、圓形、橢圓形和三角形發展到從複雜符號中衍生出的象形文字。

4. 楔形文字發明者

   Before this evidence came to light, the inventors of writing were assumed by researchers to have been an intellectual elite. Some, for example, hypothesized that writing emerged when members of the priestly caste agreed among themselves on written signs. But the association of the plain tokens with the first farmers and of the complex tokens with the first artisans—and the fact that the token-and-envelope accounting system invariably represented only small-scale transactions—testifies to the relatively modest social status of the creators of writing.

   在這些證據出現之前，研究人員認為文字的發明者是一群知識精英。例如，有些人假設，當祭司種姓的成員之間就書面符號達成一致時，就出現了文字。但是，將普通陶籌與第一批農民聯繫起來，將複雜的陶籌與第一批工匠聯繫起來，以及陶籌和信封會計系統總是只代表小規模的交易這一事實，證明了文字創造者的社會地位相對較低。

5. 計數系統的出現

   And not only of literacy, but numeracy (the representation of quantitative concepts) as well. The evidence of the tokens provides further confirmation that mathematics originated in people’s desire to keep records of flocks and other goods. Another immensely significant step occurred around 3100 B.C.E., when Sumerian accountants extended the token-based signs to include the first real numerals. Previously, units of grain had been represented by direct one-to-one correspondence―by repeating the token or symbol for a unit of grain the required number of times. The accountants, however, devised numeral signs distinct from commodity signs, so that eighteen units of grain could be indicated by preceding a single grain symbol with a symbol denoting “18.” Their invention of abstract numerals and abstract counting was one of the most revolutionary advances in the history of mathematics.

   而且不僅是識字，還有算術（定量概念的表示）。陶籌的證據進一步證實，數學起源於人們記錄羊群和其他物品的願望。另一個極其重要的步驟發生在公元前 3100 年左右，當時蘇美的會計人員將基於陶籌的符號擴展到包括第一批真實的數字。在此之前，穀物單位是通過直接的一對一的對應關係來表示的—即重複一個穀物單位的陶籌或符號的必要次數。然而，會計人員設計了有別於商品符號的數字符號，因此 18 個單位的穀物可以通過在一個穀物符號前加上一個表示 “18” 的符號來表示。他們發明的抽象數字和抽象計數是數學史上最具革命性的進步之一。

6. 計數系統的發明者

   What was the social status of the anonymous accountants who produced this breakthrough? The immense volume of clay tablets unearthed in the ruins of the Sumerian temples where the accounts were kept suggests a social differentiation within the scribal class, with a virtual army of lower-ranking tabulators performing the monotonous job of tallying commodities. We can only speculate as to how high or low the inventors of true numerals were in the scribal hierarchy, but it stands to reason that this laborsaving innovation would have been the brainchild of the lower-ranking types whose drudgery it eased.

   創造此一突破的無名會計人員的社會地位如何？在保存賬目的蘇美神廟廢墟中出土的大量黏土板顯示，文士階層內部存在著社會分化，實際上有一支由低級製表師組成的大隊人員在從事統計商品的單調工作。我們只能猜測真實數字的發明者在文士階層中的地位有多高或多低，但有理由相信這種省力的創新是低階人士的創意，用以減輕這些人的苦難。