托福阅读素材之埃及罗塞塔石碑.docx

托福阅读素材之埃及罗塞塔石碑.docx

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托福阅读素材之埃及罗塞塔石碑

托福阅读素材之埃及罗塞塔石碑

ARosettaStoneforalostlanguage

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I'dliketobeginwithathoughtexperiment.Imaginethatit's4,000yearsintothefuture.Civilizationasweknowithasceasedtoexist--nobooks,noelectronicdevices,noFacebookor

Twitter.AllknowledgeoftheEnglishlanguageandtheEnglishalphabethasbeenlost.Nowimaginearcheologistsdiggingthroughtherubbleofoneofourcities.Whatmighttheyfind?

Well

perhapssomerectangularpiecesofplasticwithstrangesymbolsonthem.Perhapssomecircularpiecesofmetal.Maybesomecylindricalcontainerswithsomesymbolsonthem.Andperhapsone

archeologistbecomesaninstantcelebritywhenshediscovers--buriedinthehillssomewhereinNorthAmerica--massiveversionsofthesesamesymbols.Nowlet'saskourselves,whatcould

suchartifactssayaboutustopeople4,000yearsintothefuture?

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Thisisnohypotheticalquestion.Infact,thisisexactlythekindofquestionwe'refacedwithwhenwetrytounderstandtheIndusValleycivilization,whichexisted4,000yearsago.The

InduscivilizationwasroughlycontemporaneouswiththemuchbetterknownEgyptianandtheMesopotamiancivilizations,butitwasactuallymuchlargerthaneitherofthesetwocivilizations.It

occupiedtheareaofapproximatelyonemillionsquarekilometers,coveringwhatisnowPakistan,NorthwesternIndiaandpartsofAfghanistanandIran.Giventhatitwassuchavast

civilization,youmightexpecttofindreallypowerfulrulers,kings,andhugemonumentsglorifyingthesepowerfulkings.Infact,whatarcheologistshavefoundisnoneofthat.They'vefound

smallobjectssuchasthese.

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Here'sanexampleofoneoftheseobjects.Wellobviouslythisisareplica.Butwhoisthisperson?

Aking?

Agod?

Apriest?

Orperhapsanordinarypersonlikeyouorme?

Wedon'tknow.But

theInduspeoplealsoleftbehindartifactswithwritingonthem.Wellno,notpiecesofplastic,butstoneseals,coppertablets,potteryand,surprisingly,onelargesignboard,whichwas

foundburiednearthegateofacity.Nowwedon'tknowifitsaysHollywood,orevenBollywoodforthatmatter.Infact,wedon'tevenknowwhatanyoftheseobjectssay,andthat'sbecause

theIndusscriptisundeciphered.Wedon'tknowwhatanyofthesesymbolsmean.

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Thesymbolsaremostcommonlyfoundonseals.Soyouseeupthereonesuchobject.It'sthesquareobjectwiththeunicorn-likeanimalonit.Nowthat'samagnificentpieceofart.Sohowbig

doyouthinkthatis?

Perhapsthatbig?

Ormaybethatbig?

Wellletmeshowyou.Here'sareplicaofonesuchseal.It'sonlyaboutoneinchbyoneinchinsize--prettytiny.Sowhatwere

theseusedfor?

Weknowthatthesewereusedforstampingclaytagsthatwereattachedtobundlesofgoodsthatweresentfromoneplacetotheother.Soyouknowthosepackingslipsyougeton

yourFedExboxes?

Thesewereusedtomakethosekindsofpackingslips.Youmightwonderwhattheseobjectscontainintermsoftheirtext.Perhapsthey'rethenameofthesenderorsome

informationaboutthegoodsthatarebeingsentfromoneplacetotheother--wedon'tknow.Weneedtodecipherthescripttoanswerthatquestion.

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Decipheringthescriptisnotjustanintellectualpuzzle;it'sactuallybecomeaquestionthat'sbecomedeeplyintertwinedwiththepoliticsandtheculturalhistoryofSouthAsia.Infact,

thescripthasbecomeabattlegroundofsortsbetweenthreedifferentgroupsofpeople.First,there'sagroupofpeoplewhoareverypassionateintheirbeliefthattheIndusscriptdoesnot

representalanguageatall.Thesepeoplebelievethatthesymbolsareverysimilartothekindofsymbolsyoufindontrafficsignsortheemblemsyoufindonshields.There'sasecondgroup

ofpeoplewhobelievethattheIndusscriptrepresentsanIndo-Europeanlanguage.IfyoulookatamapofIndiatoday,you'llseethatmostofthelanguagesspokeninNorthIndiabelongtothe

Indo-Europeanlanguagefamily.SosomepeoplebelievethattheIndusscriptrepresentsanancientIndo-EuropeanlanguagesuchasSanskrit.

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There'salastgroupofpeoplewhobelievethattheInduspeopleweretheancestorsofpeoplelivinginSouthIndiatoday.ThesepeoplebelievethattheIndusscriptrepresentsanancient

formoftheDravidianlanguagefamily,whichisthelanguagefamilyspokeninmuchofSouthIndiatoday.AndtheproponentsofthistheorypointtothatsmallpocketofDravidian-speaking

peopleintheNorth,actuallynearAfghanistan,andtheysaythatperhaps,sometimeinthepast,DravidianlanguageswerespokenalloverIndiaandthatthissuggeststhattheIndus

civilizationisperhapsalsoDravidian.

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Whichofthesehypothesescanbetrue?

Wedon'tknow,butperhapsifyoudecipheredthescript,youwouldbeabletoanswerthisquestion.Butdecipheringthescriptisaverychallenging

task.First,there'snoRosettaStone.Idon'tmeanthesoftware;Imeananancientartifactthatcontainsinthesametextbothaknowntextandanunknowntext.Wedon'thavesuchanartifact

fortheIndusscript.Andfurthermore,wedon'tevenknowwhatlanguagetheyspoke.Andtomakemattersevenworse,mostofthetextthatwehaveareextremelyshort.SoasIshowedyou,they're

usuallyfoundonthesesealsthatarevery,verytiny.

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Andsogiventheseformidableobstacles,onemightwonderandworrywhetheronewilleverbeabletodeciphertheIndusscript.Intherestofmytalk,I'dliketotellyouabouthowI

learnedtostopworryingandlovethechallengeposedbytheIndusscript.I'vealwaysbeenfascinatedbytheIndusscripteversinceIreadaboutitinamiddleschooltextbook.AndwhywasI

fascinated?

Wellit'sthelastmajorundecipheredscriptintheancientworld.Mycareerpathledmetobecomeacomputationalneuroscientist,soinmydayjob,Icreatecomputermodelsofthe

braintotrytounderstandhowthebrainmakespredictions,howthebrainmakesdecisions,howthebrainlearnsandsoon.

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Butin2021,mypathcrossedagainwiththeIndusscript.That'swhenIwasinIndia,andIhadthewonderfulopportunitytomeetwithsomeIndianscientistswhowereusingcomputermodelsto

trytoanalyzethescript.AndsoitwasthenthatIrealizedtherewasanopportunityformetocollaboratewiththesescientists,andsoIjumpedatthatopportunity.AndI'dliketodescribe

someoftheresultsthatwehavefound.Orbetteryet,let'sallcollectivelydecipher.Areyouready?

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Thefirstthingthatyouneedtodowhenyouhaveanundecipheredscriptistrytofigureoutthedirectionofwriting.Herearetwotextsthatcontainsomesymbolsonthem.Canyoutellme

ifthedirectionofwritingisrighttoleftorlefttoright?

I'llgiveyouacoupleofseconds.Okay.Righttoleft,howmany?

Okay.Okay.Lefttoright?

Oh,it'salmost50/50.Okay.The

answeris:

ifyoulookattheleft-handsideofthetwotexts,you'llnoticethatthere'sacrampingofsigns,anditseemslike4,000yearsago,whenthescribewaswritingfromrighttoleft,

theyranoutofspace.Andsotheyhadtocramthesign.Oneofthesignsisalsobelowthetextonthetop.Thissuggeststhedirectionofwritingwasprobablyfromrighttoleft,andso

that'soneofthefirstthingsweknow,thatdirectionalityisaverykeyaspectoflinguisticscripts.AndtheIndusscriptnowhasthisparticularproperty.

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Whatotherpropertiesoflanguagedoesthescriptshow?

Languagescontainpatterns.IfIgiveyoutheletterQandaskyoutopredictthenextletter,whatdoyouthinkthatwouldbe?

Mostof

yousaidU,whichisright.NowifIaskedyoutopredictonemoreletter,whatdoyouthinkthatwouldbe?

Nowthere'sseveralthoughts.There'sE.ItcouldbeI.ItcouldbeA,butcertainly

notB,CorD,right?

TheIndusscriptalsoexhibitssimilarkindsofpatterns.There'salotoftextthatstartwiththisdiamond-shapedsymbol.Andthisinturntendstobefollowedbythis

quotationmarks-likesymbol.AndthisisverysimilartoaQandUexample.Thissymbolcaninturnbefollowedbythesefish-likesymbolsandsomeothersigns,butneverbytheseothersigns

atthebottom.Andfurthermore,there'ssomesignsthatreallyprefertheendoftexts,suchasthisjar-shapedsign,andthissign,infact,happenstobethemostfrequentlyoccurringsignin

thescript.

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Givensuchpatterns,herewasouridea.Theideawastouseacomputertolearnthesepatterns,andsowegavethecomputertheexistingtexts.Andthecomputerlearnedastatisticalmodelof

whichsymbolstendtooccurtogetherandwhichsymbolstendtofolloweachother.Giventhecomputermodel,wecantestthemodelbyessentiallyquizzingit.Sowecoulddeliberatelyerasesome

symbols,andwecanaskittopredictthemissingsymbols.Herearesomeexamples.YoumayregardthisasperhapsthemostancientgameofWheelofFortune.

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Whatwefoundwasthatthecomputerwassuccessfulin75percentofthecasesinpredictingthecorrectsymbol.Intherestofthecases,typicallythesecondbestguessorthirdbestguess

wastherightanswer.There'salsopracticaluseforthisparticularprocedure.There'salotofthesetextsthataredamaged.Here'sanexampleofonesuchtext.Andwecanusethecomputer

modelnowtotrytocompletethistextandmakeabestguessprediction.Here'sanexampleofasymbolthatwaspredicted.Andthiscouldbereallyusefulaswetrytodecipherthescriptby

generatingmoredatathatwecananalyze.

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Nowhere'soneotherthingyoucandowiththecomputermodel.Soimagineamonkeysittingatakeyboard.Ithinkyoumightgetarandomjumbleoflettersthatlookslikethis.