来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：古希腊历史简介 第4集 第4集》

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  language and a Semitic alphabet that came from Phoenicia,
  而闪米特语的字母表我猜是从腓尼基传来的
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  I would have guessed,or someplace near it.
  或者是腓尼基附近的某些地区
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  I think I mentioned to you that the Greeks
  我想我向你们提到过希腊人将这种字母表改良
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  improved upon it and made it a true alphabet
  并使其成为真正的字母表
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  by taking some signs that they didn't need
  他们把一些并不需要的符号
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  for their own language by turning them into vowel sounds.
  变成元音使用
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  If you read a well,
  如果你读的好
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  a good example of that kind of Semitic script is Hebrew.
  一个很好的关于闪米特语的例子就是希伯来语
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  If you read biblical Hebrew,
  如果你要读希伯来圣经
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  you have to supply the vowels yourself.
  你必须自己补充元音
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  You have to know where the vowels are supposed to go,
  你必须知道这些元音都应该加在哪
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  and that makes it harder to learn how to read,
  这使的学习阅读变得更加困难